Page 500

William Mintun continues

time of the outbreak of the Civil war, and with his company he was mustered into the Union service, in the regiment commanded by Colonel Thomas Moore. D. K. Zeller was captain of the company of which Mr. Minton was a member, and the major part of the service of the command was in scouting duty in West Virginia. Mr. Minton had his full share of experience in connection with the hardships and perils marking the progress of the historic conflict between the states of the North and the South, and his military record was one that shall ever reflect credit upon him. He has in these later years vitalized the more gracious memories and associations of his career as a soldier by maintaining active affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic, that noble and patriotic organization whose ranks are being rapidly thinned year by year. After the close of the war Mr. Minton resumed his association with agricultural pursuits in Butler county, and here, in the year 1873, he wedded Miss Catherine Fye, the daughter of Samuel and Mary (Boyd) Fye, highly respected pioneers of Butler county, who was still a comparatively young woman at the time of her death and who is survived by two children - Edna, who is the wife of Dr. D. A. Sexton, and Hazel, who is the wife of Charles Cochran, of Ross township, Butler county. After his marriage Mr. Minton engaged in farm operations on a place to the east of his present homestead, and there he continued his operations until his removal to the present home farm, which comprises eighty-six acres, on the Colerain pike, this being one of the model farms of Butler county. In an adjoining township Mr. Minton owns 190 acres of land, and this likewise is well improved, besides which he has fourteen acres of valuable timber land in the county. In 1901 William Minton married Myrtle, the daughter of John and Sallie (Boyd) Berryman of Lima, Ohio. Mrs. Minton is a gifted musician and has traveled extensively in this country and in foreign lands. She has frequently entered into the social activities of Hamilton and Butler county and during the World war she did Red Cross work, assisted in home-talent affairs and went to Camp Sherman as an entertainer. Mrs. Minton is a member of the Woman's club of Hamilton, is a Daughter of the American Revolution and belongs to the George Washington Memorial association. Mr. and Mrs. Minton spend their winters in Hamilton, though Mr. Minton continues to give a general supervision to the farm properties. Mr. Minton has been a resourceful and spirited advocate of progress in all departments of farm enterprise, and his liberality and public spirit have been of insistent and constructive order. From the governor of Ohio he received appointment to serve with other representative farmers as a delegate to the Farmers' National Congress, and he has thus served at several of the assemblies of this important organization, in the work of which he has taken a commendable interest and active part. Mr. Minton served as a member of the Ohio State Commission of the Nashville, Tennessee, Exposition. Political ambition of a personal type has never agitated Mr. Minton, but he is a man of strong convictions relative to matters of economic and governmental policy and accords unwavering

Page 501

allegiance to the Republican party. Both he and his wife are liberal contributors to church and philanthropic work. It may well be noted that Mr. Minton was a boyhood friend and playmate of Judge Kenesaw M. Landis, the distinguished jurist who is now serving on the bench of the Federal District Court in the city of Chicago, and Mr. Minton has had the pleasure of entertaining the judge on various occasions when the latter has visited the scenes of his boyhood.

William H. Minton, office manager of the American Rolling Mill, Middletown, has been a resident of this city for twenty-three years, except for three years spent in Springfield, Ill., and during this time has risen to a position of great trust and responsibility in business circles and to high estate in citizenship. He was born at West Milton, Ohio, December 23, 1869, a son of Dr. William H. H. and Elizabeth (Shellenbarger) Minton. His forefathers, natives of New Jersey, left that state, several of whom located in Kentucky. One of these brothers became a farmer in the vicinity of Hopkinsville, Ky., and at one time owned the farm adjoining that which was owned by the family that gave to this country the Great Emancipator. His great-grandfather, however, selected the Miami valley of Ohio as the scene for his activities. His father was born and reared in Dayton and engaged in the practice of medicine at West Milton and other points, and became one of the leading physicians of his day and locality, with a record of three and one-half years of valiant service during the Civil war as assistant surgeon attached to a regiment of Ohio volunteers in the Union Army. For years he practised at Bradford, Ohio, where his death occurred in May, 1910. He was sincerely mourned as physician, man and citizen. Doctor Minton was twice married and had three children by his first union: William H., Ellis, and Kitty, the two latter deceased. The mother, Elizabeth Shellenbarger Minton, was the daughter of Peter and Ann Ullery Shellenbarger whose ancestors were among the first settlers of the Miami valley, and who were prominent in the upbuilding of both state and nation. William H. Minton was but one and a half years old when his mother died and he was reared by a stepmother. To the second union was born William Arthur, Paul and Ruth. Mr. Minton received good educational advantages, and immediately after his graduation from the Bradford High school went to Omaha, Nebr., where he became bookkeeper for an implement house. In January, 1896, he returned to Ohio, having been transferred by his firm to the McSherry Manufacturing company at Middletown, and remained with that concern in Middletown and Springfield, Ill., until entering the service of the American Rolling Mill, in 1912, as office manager. He is a man of marked capacity, fully qualified by nature and training to discharge the responsible duties of his office. Mr. Minton was married August 28, 1894, to Evangeline Shiller, of Omaha, Nebr. To this union there have been born two children: Adelaide and Sarah Elizabeth. The former is taking a nurse's training course at the Jewish hospital, Cincinnati. The latter was married on November 19, 1919, to John Brown McKee of Cincinnati. The mother of

Page 502

these children died October 15, 1913. August 15, 1916, Mr. Minton married Nellie, daughter of Dr. Warren F. and Clyde (Gordon) Reed, of Ottawa, Ohio, and they have one son,-William Warren born June 30, 1917. Mrs. Minton, a brilliant woman with a charming personality, is a graduate of the Ottawa High school, and the National Park seminary, at Washington, D. C., and completed her education with a nurse's training course at the Jewish hospital, Cincinnati. On both sides of the family she belongs to old and honored families of Ohio, and her maternal grandfather, John Gordon, was one of the early recorders of Butler county. Her father, Dr. Warren F. Reed, who was for years engaged in the practice of medicine at Ottawa, where he was one of his community's distinguished citizens, died in March, 1913, while her mother still survives and makes her home at Ottawa. Mr. Minton's brother, Dr. William A. Minton, took over his father's practice, and is successfully engaged in professional work at Bradford, Ohio. Mr. Minton is a Republican in his political allegiance. He and Mrs. Minton occupy a splendid home on Linden avenue, and are actively engaged in the work of the Presbyterian church, of which both are members.

George Edward Mitchell. Prominent among the men whose lifetime energies have been centered in the work of producing food products as tillers of the soil, is found George Edward Mitchell, for many years a resident of Oxford township, where he is respected and esteemed both as farmer and citizen. Mr. Mitchell was born in this township, July 5, 1858, a son of William and Mary (Booth) Mitchell, natives of Yorkshire, England, each of whom came when young to the United States. The Mitchells settled one-half mile below the present farm of their son, C. H. Mitchell, which was the original settlement place of the Booth family. William Booth, an uncle on the maternal side of George Edward Mitchell, and Daniel Mitchell, an uncle on the paternal side, fought as soldiers of the Union during the Civil war. To William and Mary (Booth) Mitchell there were born the following children: Mary Jane, who became the wife of William Ayres; Sarah, who became the wife of A. Booth; C. H., George E., John W., deceased; Sophia B., Fred W. and Fannie P. The township schools of Butler county furnished George Edward Mitchell with his educational training, and during the vacation periods he assisted his father in the work of the home farm, and not long after he entered upon his independent career he was married to Erminie, daughter of Alfred and Irene (Roseboom) Carle, of Springdale, Hamilton county, Ohio. Mrs. Mitchell has one sister, Mrs. William House of Butler county. To Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell there were born: John W., who while attending Miami university was in the student officers' training camp; Grace B., a graduate of Oxford Normal school, now the wife of Fred Pfister of Oxford township; Mary E., the wife of A. A. Murdock; George E. and Erminie. As a farmer Mr. Mitchell has always been a raiser of large crops and a feeder of stock. He is considered one of the skilled farmers of his district, and is known as a good neighbor and a public-spirited citizen. His farm, consisting of l00 acres of

Page 503

valuable land, boasts of numerous modern improvements, and Mr. Mitchell, taking a pride in the appearance of his property, is constantly endeavoring to make it more attractive as a modern country estate. As a fraternalist he is popular as a member of the local lodge of Odd Fellows, and is likewise a thirty-second degree Mason.

Louis Mock, the beginning of whose agricultural experience in Butler county was coincident with the early history of the county's real growth, and who was for an extended lifetime one of the prosperous and prominent agriculturists of Madison township, passed the entire period of his active career in close communion with the soil. A man of real worth and ability, of high character and marked public spirit, he was widely and well known, and when he died, September, 1909, there were many to mourn his loss. Mr. Mock was born in Germany, January 12, 1844, a son of Godfried and Hannah (Flindchpach) Mock, natives of that country. The family emigrated to the United States in search of greater opportunities than they could enjoy in their own land, in 1853, and found conditions to their liking in the vicinity of Germantown, O., where for some years they lived on a farm. Later in life the father removed with his family to Madison township, Butler county, where he continued to be successfully engaged in agricultural operations during the remainder of a long, active and useful life. He and his worthy wife were members of the United Brethren church and the parents of five children, namely: Louis; Christopher; Mollie, who married Henry Selby; Elizabeth, deceased; and Caroline, who married Daniel Sinkey, of Madison township. The boyhood of Louis Mock was divided between attending school and working on the home farm, and he was reared in a family in which due attention was given to proper training along the lines of industry and the value of money. He resided at home until the time of his marriage, in January, 1868, to Miss Maggie Kohnle, who was born in Germany, a daughter of Gottlieb and Christina (Kramer) Kohnle, who came to the United States in 1854, and settled at Germantown, where they made their home for five years. The father of Mrs. Mock was a baker and miller by vocations, and in later life went to Dayton, where he owned and operated a mill for five years, and where his death occurred at the age of sixty years. He was one of the industrious and honorable men of his locality and had numerous friends and well-wishers among his fellow-citizens, whose confidence he never betrayed in business affairs. His widow survived him for a long period, and was eighty years of age at the time she died at the home of her datlghter, Mrs. Mock, in Madison township. There were seven children in the Kohnle family: Gottlieb, a retired miller of St. Marys, Ohio; John, a baker at Los Angeles, Cal.; Lawrence, deceased, who was a miller; Maggie, now Mrs. Mock; George, a baker by trade, for thirty years a member of the Regular army, with which he died while serving in the Philippine Islands; Fred, an Inspector at Dayton, O.; and Henry, a moulder of that city. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Mock: Hannah, who married Alvin Leiwig and has ten children, - Emma, Florence, Windsor, Helen, Bessie, Elva, Rowina, Ethel, LeRue and

Page 504

Claris; Katie, who married L. A. Longman, a farmer of Madison township and has one son, Russell; and Sadie, who married John Gilbert, an engineer of Middletown, and has three children, - Ruth, Harold and Willodine. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Mock settled on a farm in section 9, Madison township, and there the career of this honorable agriculturist was completed in the pursuits of agriculture. The married life of Mr. Mock was a particularly harmonious one, and it was perhaps in the circle of his immediate family that his considerate and lovable traits were most in evidence. He was kindness itself to those dependent upon his support, and the soul of loyalty to the friends who brightened his pathway with their appreciation and regard. Shrewd business ability and a capacity for saving left his family in comfortable circumstances, but more than aught else do they treasure the legacy of a good name and noble purpose, which grew out of the life and efforts of one of Madison township's good citizens. Mr. Mock was a Democrat in politics, while his religious connection was with the United Brethren church, to which his widow also belongs. This most estimable woman, who still makes her home on the farm, now conducted by a manager, cherishes many happy memories of the early days in this locality, and during her long residence here has made and maintained numerous friendships.

Orley H. Moles, who is connected with the American Rolling Mill company at Middletown, shares with the late R. B. Carnahan the distinction of having developed the idea and process of ingot iron, which has been one of the main factors in the success of the company which he represents. Mr. Moles was born at Laurel, Ind., September 3, 1870, a son of Marion J. and Martha (Rollins) Moles, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of North Carolina, who were married in the former state in 1866. Marion J. Moles, who was originally a farmer by vocation, moved from Indiana to Decatur, Ala., in 1879, and one year later the mother died, leaving to Orley H., the eldest, the responsibility for the rearing of his younger brothers and sister, namely: William Allen; Ida Alice, who is now Mrs. Albert Castell, of Alabama; Rev. Georg.e Franklin and Rev. Thomas Marion, ministers of the Methodist and Baptist churches respectively; and Elmer, who is now deceased. The father of these children died in 1899. Orley H. Moles completed his education in the public schools of Alabama. He received his introduction to the steel business at Muncie, Ind., from there he removed to Alabama, and then as a young man returned to Indiana, where, October 21, 1903, he married Mada Arizona Hasting, who was born at Fairmont, Ind., April 28, 1874, a daughter of Carter and Elizabeth (Rowe) Hasting, and a granddaughter on the maternal side of John and Mary Ann (Thomas) Smith. Mrs. Moles' father died in January, 1908, and her mother, November 2, 1919. In 1900 Mr. Moles came to Middletown to assist in starting the American Rolling Mill company's plant, with which he has been connected ever since, at this time being employed in the capacity of a melter. He assisted in the tapping of the first iron at this plant, and has subsequently been tireless in his efforts in the development of the

Page 505

company's principal product. Associated with the late R. B. Carnahan, he discovered ingot iron, which has been such a great factor in building up the American Rolling mill. Mr. Carnahan often stated that he never could have achieved the success he did in his invention had it not been for Mr. Moles' assistance, and at the Panama-Pacific International exposition, the latter was awarded a bronze medal for the work which he had accomplished in the production of an article of world-wide usefulness. Mr. Carnahan always numbered Mr. Moles among his nearest and dearest friends, and the latter served as a pall-bearer at the time of Mr. Carnahan's death. Mr. Moles is a conservative, unassuming man, of generous impulses, who is admired by all who know him for his sterling traits of character. In politics he is a Republican, but has had no desire for public office or political preferment. Fraternally he belongs to all Masonic bodies. He and Mrs. Moles are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and reside in their own home, an attractive modern residence situated on Garfield avenue.

Frank Moon, one of the progressive business men and public-spirited citizens of Middletown, was born at Midland City, Clinton county, Ohio, September 24, 1872, a son of James C. and Eliza (Carey) Moon, and was still a youth when he moved to Middletown with his parents. When he had completed his public school education, he secured employment with the Sorg Tobacco company, and later applied himself to learning the trade of barber, a vocation to which he applied himself for about fifteen years. In the meantime he had dealt to some extent in real estate, and is now the possessor of two of the most valuable business houses on Main street. He has an excellent reputation in business circles and as a citizen has always been found supporting measures that have benefited Middletown and its people. In political affairs he is a Republican, although inclined to be liberal, and his fraternal affiliations are with the Junior Order of United American Mechanics and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, in both of which orders he has numerous friends. With his family, he belongs to the Methodist church. Mr. Moon was married October 6, 1892, to Henrietta Irene, daughter of Ira P. and Elizabeth M. (Bolmer) Dakin, who still make their home with their daughter and son-in-law on Young street. The father, who was born at Harveysburg, Ohio, October 11, 1853, is an inventive genius and was granted a patent by the United States Government on a device for the protection of fruit trees. Mrs. Dakin was born August 2, 1851, at Franklin, Ohio. They have been the parents of seven children: Retta Irene, now Mrs. Moon; Sylvester, who is deceased; Chandler LeRoy; Leonard Clement; Josie D. ; Addie Maria; and Raymond Harrison, deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Moon there have been born ten children: Bertha, the wife of Ever Eberhardt, with two children, - Mildred Louise and Fayette; Mamie, the widow of Braxton Te\vart; Etta Marie, deceased; Earl; Irwin; Raymond Harrison; Retta Irene; Edwin Arthur; Frances Elizabeth; and Addie.

William H. Moon. Few families of Clinton county, Ohio, are as prominent as that which bears the name of Moon, not only

Page 506

because of its extensive membership and high standard of citizenship, but because of the extent of its ancestral history for several centuries back in Denmark. History relates that this family has never been conquered. On one occasion the king of England made a requisition on the king of Denmark for a regiment of soldiers a bodyguard for His Majesty himself. The Danish monarch, regarding this as an honor, issued orders for the best men of his kingdom to be selected, persons erect in stature, of athletic build, light complexioned, with blue eyes and red hair. A regiment from the best families fully corresponding to the orders was organized and sent to the English king, and the banner which it bore, in addition to the national colors, included the representation of a half-moon, the regiment being known as the Moon Regiment. For efficient service the king of England gave them land, and they formed a colony, unanimously adopting the name of Moon, in which name the land was given. In 1682, at the time of the advent of William Penn in America, a colony of Moons was founded in Bucks county, Pa., and from there the family is traced to Red Stone, western Pennsylvania, and from New York to Virginia, the deed of land from William Penn being given to John and Jasper Moon. In the spring of 1808 Daniel and Joseph Moon came to Highland county and settled near Martinsville. Their descendants included the following children: Sarah A., who became Mrs. Elmore Clark; Diantha, who became Mrs. W. J. Kilsoe; Thomas W., who married Margaret Carey; Mary J., who became Mrs. Ambrose Smith; James C., born November 11, 1835, who married Eliza Carey; Mary J., who became Mrs. Andrew Beals; Phoebe; Joseph B., Daniel C.; Simon P., who married Rebecca Stephenson; Jesse, who married Ruth Davis; and Lydia M. Among the well-known members of the Moon family now residing at Middletown is William H. Moon. His grandfather, Thomas Moon, who died September 4, 1902, at the remarkable age of ninety-seven years, was a son of Joseph and Sarah (Comer) Moon, and was born at Bays Mountain, Jefferson county, Tenn., May 23, 1805. He was married at Lebanon, Tenn., April 7, 1825, to Mary Chew, who was born September 7, 1807, a daughter of Andrew and Mary (Chew) Chew, natives of Warren county, Ohio. James C. Moon, the father of William H. Moon, came to Middletown in 1888 from Martinsville, Ohio, and followed the carpenter trade until his death, December 6, 1896. He was a veteran of the Civil war, in which he fought with the 63d Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Mr. Moon married Eliza Carey, who died August 6, 1882, and they became the parents of the following children: Lydia, the wife of Daniel C. Mills, of Middletown; John T., of this city; Jennie, who married H. Kelsoe, of Colorado; Robert, of Guthrie, Okla.; Susie, deceased; Newton, of Middletown; Nettie, the wife of George Friedley, of Oklahoma; Olive, the wife of Elmer Benson, of Oklahoma; William H., of this notice; Frank M., of Middletown; Edwin L., of Grand Junction, Colo.; Bertha E., the wife of Jacob Ward, of Middletown; Earl, deceased; and Lavina, the wife of Fred Leopold, of Nebraska. William H. Moon was born in Clinton county, Ohio, May 13, 1870, and there attended the

Page 507

public schools until he was fourteen years of age, at which time he went to Kansas. After three years in that state, he went to Nebraska, where he was married, and March 27, 1895, came to Middletown where he began to follow the trade of carpenter. At the present time he is connected with the Prudential Life Insurance company, and is accounted one of his city's reliable and substantial citizens. He is a member of the local lodges of the Loyal Order of Moose and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and is a constructive citizen who gives his support to all worthy movements. December 31, 1890, Mr. Moon married Amanda Rubeck, who was born September 3, 1872, a daughter of John and Eliza (Swanson) Rubeck. Her father, who fought during the Civil war as a member of a Nebraska regiment of volunteer infantry, died December 19, 1902; and her mother passed away in 1907. To Mr. and Mrs. Moon there have been born ten children: Fearole Evelyn, who resides with her parents; DeForest, who died in the United States service at Vera Cruz, June 10, 1915; Paul B., deceased; Norman, Margaret, Edith, Bernal Rubeck and Harold, of Middletown; Robert, deceased; and Edna Elizabeth, a beautiful child and the pride of the home, who died from injuries received when struck by an automobile at Middletown, June 28, 1919.

Hugh Miller Moore, M. D. Of the men devoted to the science of healing in Butler county, none brings to bear upon his calling larger gifts of scholarship than Dr. Hugh Miller Moore, of Oxford. For the past decade and a half his name has been increasingly identified with the best tenets of medical and surgical science, and by many of the longest established and most conservative families his skill, resource and obliging temperament have come to be regarded as indispensable. Doctor Moore was born at Venice, Ohio, April 20, 1876, a son of Rev. D. R. Moore, D. D., and a grandson of Rev. William H. Moore, for many years a leading Presbyterian divine. Rev. D. R. Moore was born at Rising Sun, Ohio, and attended Miami university, where, he met as a fellow-student, Elvira Gilchrist, who later became his first wife, and Hugh Miller Moore was the only child of this union. She was a daughter of Dr. Hugh Gilchrist, a noted practitioner of medicine of his day. After graduating from Miami university, Reverend Moore attended Lane seminary, where he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity and entered the ministry of the Presbyterian church, subsequently holding pastorates at Brookville, Logan, South Salem and Bond Hill, Ohio. When he retired from the ministry he adopted agricultural pursuits as his vocation, and at present is residing on a farm near Billingsville, Ohio. His first wife died at Brookville, in 1881, and he later married Clara King, they becoming the parents of five children: Dr. Paul, a successful practising physician of Cleveland, Ohio; Stanley, a farmer, who carries on operations for his father; Ross, who is also engaged in farming, near Liberty, Ind.; Hazelett, a physician, engaged in practice in association with his brother Hugh M.; and Robert, aged seventeen years, who is a helmsman in the United States Naval Reserves. After attending the public schools Doctor Moore entered Miami university, where he secured

Page 508

the degree of Master of Science, following which he went to Johns Hopkins university for his medical training and was duly graduated after a brilliant college career wiIth the degree of Doctor of Medicine. To further prepare himself for his life work, he took post-graduate work at Prague and Berlin, and eventually settled at Oxford where he has since built up a gratifyingly large and prominent practice. Doctor Moore has the zeal which recognizes no limitations to his calling, and the great unrest which projects him into ever-widening channels of research. Energy, adaptability, gentleness and sympathy have blazed the way for the acquirement of valuable professional compensations, and a realization of professional ambitions, and by the same token it may be said of Doctor Moore that much is promised to a man who has, in addition, the maturity, practical experience and broad outlook on life of fortythree years. During the great war he offered his services to his Government, and was accepted as a member of the Medical Reserve Corps. In addition to his professional interests, he has important connections in other fields of endeavor, and is vice-president of the Farmers Bank of Oxford, of which he was one of the organizers, and is the owner of a large farm in Franklin county, as well as valuable property at Oxford. He is a member of the various bodies of his profession, being a Fellow of the American Academy of Medicine, and has important associations in civic and social life. At the time he settled at Oxford, he was married to Gertrude Burrill, of Baird, Texas, who was a student at Oxford Female college. His present wife, with whom he was united February 19, 1919, was formerly Miss Elizabeth Beaton of Oxford, daughter of Daniel Beaton.

L. L. Morehouse, son of Alfred and Hannah (Gillespie) Morehouse, was born in Morgan township, November 9, 1865. His mother was a daughter of Alexander and Mary (Pierson) Gillespie. The parents of L. L. Morehouse lived in Morgan township their entire lives. To them were born the following children: L. L ; Hattie, deceased, who married Dr. E. A. Sturm, now of Lockland. L. L. Morehouse was educated at the Millville school of Ross township. At Millville, after he had finished school, he occupied himself as dealer in horses and his business career thereafter was active and varied, and for a time dealt in fine buggies and harness, and later he was salesman of acetylene gas plants made by the Davis company of Elkhart, Ind. He now lives on the old Andres Jones farm in Morgan township, where he is engaged in extensive farming. In addition to these interests, he deals in a fertilizer prepared by the Globe company of Louisville, Ky. In 1909, he married Vida Williamson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jasper Williamson, of New Haven, Harrison county, Ohio. To L. L. Morehouse and his wife have been born these children: Maud M., Martha M., Lee, and Alfred J. Morehouse. In addition to the farm of 185 acres in Morgan township, he owns 400 acres in Arizona, acquired while he was traveling through the southwest some years ago. Ross township honored him by selecting him as its assessor. He is Democrat in politics, and a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge. Like

Page 509

other. patriotic Americans, Mr. Morehouse threw himself with great zeal into war work during the recent conflict, and secured great and worth-while results from his work for his country.

L. E. Moreland. Located not far from College Corner, Ohio, are the famous Tallewanda springs, from which comes the fundamental product which, with other ingredients, is used in the manufacture of Tallewanda ginger ale, a carbonated, non-alcoholic beverage that has found much favor with the public. The success of this product may be largely accredited to L. E. Moreland, whose splendid business abilities have been centered in manufacturing and marketing the beverage, and who has always been one of the best of boosters for Colleg'e Corner and its institutions. Mr. Moreland was born at Covington, Ky., where he received his education in the public schools and where for four years he was employed by the United States Government in the capacity of gauger. In 1894 he formed a connection with the Joseph R. Peebles' Sons company of Cincinnati, and became manager for them of Tallewanda springs, and since that time has had entire charge of the bottling and marketing of the beverage mentioned. He is a business man of excellent ability and of the highest standing in commercial circles, and has labored assiduously for the welfare of the community, having been particularly active in his support of all enterprises tending to advance the interests of College Corner. As a voter, he prefers to use his own judgment in his choice of candidates, and therefore has not allied himself with any party, nor has he drawn factional lines. He is active in lodge work, belonging to the Masons at Liberty, Ind., and the Knights of Pythias, I. O. O. F. and Modern Woodmen at College Corner, and is very popular in his home community, in addition to having numerous friends elsewhere. Mr. Moreland married Miss Grace Scott of Louisville, Ky., and they have three daughters.

Ben Morgan. Self-acquired wealth, liberal ideas, ambitions expressed in the promotion of agriculture, education, religion and simplicity of living, as well as unquestioned public and private integrity, constitute the fundamentals upon which rest the enviable standing and reputation of Ben Morgan, one of the substantial agriculturists of Lemon township, Butler county. It has been Mr. Morgan's destiny to have been connected with Butler county all of his life and to have worthily perpetuated the name of his late honored soldier father. Ben Morgan was born at Lebanon, Warren county, O., in 1867, a son of Col. Ben Morgan. His father, as one of the substantial and influential men of this part of the Miami valley was widely known because of his firm stand upon principles which he believed were right. The Civil war came on to give him an opportunity of demonstrating his real worth, and when strong men were needed to support the cause of the Union, he offered his body and his services to the Government. His offer was accepted, and October 7, 1861, he was appointed recruiting officer for the 75th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered into the service for three years. When the regiment reached its full quota he was appointed and commissioned captain of Company F, and

Page 510

the strenuous preparatory work and drilling continued uninterruptedly until January, 1862, when the regiment, under command of Col. N. C. McLean, was ordered to the field and joined the forces of General Milroy in West Virginia, where they assisted in driving the enemy over the Alleghany mountains. June 11, 1863, Captain Morgan, by appointment and commission, became Lieut. Col. Morgan, and less than three weeks later, July 1, 1863, was wounded at the battle of Gettysburg while his regiment was gallantly withstanding a galling fire. At the battle of Gainesville, August 17, 1864, he was captured by the enemy, but was soon exchanged and rejoined his regiment, with which he continued to fight bravely until receiving his honorable discharge, March 15, 1865, at Jacksonville, Fla., at the termination of his term of service. Among the battles of the 75th Ohio, in which Colonel Morgan participated were: Monterey, Va., April 12, 1862; Shaw's Ridge, Va., 1862; McDowell, Va., May 8, 1862; Franklin, Va., 1862; Strasburg, Va., June 1-2, 1862; Cross Keys, Va., June 8, 1862; Cedar Mountain, Va., August 8, 1862; Freemans Ford, Va., August 24, 1862; Waterloo Bridge, August 23-25, 1862; Sulphur Springs, Va., August 25, 1862; Second Bull Run, August 30, 1862; Aldie, Va., October 30, 1862; Chancellorsville, Va., May 1-4, 1863; Gettysburg, Pa., July 1-3, 1863; Hagerstown, Md., July 11, 1863; Fort Wagner, S. C., August 18 - September 7, 1863; Johns Island, S. C., July 5-9, 1864; Camp Baldwin, Fla., August 14, 1864; Gainesville, Fla., August 17, 1864; Pocataligo Bridge, S. C., January 14-16, 1865; and Charleston, S. C., February 18, 1865. Following the war, Colonel Morgan returned to Warren county, O., resumed his business activities, and spent the remainder of his life at Franklin, where his civilian record was one that rivalled his army exploits. Before engaging with Uncle Sam, Colonel Morgan took unto himself a helpmate from Warren county. He was greatly respected in the community and won business success and personal prominence. Ben Morgan received a public school education at Lebanon, and grew up in the midst of an agricultural community, so that when he was called upon to choose a career, decided upon farming for his life work. He has had no reason to regret his choice, for he has been prosperous in his undertakings and is now accounted one of the well-to-do men of his township, where he is engaged in mixed farming and stock raising. He has shown an active and helpful interest in the civic affairs of Lemon township, and has served very acceptably in the capacities of assessor and member of the board of school directors. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, and he and his wife and children belong to the Methodist church and support its movements. Mr. Morgan was married in 1898 to Miss Louella Knecht, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (McCormick) Knecht, residents of Butler county, O., and to this union there have been born three children: Ben Donald, Mark and Joseph T.

James Wesley Morris, a native of Butler county, Ohio, and one of its substantial farmers, was born in Fairfield township, April 6, 1862, son of L. D. and Sarah C. (Bobmeyer) Morris, the former of whom was born in Delaware and the latter in Butler county.

Page 511

On coming to Butler county, L. D. Morris engaged in farming and married Sarah C. Bobmeyer, who was the daughter of John.C. and Salome (Dubbs) Bobmeyer, who lived in Fairfield townshlP, and who had ten children: Frank; Henry; Susan, Mrs. S. M. Morris; Sarah C., mother of the subject of this review; John; Charles; Margaret, Mrs. Andy Schuler; Mary, Mrs. C. W. Riffle; Eliza, Mrs. Charles Smith; and Clara, Mrs. Andy Fox. The parents of James W. Morris lived in Fairfield township, and he was the only son born to them. The father died in 1862, and the second marriage of his widow was to William W. Graham, to which union there were seven children born: Albert, married Anna Fields; John, married Gertrude Shepherd; Walter, married Helen Davis; Charles, deceased; Ann, Mrs. Harry Smith; Maude, Mrs. William Lank; Clara, Mrs. Harry Foraker. James Wesley Morris, the subject of this sketch, after finishing in the public schools, completed his education through courses in both the Lebanon Normal, and Wesleyan university at Delaware, Ohio. On leaving the university, he engaged in farming as his life work. On January 14, 1886, he married Lillian Dilg, one of eighteen children born to George J. and Mary (Pfau) Dilg of Hamilton, Ohio. After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Morris located on their own farm of 146 acres in Fairfield township, and still live there. Mr. Morris has been very successful throughout his life, and is the owner of one of the most desirable farms in the township. It is admirably situated, well-equipped, and in a high state of cultivation. To add to its desirability, it is set off with a very handsome and well-arranged home, and as a whole, the place is most delightful and attractive. To Mr. and Mrs. Morris nine children have been born, one of whom died in infancy. The others are: James Wesley, jr.; Charles F.; Edward Leland; Dow; Robert P.; Harry A.; Lillie; and Alice. J. Wesley, jr., married Elizabeth Humphries; he is a graduate of Miami university and the Cincinnati Law school, and is a successful attorney of Hamilton. Charles married Grace Gilbert, and they have a daughter, Ruth. Edward Leland married Edith Kohler, and they have three children, Stanford, Mary Edith, and Helen. Dow married Edna Kohler, and is assistant to his father on the farm. James Wesley, jr., and Robert were both with the U. S. Army in France. James entered the infantry as a private for service on the Mexican border with the National Guard contingent, was promoted to lieutenant, and served on the front in France. Robert entered the National Guard as an infantry private in 1917, was promoted to sergeant, and served in France also. Mr. Morris, sr., is regarded as one of the substantial men of the community. He takes much interest in public affairs and has served the people of his tovvnship in the capacity of clerk, appraiser, and member of the school board. In politics he is a Democrat.

Frank B. Morton, one of the prominent and influential citizens and substantial agriculturists and stock raisers of Oxford township, has been engaged in farming all of his life in Butler county. He is not unknown to public life, as on several occasions he has filled township offices very acceptably. Mr. Morton was born near

Page 512

Darrtown, Butler county, Ohio, in Milford township, in 1867 a son of Andrew and Jennie (Ogle) Morton, also natives of that township. The parents went to the common schools of their day, were reared in an agricultural atmosphere, and after their marriage settled on the old Ogle homestead near Darrtown, to the east. Later the father went to Arkansas, in 1894, where he resided about six years, dying in 1899, his widow now being a resident of Darlington, Wis. In the early days the father was a great hunter and expert shot with a rifle. He was a staunch Democrat, and was a man of unswerving integrity. He and Mrs. Morton were the parents of nine children, of whom five are living: McQuinston, Mrs. Otie Neff, Mrs. Pauline Davis, Frank B. and Mrs. Bessie Weekley. Frank B. Morton was educated in the public schools of Milford township and resided on the home place until he was twenty-seven years of age. He was married in 1898 to Vada Kennedy, who was born in Oxford township on the farm on which they now make their home, a daughter of Charles and Leona Kennedy, the former of Oxford township and the latter of Millersburg, Ind. Mr. Kennedy, who followed farming all his life in Oxford township, died in 1911, and his widow still makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Morton. There are five children in the Morton family: Raybourn, a resident of Hamilton; Vada, of Kenton, Ohio; Columbus O., at home; Curtis, who is now in the United States Regular Army; and Lewis, who lives in Darke county. Mr. Morton has always been a farmer, and he and his wife now have a 114-acre farm, on which he carries on general operations and also raises hogs and cattle. As before noted, he has always taken an interest in township affairs, and has been elected to a number of offices as a candidate of the Democratic party. His career has been a successful one, and he is justly accounted one of his community's representative citizens of the best agricultural class.

Robert Mosbaugh, D. D. S. The professional career of Dr. Robert Mosbaugh has left a definite impression upon the dental history of College Corner. This thriving community, to which he came in 1914, offered a promising field for the young practitioner, and the citizens who have watched his advancement have never regretted the confidence which they placed in his skill, knowledge and enthusiasm. He has accepted the opportunities of the town of his adoption, has fashioned his resources to its needs, and has reflected sincerity, capability and genuine worth upon a profession for which he is undeniably and admirably equipped, being the first to install X-ray equipment and apply it to the dental profession in this vicinity. Doctor Mosbaugh was born at Cambridge City, Ind., a son of Frank and Alice (Lackey) Mosbaugh, who still reside at that place. Frank Mosbaugh, a Civil war Veteran, is one of the prominent and influential citizens of Cambridge City, where he is owner and publisher of the Cambridge City Tribune. The other child in the family is John Mosbaugh, who is an accountant by vocation. Robert Mosbaugh attended the graded and high schools of Cambridge City, Ind., and as a young man studied dentistry in the Cincinnati Dental college. Subsequently he entered the Ohio

Page 513

State university, where he completed the course in dentistry and secured his degree, and at that time located at Oxford, where he followed his calling for six years. In 1914 he changed his location to College Center, where he is now accounted one of the leading professional men of the community, and has an excellent patronage among the representative people of the town. When he left college halls, he did not, like so many, give up his research and investigation into dental science, but on the contrary has continued to be a close, careful and assiduous student, a reader of dental literature and a man who keeps closely abreast of the advancements made in his calling through membership in the leading organizations and through subscription to the principal periodicals. Doctor Mosbaugh was married in 1914 to Nina Pentecost, of this community, daughter of Thomas and Mary Pentecost, of a well-known College Corner family. To this union there has come one son, Richard, who was born in 1917. Doctor Mosbaugh is a Mason. During the period of the war he was a member of the dental practitioners' branch of the National Preparedness League of America, and was particularly active in the work of the Red Cross society, in which he was aided by Mrs. Mosbaugh.

Mosler Safe Company. In the mind of everyone at all familiar with manufacturing affairs, the name Mosler at once suggests the proud position which the city of Hamilton has attained among the centers of safe manufacturing in the United States, owing to the intimate connection of Moses, Julius and William Mosler, alike with the inception and the development of this important department of manufactures and commerce in Ohio. The Mosler Safe company was organized by these gentlemen at Cincinnati, Ohio, under the name of the Mosler Safe and Lock company, the first factory being on Pearl street. Later the business outgrew the original plant and the company moved to another location in the same city, this being followed by removal to a still larger place of business on Elm street. Subsequent growth and expansion warranted the building of a new factory on Front street, Cincinnati but this likewise proved inadequade to handle the constantly increasing volume of business, and in 1890 it was decided to come to Hamilton, where there would be ample room for the plant to expand as conditions necessitated. Here the plant now occupies ten acres of ground, bounded by Grand boulevard, Lincoln avenue, Safe avenue and Mosler avenue, and one workroom alone is 200x400 feet. This company, always progressive and enterprising, has been responsible for most of the great advances made in safe manufacture during the past three decades. In introduced the present round-cornered safe, and improved time locks to their present high standard of efficiency, and is to be credited with many other improvements in safe construction, such as burglar-proof walls and safes locked with time locks, which, being inside the walls with the door closed air-tight in its jamb, are inaccessible from outside. Of more recent years the company has manufactured the circular screw-door safe, which is absolutely impenetrable, for, there being no hole through the door for a lock-spindle, and therefore there being no

Page 514

such article, all locks inside are governed by a time lock. The company owns a great number of patents under which it is operating, and does a tremendous volume of business, with branches in every large city not only at home but abroad. During the period of the United States' participation in the World war, the company was extensively engaged in Government war contracts. Julius Mosler, one of the founders of the business, died in 1890, since which time the business has been directed by Moses Mosler, president, and William Mosler, vice-president, with their associates, J. G. Donaldson, secretary; and H. G. Mosler, assistant treasurer. Tne best commentary upon the enterprise and perseverance of the founders of this business is afforded by the immense establishment which they own and conduct, no less than by the record for business ability and commercial integrity which they have built up during four decades.

Addison Mount, a well-known and enterprising farmer of Hanover township, Butler county, has illustrated in his career the value of industry and energy when applied in a well-directed manner to the pursuits of agriculture. He has been pre-eminently the architect of his own fortune, and his prosperity has come as a result of the application of his natural talents and the acceptance of ordinary abilities. Mr. Mount was born near Trenton, N. J., November 12, 1855, a son of Thomas and Catherine (Fisher) Mount. Natives of New Jersey, the parents were educated, reared and married in that state, and there passed their lives in the pursuits of the soil. Of their twelve children, four are now living: Hiram, a retired farmer at Carlisle, Ohio; Kate, the wife of Peter Prime, a resident of New Jersey; Addison, of this notice; and William, of Trenton, N. J. Addison Mount was educated in the public schools of his native place and lived at home until after the death of his parents when, in 1875, he came west to Ohio. In 1880 Mr. Mount united in marriage with Clara Moses, of Franklin, Ohio, and they became the parents of seven children: Earl, identified with a bakery in New York City; Herman, who is a moulder at Hamilton, Ohio, and has an interest in his father's farm in Hanover township; John, following the same line at Middletown; Chester, a farmer in Montgomery county, Ohio; Burns, who served in the late war and went to France with the American Expeditionary Forces; Thomas, a farmer at Poast Town, Ohio; and Belle, who died in infancy. Following his marriage, Mr. Mount resided for two years in the vicinity of Troy, Ohio, and after selling out there spent a like period at Tippecanoe, Ohio. He then went to Madison township, Butler county, for four years, and in the spring of 1917 purchased his present farm, the Charles Beiser place, in Hanover township. This is an eighty-acre tract which has been brought to a high state of productiveness through good management, and on which he carries on general farming operations in a manner that leaves no doubt as to his entire ability, thorough knowledge of his occupation and general capacity for industry as well as for using modern methods in a way to make his labors fully repay him. He is a Republican in politics and is accounted a good and public-spirited citizen. He

Page 515

and Mrs. Mount are faithful members of the Old School Baptist church, and both are widely known and have many friends in Butler county.

E. C. Muff. For more than thirty years one of the sound and stable business institutions of Somerville, Butler county, has been the enterprise conducted under the name of the Somerville elevator. The proprietor of this business, E. C. Muff, came into possession of the concern in 1887, and during the intervening time has maintained high standards as to business principles and transactions, so that he is justly accounted today one of the leading business citizens of this thriving Miami valley community. Mr. Muff was born at Somerville, Ohio, in 1866, a son of John and Rachael (Antrim) Muff. His maternal grandfather was John Antrim, a native of New Jersey, who was one of the early settlers of Butler county, locating in Milford township in 1815. Securing land at the edge of the village of Somerville, he cleared it and put it under cultivation, developed a valuable farm, passed the rest of his life in agricultural pursuits, and died advanced in years, in 1879. He was a man widely known in the community and the confidence in which he was universally held caused him to be chosen for the responsible duties concerned with the settlement of estates and other matters of a like nature. He and his wife were the parents of six children, among whom was Rachael, who was born in Milford township. John Muff, father of E. C. Muff, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, and was a young man when he emigrated to the United States. He arrived in Butler county in 1848, but before he was well settled the reports of the discovery of gold in California swept across the country and he and his brother Christian joined the hurrying throngs who were crossing the prairies in answer to the lure of the precious metal. During the eleven years that he remained in California, both he and his brother were leaders among the miners, and in their accumulation of gain were very fortunate. Returning to Butler county, Mr. Muff settled on a farm south of Somerville, where he carried on operations for some years, but in 1877 turned his attention to the flour mill business, purchasing the mills at Somerville. He did not continue in this line long, however, but disposed of his interests and returned to farming, in which he was engaged until the time of his retirement. He died August 13, 1903, aged sixty-four years, in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he and his wife were members and in the work of which they were active. Mr. Muff was a strong Democrat, and as a man well known and highly respected wielded a strong influence in his community. He and his wife were the parents of three children: Edward C.; Stuart A., a retired farmer of New Carlisle, Ohio; and Sallie, the wife of E. L. Tracy. Edward C. Muff attended the public schools of Somerville and Lebanon, and as a young man secured his first business experience in association with his father. In 1887 he purchased the Somerville elevator and this business has since been built up to proportions and prominence where it is considered a necessary commercial adjunct to the city. The elevator, which is situated on the Pennsylvania railroad

Page 516

tracks, is 200x64 feet, and has bins below the floor with a capacity of 10,000 bushels. Mr. Muff also handles all kinds of grain, flour feed and seeds, and has built up a large and prosperous business in both departments of his enterprise. His commercial rating is of the best and those who have had dealings with him in the past have reason to place the utmost confidence in his integrity. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Masonic Blue Lodge at Camden, and Lodge No. 45, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Somerville. He has been a supporter of all local measures promising progress and is accounted a useful and constructive citizen. Mr. Muff was married in 1893 to Miranda, daughter of Daniel and Catherine (Pottinger) Andrews, of Butler county. Mrs. Muff is a graduate of the Hamilton High school, is possessed of numerous accomplishments, and being of the Presbyterian faith is active in the work of this church at Somerville. Mr. Muff is a Democrat in his political affiliation, and is interested in local affairs. There are three children in the family: Ruth C., the wife of Isaac C. Baker, an attorney of Somerville; Harper Hale, who was attending the Ohio State university at the time of his enlistment, in November, 1917, in the United States service, and was sent to Fort Thomas, where he joined the Fifteenth Company, Aero Squadron; and Howard K., who was attending the Ohio State university when he became a corporal in the S. A. T. C., the student army.

George Mullen. An evidence of thrift and economy exists in the cozy and comfortable home owned by George Mullen in the city of Middletown, where he is employed in the great plant of the American Rolling Mill, with which he has been identified since 1905. Mr. Mullen adds to the long list of men who have come to Ohio from other communities, and is a native of Pennsylvania, having been born at Pittsburg, April 10, 1878. His parents, Charles and Katie (Garrison) Mullen, moved from Pittsburg to Anderson, Ind., where they resided for a number of years, but located at Alexandria, Ind., and where Mr. Mullen still makes his home. Mrs. Mullen passed away May 5, 1904, at Anderson, Ind. They were the parents of four children: George; Lida, the wife of Wilson Adams of Anderson, Ind.; Stella, the wife of John Gamble, of Anderson; William, a resident of Middletown. George Mullen was a child when his parents removed to Anderson, Ind., and there his education was secured in the public schools. Later he began to work at his trade at Alexandria, Ind., but in 1905 came to Middletown and entered the employ of the American Rolling Mill company, where he is now employed as a heater. He has the confidence of his superiors at the plant, where he is accounted a reliable and trustworthy workman, and where he has the respect and esteem, as well as friendship, of his fellow-workmen. Mr. Mullen was married August 5, 1902, at Anderson, Ind., to Bessie Hisey, who was born December 20, 1881, at Columbus, Ind., a daughter of John and Janie (Slater) Hisey, the latter now deceased and the former living. There were eleven children in the Hisey family, as follows: Bessie, who is now Mrs. Mullen; Charles and William, residents of Chattanooga, Tenn.; Lottie, the wife of George Panketh of Sandusky,

Page 517

Ohio; Jess, of Chattanooga, Tenn.; Pearl, who died at the age of nineteen years; Bennie, who died in infancy; May, who died at the age of five years; Mabel, who died when four years old; and Maggie, the wife of William Stanley of Anderson, Ind. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mullen: Catherine, born at Anderson, Ind., March 19, 1904, and now attending school; Ruth, born July 5, 1906, at Middletown, and also attending school; and Martha Louise, born January 9, 1918, at Middletown. Mr. and Mrs. Mullen are members of the Methodist church, and reside in a splendid home on Wycoff avenue, in the Homestead addition, erected by Mr. Mullen in 1916. He is liberal in politics, and a member of the Eagles and the Amalgamated Association of Iron Workers.

William Mullendore. One of the well known and well-to-do representatives of the agricultural industry in Butler county, William Mullendore, has occupied his present farm in Lemon township since 1910. He was born in Gratis township, Preble county, Ohio, December 31, 1862, a son of Jacob and Mollie (Beachler) Mullendore. Jacob Mullendore was born in Pennsylvania, and was a lad when he accompanied his parents to Montgomery county, Ohio, there receiving a district school education and being reared to manhood as a farmer. Following his marriage there he moved to Preble county and settled in Gratis township, where he secured land, cleared and cultivated a farm, and established a comfortable home for himself and family. He was a man of more than ordinary intellectual capacity, having' been a teacher in his early years, was a great reader all of his life, and was a man respected and looked up to in his community. He also served as a colonel of Ohio State Militia at one time, and in his death, which occurred at the age of sixty-eight years, the community lost a good and dependable citizen and one of much public spirit. He held several public offices a.nd was influential in the ranks of the Democratic party. He and Mrs. Mullendore, who died at the age of seventy years, were members of the Lutheran church. They were the parents of nine children, of whom the following are living: Osro, of Germantown, Ohio; Ira, a retired farmer of that community; Jacob and Noah, farmers and merchants of Preble county; Annie, living in St. Clair township, Butler county; and William. William Mullendore obtained his edtlcation by attendance at the district schools and remained at home until his marriage to Minnie, daughter of Jacob Apple, of Montgomery county, Ohio. A sketch of the Apple family will be found in the review of Valentine Apple, elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Mullendore have four fine children, all of whom have been given the opportunity of securing good educations. Myrtle married Homer Lefferson, of Middletown, Ohio, a sketch of the Lefferson family being found elsewhere in this work. Carl W. formerly a farmer, is now the proprietor of an automobile garage at Franklin, Ohio. David Dewey and Paul Jacob are at home with their parents. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Mullendore located on a farm in Warren county, where they made their home and engaged in agricultural pursuits for eighteen years, but in

Page 518

1910 disposed of their interests there and came to Butler county, where they secured by purchase their present farm in Lemon township. Mr. Mullendore's 100 acres are under a high state of cultivation, and the home and buildings are commodious and attractive, while the equipment and improvements are modern in every respect. He carries on general farming, raises Holstein and Short Horn cattle and draft horses, and does some dairying, selling milk at Middletown. Mr. Mullendore has always been a farmer and a good one. While he has been compelled to work hard, his labors have been amply rewarded, and he is now in the possession of a particularly fine property, which is not only valuable in itself, but yields him a handsome income. He is a staunch Democrat in his political affiliations, but has not sought nor cared for public preferment, having been content with the satisfaction which has arisen from his success as an agriculturist. He and Mrs. Mullendore are members of the Blue Ball Presbyterian church, where they have many friends, as they have in the community of their home.

Charles O. Munns, M. D. No one who has lived and labored at Oxford, Butler county, since the eighties has more emphatically succeeded to the good will and confidence of his fellowmen than Dr. Charles O. Munns. Not only have skill and ability contributed to the usefulness of this capable physician, but an inheritance of sterling family traits has lent strength and conservatism beyond the average to his character and influence. Frank Munns was born in County Sligo, Ireland, and was two years of age when brought to the United States by his parents, the family settling west of Oxford, in Butler county, in 1832. The grandfather continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits throughout his active life here, and reached the advanced age of ninety-two years. His children were: Frank; George, a retired citizen of Oxford; Sarah and Jennie, who are deceased; and Eliza, the widow of Ned Greer, of Oxford. Frank Munns was educated in the public schools and was reared as a farmer, a vocation which he followed successfully all of his life, passing away in 1901, at the age of seventy years. He married Mary Noland, a native of Butler colmty, who still survives him at Oxford at the age of eighty years, and they became the parents of three children: Charles O.; Louis, who resides with his mother; and Thomas, who married Emma Adams and resides at Oxford. Charles O. Munns received his early education in the public schools of Butler county, where he was born December 4, 1860, and subsequently received instruction at a preparatory school at Oxford. Later he attended Miami Training school, where he finished his sophomore college year and did part of the junior college work, but left to enter the University of Michigan medical department, at Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1881, and graduated in 1884, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Immediately embarking in practice, he has built up a large professional business, and among the long established families has a dependable and extensive patronage. He is a man of broad sympathies, pleasing personality, a larger faith in the goodness and happiness of the world than the average member of the profession, and of old-time courtesy and consideration. He

Page 519

has served on the board of education of Oxford for several years, and his professional and business ability has contributed materially to the establishment and maintenance of high civic ideals. Doctor Munns was married in 1885 to Cornelia, daughter of Isaac Bogart, of Cincinnati, and they have two children: Helen, educated in the public schools of Oxford, at Miami university and Webster, now the wife of Charles Phalan, a prominent exporter of New York City; and Shirley, a graduate of the Oxford public schools and of Miami university, who attended the University of Chicago for two years and Northwestern university, Evanston, Ill., for a like period. After his graduation from the latter, in 1917, he was for one year an interne in the Mercy Hospital, Chicago, and one year in the Illinois State infirmary where he did operative work of eye, ear, nose and throat. He is at present an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist in Chicago. He married Cyrena Pocock, of Camden, Ohio, who is now leading contralto prima donna with the Chicago Grand Opera company, whose stage name is Cyrena Van Gordon. Dr. Charles O. Munns is a member of the Sigma Chi college fraternity, the Ohio State Homeopathic society, the American Institute of Homeopathy, the Union District Medical society, and the Miami Valley Medical society. He fraternizes with the Masonic order.

George C. Munns has for many years been one of the directing heads of one of the most flourishing financial institutions of the Miami valley, the Oxford National bank. His connection with this banking house extends back to the time of its founding, and much of the success which has attended it can be accredited to the splendid ability and foresight, which have also enabled him to make a success of his ventures in other fields of business and financial activities. Mr. Munns was born four miles northwest of Oxford, Butler county, Ohio, May 20,1834, a son of Thomas F. and Ann (Anderson) Munns. The parents, natives of near Sligo, Ireland, sailed for the United States in 1832, and after a rough trip of thirty-two days on the Atlantic made port at New York. The little family then came down the river and canal to Ohio, where the father purchased 130 acres of wild land, and built thereon a log cabin in which George C. Munns was born. The father, a man of much energy, in spite of the fact that he was partially crippled, cleared a great deal of his land and added to his original purchase, so that when he retired to Oxford, m 1864, he was accounted a well-to-do man for his day. He reached the advanced age of ninety-one years, while Mrs. Munns attained the remarkable age of ninety-seven years, and both retained all of their faculties to the last. They were active members of the Methodist Episcopal church and the parents of five children: Sarah, deceased, who married W. W. Greer and has ten children: Frank, a farmer, who died in 1909, his wife, Mary, also being deceased; Jennie, deceased, who was the wife of the late Alexander Young; George C., of this notice; and Eliza, the widow of Edward Green, residing at Oxford. George C. Munns had but little opportunity to go to school as a boy, as he was brought up in a household which valued hard work and which believed that youths should add their mite to the family income. He remained on the home farm until

Page 520

1863, December 24 of which year he was united in marriage with Mary Shera, of Oxford township, a daughter of John and Margaret Shera, natives of Ireland, who had come to the United States in 1832 and settled in the northern part of Oxford township, Butler county, where they were farming people during the balance of their lives. They had five children: Eliza, deceased; Mary E., who became Mrs. Munns; Caleb and William, bankers at Oxford; and James, deceased. Mrs. Munns, a woman of many excellencies of mind and heart and a favorite with the many people who knew her, died March 27, 1912. She had two daughters, both of whom died young. Following his marriage in 1863, Mr. Munns established himself in the livery business at Oxford, where he also had a lumber and grocery business, in both of which he made a success during the six years that he was so engaged. Eventually he turned his attention to banking and opened a private bank with Joshua Fry, this being known as the Oxford bank. Later, with the Shera brothers, Caleb and William, he formed a partnership in a private enterprise known as Munns, Shera & company, which was continued successfully for nine years. Eventually Mr. Munns became the prime mover in the founding and establishment of the Oxford National bank, of which he has since been vice-president, the president being George C. Welliver and the cashier Caleb Shera. Mr. Munns is interested in other directions, particularly in real estate, in which he has large holdings and carries on large transactions. He is highly esteemed in business circles and as a public official who has filled various township offices with ability and conscientiousness. Mr. Munns is a Republican, was formerly an Odd Fellow, and is an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal church.

Seth Murdock. In Oxford township, one of the venerable and highly esteemed agriculturists is Seth Murdock, who has passed his entire life on the property on which he now resides with his sister, Hester, who is also well known and greatly respected in the community. Seth Murdock was born on his present farm in Oxford township, in 1841, a son of John S. and Jane (Hanley) Murdock, the former born in Trumbull county, Ohio, and the latter in Greene county, N. Y. Mrs. Murdock came with her parents down the Ohio river, when six weeks old, the family first locating at Cincinnati and later moving- to Oxford township. John S. Murdock was a blacksmith by trade, who had fought as a soldier during the War of 1812, and was the father of thirteen children, of whom two sons, William and Noble, were soldiers of the Union Army, during the Civil war. John S. Murdock, father of Seth, was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, a son of Asahel and Elizabeth (Starkweather) Murdock, who were married February 28, 1779. In addition to John S., there were the following children: Jerusha, Nabby, Thomas, Lucy, Andrew, Tamson, Harriet and Eliza. The family had removed from Connecticut to Vermont and then to Trumbull county, Ohio, coming later, in 1819, to Oxford township, Butler county, and settling on the farm now owned by Seth Murdock. Asahel Murdock was a Revolutionary patriot and served seven years in General Washmgton's forces. John S. and Jane (Hanley) Murdock were the parents of the following

Page 521

children: Andrew, deceased; George, deceased; Elizabeth, deceased, who was the wife of Frederick Irvin and had four children, Willard, who is married, Enna, the wife of Louis Worley, with two sons (Frank and John), Monroe and Homer; John, deceased; Seth, of this notice; Albert, deceased; Hester; Mary, deceased, who married Math Byers and had five children, Will who married Stella Morton; Bertha who married Albert Kerns, Della who married Thomas Woodruff, Beatrice who married John Fouts, and Chester; William, deceased; Calvin, deceased, who married May Veakle, deceased, and has two children, Sadie who married John Zimmerman, and Lydia who married Thomas Smith; Anna, who married John Venkle, both deceased, having one child, Martha who married O. Cullin; and Martha. Seth Murdock and his sister Hester received their educational training in the country schools, and both grew up at the old home place, the youth being trained in the various arts of husbandry, while the maiden was carefully taught the duties of domesticity. They have always made their home on the old place where they were born, with the exception that Seth was absent for several years while serving as a soldier of the Union Army in the 167th Reg-iment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil war under Col. Thomas Moore. Their lives have been passed together in the peaceful pursuit of agriculture, and both have remained single, being the last of a long line of worthy people. During their long lives here, they have formed and retained many friendships and no people in Oxford township are more greatly esteemed and respected.

Harry Murphy. In addition to the gratifying financial returns received from the intelligent operation of his fertile farm in Liberty township, Butler county, Ohio, Harry Murphy, who is one of the most widely known agriculturists in that section, has found stock raising to be decidedly profitable, his observations and experiences having taught him that the raising of live stock involves a thorough knowledge of breeding and the result is that he has become known as one of the really up-to-date stock raisers in Liberty township. A native of Liberty township he grew to manhood in this locality and is now occupying the same farm on which he was born. He was one of six children of Peter and Cyrena (Van Gordon) Murphy, the other children being Sallie Maria, Louis D., Corie E., William E., and Judge Clarence. The father was born in Butler county in 1820 and became prominent in numerous activities besides farming. He was one of the best informed men of that community on the early history of Butler county and throughout his life was active in developing the agricultural and commercial growth of the county. He passed his boyhood days on the farm and was educated in the old pioneer log school of Liberty township. After his marriage he began housekeeping in an old log cabin on his father's farm and resided there four years. He conducted a store in Princeton, Butler county, two years and in 1851 was elected sheriff of Butler county. He discharged the duties of this office with characteristic aggressiveness. At the end of his term of office he purchased land near Princeton and engaged in farming and stock raising with much success. In 1886 he

Page 522

moved to Hamilton, Ohio, and was prominent in the organizing of the Miami Valley bank, being elected president of this institution and continuing in that post until his death in 1897. For fourteen years previous to 1886 he was a director in the First National bank of that place. He had always taken a deep interest in politics, being a staunch Democrat who was alive to the best interests of his party. Accordingly, in appreciation of his worth as a party worker and estimable citizen the Democrats of his district nominated him for state senator. He was elected by a large majority and served in the state legislature two years. Upon his retirement from active politics he was elected a director of the Union Central Life Insurance company, in which capacity he continued for several years. He was also president, vice-president and secretary of the Butler County Board of Agriculture. He had membership in the Odd Fellows and was a Mason. Harry Murphy received his education in the schools of Liberty township. After leaving school he engaged in farming with his father until he married Miss Inez Vinnedge, daughter of Franklin R. Vinnedge, when he took up farming for himself. One child was born to this couple, Miss Helen, who became the wife of Arthur Sohngen and is the mother of one child, Mary Helen. Mr. Murphy is a Democrat and was trustee of Liberty township nine years. On his well improved farm stands one of the most beautiful homes in Liberty township.

Charles F. Myers. A progressive and enterprising representative of the agricultural interests of Butler county, Charles F. Myers dates his connection with his present farm, formerly the Simon Goldman place, in Madison township, section 1, to the year 1908. During a somewhat varied career in farming, Mr. Myers has known both fortune and misfortune, but out of his experience he has built up a helpful philosophy of life which has enabled him to have a cheerful outlook and has helped to establish him in public favor and confidence. Mr. Myers was born near Germantown, Montgomery county, O., April 29, 1862, a son of Philip and Julia Ann (Sliffer) Myers, natives of Maryland. The father came to Ohio as a youth of eighteen years, his first location being at Dayton, where he followed the trade of tailor. While he was successful as a follower of this vocation, the call of the soil was irresistible, and he eventually settled on Brown's Run, where he was married, and engaged in farming. He continued as a tiller of the soil until tbe time of his retirement, when he moved to town, and there his death occurred March 1, 1916, at the age of eighty-two years. Mrs. Myers had passed away in 1910, at the age of seventy years, in the faith of the United Brethren church. There were four children in the family of Philip Myers: Francis; Christy, who married Charles H. Haines, of Dayton; Charles F.; and William Ellsworth, who is engaged in farming in Montgomery county. Charles F. Myers attended the district schools in the vicinity of the home farm in Montgomery county, and at the age of fourteen years became self-supporting by starting to work out, thus continuing for four years. At that time he formed a household of his own when he married Mary Moyer, born northwest of Middletown, Butler county, a daughter of John Moyer. To this union there was born one child,

Page 523

who died in infancy. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Myers located on the Benjamin Harris farm in Montgomery county for one year, and subsequently came to Butler county and for a like period resided on the Barcelow farm. Returning to Montgomery county, they spent one year on the J. D. Carney place, and then for eight months lived in Madison township, Butler county, this being followed by four years of residence on the Robert Faust farm. Mr. Myers then bought the J. P. Shafer place of seventy-five acres, Lemon township, near Poast Town, and was making good headway with chances for success very bright when the flood of the spring of 1898 washed him completely out. Mr. Myers had worked hard for what he possessed, and it was a bitter blow to see the work of a lifetime flooded away within a few short hours. Not only did he lose all that he possessed, but he was placed $6,000 in debt. For some men this would have meant complete failure and final discouragement, but Mr. Myers possessed the persistence and determination necessary to begin anew his struggle for a fortune, and his courage and resource have been rewarded by the securing of a competence. When he made a fresh start after the flood, it was on the Robinson place, which he farmed for ten years. In 1908 he again became a proprietor when he bought ninety-eight acres in section 1, Madison township, where he has since made his home. This property, formerly known as the Simon Goldman place, is one and one-quarter miles northeast of Poast Town, and under Mr. Myers' energetic and well-directed management has been made one of the model farms of the community. He has spent no little effort in making improvements, and in addition to installing much new equipment and modern machinery, has remodeled the residence and barn and erected several substantial outbuildings. The soil is in a good state of cultivation and responds generously to the skilled and energetic treatment of Mr. Myers, who is accounted one of the most capable general farmers of his locality. Mr. Myers is an independent voter, and takes but little part in politics, nor has he cared for public office. He is a good citizen, however, and has supported worth-while movements which have been placed before him and his fellow-citizens for the community's general welfare. Mr. and Mrs. Myers are widely known in Butler county, where they have many friends.

Daniel W. Myers. Among the representative agriculturists of Butler county who have attained to success through long years of cultivation of the soil, one whose career has been rewarded by prosperity is Daniel W. Myers, owner of a valuable property of 145 acres located on the Jacksonboro road. Mr. Myers is a son of Benjamin and Catherine (Hoover) Myers, natives of Maryland, who migrated to Ohio, where they passed their last years on a farm. They were the parents of eight sons and two daughters, of whom all the sons are deceased, except Daniel W.; and Rev. David E., chaplain of the Soldiers' home at Marion, Ind.; the daughters being Nancy, deceased, who was the wife of William Tickle; and Catherine, deceased, who was the wife of Jacob Title. Daniel W. Myers received a public school education and from early manhood has been engaged in farming. He is now the owner of what is known as the Gov. J. M.

Page 524

Cox homestead, on Jacksonboro road, not far from West Middletown where he has 145 acres under a high state of cultivation. He is a scientific and practical farmer and devotes his acres to raising grain and stock, and in both departments has met with success by reason of his great industry and good management. His standing in his community is an excellent one, both from the viewpoint of integrity in business matters and public-spirit in community movements and affairs. He is a Democrat, politically, and he and the members of his family belong to the United Brethren church. August 15, 1864, Mr. Myers married Laura V. Wingard, of Marion, Ind., and four children were born to this union: Martin, Arthur, Will and Milton. Arthur resides on the home place with his parents and is associated with his father in the conduct of the farm. Milton O. is a resident of Middletown and collector for a large furniture house. William is a resident of Miamisburg, where he is manager for the Engleman & Waters Flour mill.

W. R. Myers, an undertaker, of Shandon, Ohio, and a son of Daniel and Anna Eliza (Morris) Myers, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, February 26,1860. Daniel Myers, the father, was born on a farm in Crosby township, Anna Myers, his mother, was born in Morgan township, Butler county. Daniel Myers was the son of John and Mary Myers, the former came with his father to Butler county when twelve years old, settling on the farm now occupied by his grandson, W. R. Myers, the subject of this biography. John Myers enlisted in the War of 1812, and saw active service. To him and his wife were born the following children: William, Henry, Jacob, Daniel, father of W. R. Myers; Adam and Joseph. Daniel Myers and wife lived in Hamilton county, and were parents of several children, ten of whom reached maturity: Mary, who became Mrs. Henry Williamson of Connersville; James, unmarried; Brunett, who married William McHenry, of Lima, Ohio; Orion W., known as Sam, now deceased; John, also deceased; William, the subject of this sketch; Joseph, who is deceased, married Leota Hill. George, now of Cincinnati; Evelyn, now the wife of Mr. Hover; Edward, also deceased, and who married Fannie Gwaltney. A son, Howard, of Mary (Myers) Williamson, was drowned off the Philippine Islands while serving in the Splnish-American war. W. R. Myers at the age of sixteen years, left school, and learned the blacksmith trade, and entered into business at Harrison, Ohio. Later he engaged in the undertaking business and in partnership with another, opened a shop in Shandon, and eventually took over the entire business, and today his establishment is one of the best in the state. He is a licensed embalmer, and in his establishment is to be found all the modern equipments, including that of motor conveyances, for the conducting of funerals. In 1898 he was married to Edith McHenry, a daughter of Joseph and Rachel (Atherton) McHenry, who lived in Hamilton county, and who died several years ago. Their children are: Ora, deceased, who was a doctor; Ella, now Mrs. Albert English; Edith, wife of W. R. Myers; Lowry, a prominent physician of Hamilton, Ohio. To W. R. Myers and wife has been born one son, Daniel, now thirteen years of age. In politics,

Page 525

Mr. Myers is a Democrat. He is active in Masonic, Pythian and I. O. O. F. circles. He was captain of all the war drive teams in his precinct. The family belongs to the United Brethren church.

Charles W. McClung. Under modern conditions and organization, one of the most important organizations in the municipal service of a city the size of Hamilton is the fire department, and its management requires rare abilities of an executive nature, good diplomatic powers in the handling of large numbers of men so that the large machine may run without retarding friction, the bravery of a fearless soldier and the broad judgment of an able general. All of these traits are possessed by Charles W. McClung, chief of the city fire department of Hamilton, who has advanced through the different grades to his present position from that of driver. Chief McClung was born on a farm in Liberty township, Butler county, Ohio, a son of John and Elizabeth McClung, the former a native of Baltimore county, Md., and the latter of Pennsylvania. They came to Ohio as young people and here met and married, following which they settled on a farm in Liberty township and there rounded out long and honorable careers, the father combining his farming labors with those of his duties as a local minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. Charles W. McClung received his education at the Oak Hill schoolhouse, in Liberty township, and commenced his career as a farm hand. At the time he attained his majority, he began farming on his own account, and continued to be thus engaged until 1891, when he moved to Bethany, Ohio, and engaged in the butcher business. He followed that for six years, and then moved to Hamilton. Chief McClung joined the "fire laddies" in 1897, as a driver out of Engine Station No.2, and for three years served faithfully and rose through the intermediate grades to captain, in 1903. For several years more he fought fires and took an important part in the administration of the department under his superiors, and was then made marshal, on December 22, 1905. January 15, 1918, he was made chief of the department, a position in which he has since remained. The chief of the Hamilton Fire Department is a vigorous, wide-awake, experienced man, and promises to maintain the service of which he is the head at its past standard of superiority, and incorporate into the system the methods and improvements indicated by the advancements of mechanics and science. He is a Democrat in his political adherence, and his fraternal affiliations include membership in the local lodges of the Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Chief McClung married Doretta Eisel, daughter of the late Chas. F. Eisel, one of Hamilton's leading business men. They have no children.

Frank McCord. The energy and business ability of Frank McCord have built up a furniture business at Oxford which compares favorably with the best concerns of the kind in larger and more thickly settled communities. The owner has a thorough knowledge of his occupation, sufficient courage to weather inevitable depressions in trade and sufficient wisdom to realize that only by maintaining a high standard can he hope for uniform and continued success. As a citizen he ranks high among the men of his town. Mr.

Page 526

McCord came to Oxford, May 3, 1866, from Cincinnati, Ohio. His father, Joseph S. McCord, was born near Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pa., and his mother, Catherine A. Moorehead, was born ten miles east of Erie, Pa., on the old Buffalo road. She was a daughter of Col. James M. Moorehead, for whom Mooresville, Pa., was named, he being one of the early settlers on Lake Erie. As a youth he played with the Indian boys of that region, became an athlete of noted prowess, and during the War of 1812, had charge of troops stationed on Lake Erie. He was a well-to-do agriculturist, owned a large tract of land, and was likewise one of the prominent and influential men of his day and locality, and took an active part in the various movements which served to help the section. Joseph S. McCord was born on a farm and educated in the public schools and as a youth learned the trade of cabinet maker. Feeling that better opportunities awaited him in other localities, he walked to Pittsburg, where he secured employment as a ship carpenter and engineer between Pittsburg and New Orleans. In the meantime two of his brothers had gone to Cincinnati, where one was a merchant tailor and the other a carpenter, and the latter Mr. McCord subsequently joined, the two engaging in contract work, principally in the building of residences and schools. In 1866, retiring from business, he located at Oxford. He became well known and highly respected, took an active part in educational work, was a trustee of Miami university and Western college, and was likewise a great church worker of the Presbyterian faith. In the summer of 1871, following the destruction by fire of Western college, Mr. McCord and Philip Hinkle of Cincinnati, rebuilt the building and completed the work in excellent manner. He was also a member of the town council for a number of years and did much to build up and improve his community in various ways. He died in November, 1879, aged sixty-six years, while Mrs. McCord passed away in 1886, at the same age. They were the parents of three children: Frank, of this review; Jennie, who attended Western college two years, became the wife of Rev. John Reed Shannon of the Methodist Episcopal church and died in 1914; and Elizabeth, born at Cincinnati, a graduate of Western college, who has since lived with her brother. Frank McCord was educated in the common schools and Miami university, and also attended Wabash college at Crawfordsville, Ind., for a short time, and then went west. Owing to the poor state of his father's health he soon returned, and after the death of the elder man settled his estate. After an experience of one year in the grocery business, in 1891 he established himself in his present line, and has since been in the enjoyment of a constantly increasing business. Mr. McCord has supplied an element of strength and substantiality to Oxford for the past four decades, and has been one of the most interested as well as active observers of its developing prosperity. The family is Presbyterian and has been strongly identified with the temperance movement from its beginning. The family is well and favorably known in Butler county, where its members have numerous warm friends.

Walter M. McCoy. In every large community all lines of business

Page 527

endeavors are represented, and all require different grades and qualities of ability to prosecute them properly. No line of work requires more tact or greater consideration for the feelings of others than does that connected with undertaking and funeral directing. Walter M. McCoy of Middletown is a leading representative of this line of business, and not only possesses in full degree the qualities noted, but also has the equipment supplied him by splendid training, as he has had instruction in no less than eight schools of embalming. Mr. McCoy was born in 1878, at New Holland, Ohio, a son of Joseph and Irene (Haggard) McCoy, and a grandson of Alexander McCoy, who came from Ireland in young manhood and located at Chillicothe, Ohio, where Joseph McCoy was born July 4, 1853. Joseph McCoy was a carriage maker by trade and.followed that business for a number of years, retiring but a short time prior to his demise. Walter M. McCoy received a public school education, and as a young man started to learn the business of undertaking. He thoroughly prepared himself by study in the best schools of embalming, and after twelve years of business experience elsewhere, came to Middletown in 1907, on August 27 of which year he bought an interest in the undertaking business of Emil Rathman. For five years they were associated in this establishment, but in 1912 Mr. McCoy became sole owner of the business through purchase and has since conducted it alone. He has every equipment necessary for dignified and reverent funeral directing, and has been successful in business ventures because he possesses the qualities which bring success - good judgment, business faculty, a high sense of honor and a just appreciation of the rights of others. He is one of the leaders of his vocation in the state, and is the newly elected president of the Ohio Funeral Directors' association, and an untiring organization worker. His present business has been built through his efforts from a modest unassuming enterprise to one of the largest in the city. Mr. McCoy was married July 19, 1899, to Mary V., daughter of Oliver and Ella (Jones) Cory, the former of Frankfort, Ohio, and the latter of Greenfield, this state. They have one son, John Paul, born July 27, 1908. Fraternally, Mr. McCoy is affiliated with the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Eagles and the Knights of Pythias. He is a Republican, although liberal in his views, and his religious connection and that of his wife is with the Presbyterian church.

William E. McCoy. Many years of industrious and worthy connection with the agricultural interests of Butler county have served to place William E. McCoy in the substantial class of farmer citizens of this fertile and prosperous part of the Miami valley. During the period of his activities here, it has been his fortune to have so directed his labors as to have reaped the material rewards of a life of industry, and at the same time his affairs have been managed in a manner that has gained for him the well-merited respect of his fellow-citizens. Mr. McCoy was born on a farm in Oxford township, Butler county, March 3, 1856, a son of Samuel McCoy. Samuel Mc. Coy was a native of Pennsylvania and was still a boy when he came with his parents to Ohio, where his earliest employment was found on the canal. Here he was married to Miranda, daughter of Gideon

Page 528

Wilkinson, an early settler of section 3, Reily township, wvho was a substantial farmer. Gideon Wilkinson married Mary DeCamp, and their children were: Rachael, Abigail, Addie, Miranda, Marion, John, James, Hattie, Amadore and Ella, the last-named of whom is the only one now living. The brothers of Samuel McCoy were Charles and Theo, and he also had a sister, Maggie. Samuel McCoy received a common school education, and after marriage took up farming in Oxford township, whence he eventually moved to Reily township and there rounded out a long and useful career in section 10. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, as was Mrs. McCoy, who survived him some years and died in April, 1916, aged seventy-eight. They had eight children: William E., of this notice; Gideon, a farmer in Oxford township; Ella; Bert, who lives at College Corner; John, a farmer in Reily township; Anna, who married James Morris of Hamilton; Gertrude, the wife of William Hopkins of Franklin county, Ind.; and George, who resides at Reily, Ohio. William E. McCoy secured his educational training in the public schools, and resided at home until he reached the age of twenty-one years, at which time he was married to Maggie B., daug.hter of Samuel Garner, of Reily township, who died November 11, 1911. To this union there were born five children: Fred, a farmer of Reily township, who married Anna Conrad and has two children, Mildred and Thelma; Pearl, the wife of David Anstedt, of Los Angeles, Calif., who has two children, Paul and Hazel; Lizzie, the wife of Edward Nein, of Middletown, Ohio, who has two sons, Lyman and Gordon; Addie, the wife of Peter Conrad, of Toledo, Ohio, who has one son, Earl; and Myrtle, who resides with her father. Following his marriage, Mr. McCoy settled on his present farm in Reily township, where he has 340 acres of valuable and well-cultivated land. He carries on general farming and raises all kinds of stock, and has made a success of his operations through hard work and intelligent application of modern methods. He is a good citizen and a Democratic voter, but has been content to devote himself to his farm and has never had any aspirations of a public nature. He is well and favorably known in his part of the county, where his friends are numerous.

Edward Weaver McCracken, who, since his arrival at Middletown in 1911, has been in the service of the American Rolling Mill, is firmly established as a reliable and useful citizen, as well as a property owner, and resides in his own home at No. 414 Sulphur avenue. Mr. McCracken was born near Pittsburg, Pa., May 26, 1881, a son of Joseph Drummond and Mary Jane (Kreps) McCracken. He comes of fighting stock on both sides of the family, as his father and two of the latter's brothers were soldiers during the Civil war, as were also four brothers of his mother. Mrs. McCracken died August 8, 1908, while the father survived until July, 1918. They were the parents of six children: Edward Weaver; William, a resident of West Virginia; Marion, of Pennsylvania; John Barr, who lives in Indiana; Maud, now Mrs. George Kline, of Pennsylvania; and George, also of that state. Edward W. McCracken received his education in the public schools of his native

Page 529

community, and, being given the opportunity of learning a useful trade, chose his career accordingly, and began at the bottom of the ladder, gradually working his way upward. For several years he was employed in mills at Buffalo, whence he came to Middletown in 1911 and entered the American Rolling mills. Since coming to Middletown he has bought his own home at No. 414 Sulphur avenue, in addition to which he is holding another residence at Idlewild, east of Middletown. Mr. McCracken is a man of splendid intellect, a great reader and a man of fine character. He married Selma, daughter of August E. and Emma (Yoss) Schneider, and granddaughter of John and Anna (Dubey) Schneider, of Switzerland. Mrs. McCracken has two brothers and two sisters: Adelia, Leonard, Esther and Roy. She is a graduate nurse of a Pittsburg hospital and a woman of numerous accomplishments. She and her husband are members of the Presbyterian church. He is non-partisan in politics, and is fraternally affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Masons.

John H. McCray. Among the men to whom the thriving town of College Corner, Ohio, is indebted for its present prosperity and high standing among the business communities of this part of the Miami valley, none is deserving of more credit for what he has accomplished than is John H. McCray. Through his progressive spirit and industrious enterprise, the town is in possession of an excellent telephone system and has splendid electric lighting facilities, and it was also Mr. McCray who backed the big fight in the courts necessary to secure the granting and locating of the McCray ditch, a public utility which has been of the greatest service. Mr. McCray was born in June, 1849, in Center township, Union county, Ind., a son of John McCray, and a grandson of Phineas McCray, of Pennsylvania, who came as a pioneer to Poast Town, Ohio, and later moved to Connersville, Ind., in 1812. He was engaged in farming there, but later moved to Union county, Ind., where he rounded out the years of a long and honorable career. John McCray grew up in Fayette county, Ind., in a family of eight children, and there received an ordinary education. In 1847 he went to Union county, Ind., where he secured land and made a home, and his entire life was passed in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture. He was a Democrat and a good citizen, but never desired public office. Mr. McCray married Eliza Hueston, of Pennsylvania, a daughter of John Hueston, of Ireland, who came to the United States in young manhood and settled later in Fayette county, Ind., where he passed his life in farming. Of his eight children, all are deceased. John McCray died in 1865, at the age of sixty-one years, while Mrs. McCray passed away in 1873, when sixty-eight years of age. They were the parents of four children: Samuel, who died in infancy; Joseph, who made his home with his brother, John H., and died in 1911; Lucinda, deceased; and John H. John H. McCray was given only limited educational advantages, but made the most of them, and when he was sixteen years of age, at the time of his father's death, entered upon his own career. He remained on the old home place and continued farming until 1913, in which year he gave up active work as a farmer

Page 530

and raiser of stock, and took up his residence at College Corner, where he began operating a meat market. In the meantime he had been the reorganizer of the telephone company, the other owners of which he bought out in 1905, and since that time has been president of the company, which has given the people excellent service under his management. In 1917 he organized the company for the installing of the College Corner electric light plant, of which he is now the owner, and which also renders competent service to the public. Mr. McCray is the owner of three fine farms in Union county, Ind., the operations on which he supervises, as well as of his own home, a modern residence built by him in 1912, and the McCray block, built in 1894. In 1913 he began agitating what became known as the McCray ditch, the petition of which was started in 1914. This developed into a joint state and county affair, causing much controversy and litigation, but Mr. McCray waged a successful fight in the Ohio and Indiana courts, and the ditch was finally put through in 1919, and contract let for its completion in 1920. He has always been an ardent supporter of all measures and movements calculated to be of benefit to College Corner and the vicinity, and for several years was president of the First National bank of College Corner. He is an independent voter.

W. H. McCurley. Within the pages of this history will be found reference to many of those sterling citizens who have done well their part in furthering and upholding the prestige of Butler county in the domain of agricultural and live stock enterprises, and such an one is Mr. McCurley, to whose career further interest is given by reason of his being a native son of the county and a representative of one of its honored pioneer families. Though he has now passed the psalmist's span of three score years and ten, he is still vigorous of mind and physical powers and continues to give his personal supervision to his fine farm, of 172 acres, in Fairfield township. Mr. McCurley was born on a pioneer farm in Ross township, Butler county, and the date of his nativity was August 16, 1846. His parents, James and Jane McCurley, were born and reared in Pennsylvania, where their marriage was solemnized and where their first three children were born. In company with his wife and their three children, James McCurley came to Butler county in an early day and settled in Ross township, where he rented land and continued farm operations until about the year 1854. He then removed with his family to Shelby county, Ind., where both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. They became the parents of six children, two of whom died shortly after coming to Ohio. The remaining four were taken to Pennsylvania after the death of their parents, and cared for in the homes of their kinsfolk in that state. Of the children only two are now living - the subject of this review, and Stephen, the latter being a resident of Batavia, Mich. He whose name introduces this sketch received his early education in the pioneer schools of Shelby county, Ind., and the common schools of Pennsylvania, to which state he was taken by relatives after the death of his parents. In the old Keystone state he was indentured, or "bound out" to a farmer, and he thus continued his services until

Page 531

he had attained to the age of fourteen years, when he returned to Butler county, Ohio, and made his home with his aunt, Mrs. Mary Ann Holms, who gave him further opportunity for attending school. He was not yet fifteen years old at the outbreak of the Civil war, but his boyish patriotism was roused to the fullest extent and he made every possible effort to enlist for service in the Union army. After several unsuccessful essays of this kind he took decisive action and by his own initiative made his way to Cincinnati, enlisted in U. S. navy for one year and was in connection with the operation of gunboats on the Mississippi river - a service in which he continued during the time of enlistment. After the war Mr. McCurley was employed for a year as clerk in the general store of T. I. Boal, at Venice, Butler county, and he then went to Mahoning county, where he served as deputy county recorder during the regime of his brother. To fortify himself further for the active duties and responsibilities of life, he thereafter completed a course of study in a commercial college in the city of Pittsburg, Pa., and after the passing of several years he returned to Butler county, Ohio, and again found employment in the Boal general store at Venice. He was twenty-five years of age at the time of his marriage, and soon after this important event in his life he engaged in independent farming operations in Ross township. Two years later he removed thence to his present home farm, in Fairfield township, and the success that here attended his earnest and industrious efforts was attested by his purchasing the property after he had rented the place for a number of years. During the long intervening period he has here stood forth as an able and popular exponent of agricultural and live stock industry, and he has always kept in touch with the march of progress, by availing himself of scientific methods and the most approved mechanical accessories in the prosecution of his farm operations. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party and his civic loyalty in community affairs has been shown in his effective service as a member of the school board of his district. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church in the village of Venice, a few miles distant from their attractive farm home. In 1871 Mr. McCurley wedded Miss Almira Brown, who was born and reared in Butler county and who is a daughter of Daniel and Catherine Brown. In conclusion is given a brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. McCurley: Miss Carrie remains at the parental home; Martha is the wife of Thomas Bruin, and they have two children, Olin and Harold; Hazel is the widow of Albert Messler, and their one child is a son, Myron; Orel J. married Miss Carolyn Louise Thayer, in Calif., and they have two children, William H. and Robert Thayer; Chas. Brown married Miss Elizabeth Baumann, and they have three children, Calvin, Almira and Thelma.

Alexander G. McDill. Among the citizens of College Corner who have laid aside business cares for the peace and comfort of retirement is Alexander G. McDill, who for many years was widely and favorably known in the milling business. Mr. McDill was born June 26, 1863, in Preble county, Ohio, a son of Thomas C. McDill. The first of the McDill family to come to America was the great-

Page 532

grandfather of Alexander G. McDill, Thomas McDill, a native of County Antrim, Ireland, who left his native home twelve miles from Belfast and sought his fortune in South Carolma, where his death occurred. His son, Thomas McDill, was born in South Carolina and as a young married man came to Preble county and settled in the vicinity of Hopewell church, which was organized in 1808 in the barn of David McDill. The members of this family were all great church workers, and Mollie Young, who married Thomas McDill, was one of the charter members of the church and the last one to be buried there. She and her husband were the parents of the following children: John, who resided in South Carolina; David, who lived near Morning Sun, Ohio; Thomas C., the father of Alexander G.; James, who went to Illinois, where he died; Alexander, who died in South Carolina; Samuel, who located in Union county, Ind., in 1816 and married there; and Margaret, Peggie and Jennie. Martin McDill located at Morning Sun, Ohio, as did sister Janet. John lived on the old home place, and married Janet Simpson of New York, who died leaving three children, Samuel and George, deceased, and Elida A., who always lived on the home place. After the death of his first wife, John McDill married Eliza J. McCracken, and both died on the home farm. Thomas C. McDill was born in 1801 in South Carolina, and was eight years old when he accompanied his parents to Preble county, the family settling on an unimproved farm in Israel township. There the lad assisted his father in clearing and cultivating the land, in the meantime attending the public school. He was brought up in a God-fearing household, for his parents were devout members of the Hopewell church, for the building of which modest little edifice, his father had the distinction of having cut the first log. Mr. McDill passed his life as a farmer and millman in Israel township, where his death occurred in 1881. He married Mary Paxton, of that township, a member of the United Presbyterian Church, and they had four sons: Thomas Albert, who is living in retirement at Oxford; Charles Robert, deceased, who was in the milling business at Jamestown, Ohio; Walter, deceased, who was a foreman in the twine mill at Jamestown for a quarter of a century; and Alexander G. Alexander G. McDill was educated in the home schools, and in 1882 went to Springfield, where he secured employment with Worden & Bonnett, a concern with which he continued to be identified for five years. Next he went to Cedarville, Ohio, where for nine years he was in the milling business with his brother, Thomas Albert McDill, and then located at Oxford, where for nine years he was in business as a contractor. Mr. McDill eventually located at College Corner, where he built the Model Rolling mill, of 100-barrel capacity and continued to conduct it for eighteen years, then selling out his interests. In 1912, he built the Oxford mill, in which he still owns an interest, and in addition is the owner of a farm property of 160 acres lying west of College Corner. During his active career Mr. McDill established an excellent reputation for integrity, and has always been known as a good and useful citizen. In political matters he supports the Republican party, and his church affiliation is with the United Presbyterians. Mr. McDill married

Page 533

Gertrude Slicker, of College Corner, and they are the parents of: Mabel, who married A. A. Buck, a farmer, bookkeeper and rural free delivery mail carrier of College Corner, and has a son, Harold; Laura, who died at the age of twelve years; and Nellie, who lives with her parents.

Michael D. McGrath. An illustration of the development of a modern commercial enterprise from small beginnings to large proportions is found in the history of the New York Rackett store, at Hamilton. The proprietor of this establishment, Michael D. McGrath in the work of building up this enterprise, has displayed the possession of business qualities of a high character and in spite of several discouraging setbacks has kept persistently active and energetic until he is now well on the road to a position among the successful business men of his commumty. Mr. McGrath was born at Brant, Campbell county, Ky., September 13, 1881, a son of James and Mary (Deviney) McGrath, natives of that state, where the mother died and where the father still survives, a retired farmer. There were two sons and three daughters in the family: Thomas, who was associated with the firm of Sears, Roebuck & company, as head of its jewelry department at Hamilton until the United States entered the Great war, at which time he joined the medical corps of the U. S. Army, and was subsequently badly wounded in action and gassed twice during the Meuse Argonne offensive; Susan, who is a Mother Superior in a convent at Cleveland; May, who is a Sister in the convent at Mount St. Martins, Newport, Ky.; Jane, who is married to a stockman of Rushville, Ind., and has one child; and Michael. Michael McGrath is indebted to the public school at Cold Spring, Ky., for his educational training, and his boyhood was passed on his father's farm in Campbell county. He was but sixteen years of age when he enlisted for service during this country's war with Spain, joining Company M, 6th Kentucky Infantry, with which he served for fifteen months, coming through his engagements unscathed. When he received his honorable discharge, he went to Cincinnati and for one and one-half years worked at the trade of moulder, but eventually turned his attention to commercial pursuits, entering the employ of Mr. Snow, who was at that time proprietor of the New York Rackett store at Hamilton. In January, 1913, Mr. McGrath purchased the interests of his employer, becoming sole proprietor of the business, which he owned when occurred the disastrous flood of the same year. His loss in that catastrophe amounted to $7,000, a serious blow to one just starting business on his own account, but this failed to discourage him. On the contrary, when he resumed business, it was with an enlarged and greatly improved establishment, which has been adding to its patronage annually ever since. The success of his Hamilton venture led Mr. McGrath to enlarge the scope of his activities, and he is now also proprietor of a branch store at Middletown, also known as the New York Rackett store, which is under the management of Carl Wedekind. Mr. McGrath is favorably known in business circles because of his integrity and promptness in business engagements, and is a popular and active member of the Hamilton Retail Merchants' association. He belongs also to

Page 534

the Knights of Columbus and he and his family were members of St. Mary's Catholic church. Mr. McGrath was united in matrimony at Mattoon, Ill., to Miss Wilhelmina Bunning, of that place, and they are the parents of five children, the three eldest of whom attend St. Mary's parochial school at Hamilton; William, aged fourteen years; Lucille, aged nine years; Francis, aged seven years; Eugene, aged four years, and Paul, an infant. Another child, James, lost his life in an automobile accident at the age of ten years.

E. L. McIntosh, D. V. M. In the practice of veterinary surgery, Dr. E. L. McIntosh, of Oxford, has exercised a natural talent for his calling and the skill that has come through long and thorough specialized training, and has built up an excellent patronage in Butler and the surrounding counties, and is accounted a man of marked capability. He was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, a son of James C. McIntosh, of the same county, and a grandson of Thomas McIntosh, who was an early settler of that county, near Wellsville, the family being of Scotch-Irish origin. James C. McIntosh was a farmer who also had extensive lumber interests, and was active in civic affairs as a Republican, serving six years as a member of the board of county commissioners. He was a member of the United Presbyterian church, to which also belonged his wife, who was Martha Shafer, whose people were early settlers of Columbiana county, Ohio. They were the parents of six children: Ida, at home; Thomas A., a druggist at Wellsville; Alexander H., owner of a lumber business and saw mill in Colnmbiana county; Edwin L., who was born December 1, 1875; Ella H., who married Harry H. Laughlin; and James C., jr., engaged in farming on the old home place. E. L. McIntosh was educated in the home schools and subsequently took a course in pharmacy at Valparaiso, following which he engaged in the drug business at Wellsville, in which he continued for eight years. He then took a course in veterinary surgery at Cincinnati, in 1908, and established himself in practice at Harrison, Ohio, but after two years took up his residence and practice at Oxford, where he has since remained. He is now possessed of an excellent patronage and occupies a leading place in his vocation. He has a modern home on West Spring street, his property consisting of five acres of land, on which he has made numerous improvements. Personally, he is a man who has made and held numerous friendships. In politics he is a Republican, and as a fraternalist affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. McIntosh was married in 1902 to Ruth, daughter of Edward and Maria (Ladler) Bader, the former of whom died at Oxford and the latter a resident of Toledo. To this union there were born three children: Martha Mary, James Edwin and Helen Louise. Mrs. McIntosh is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is active in its work.

William Curtis McIntosh. Among the more recent additions to the working force employed at the enormous plant of the American Rolling mill, at Middletown, is found William Curtis McIntosh, who since 1915 has been on the company's payroll in the capacity of heater. A young man of energetic habits and excellent personal character, since his arrival at Middletown, he has not only

Page 535

succeeded in gaining and holding the respect and confidence of his employers, but has also made numerous friendships which bid fair to last a lifetime. Mr. McIntosh is a West Virginian by nativity, born at Mason, January 22, 1882. His parents, William C. and Isabel (Long) McIntosh, who still survive, are residents of Mason and among that little city's highly esteemed people. To the public schools of his native place, Mr. McIntosh is indebted for his education, and his early training was all along the lines of his present vocation. He was reared in a household which esteemed industry and honesty as among the most sterling of virtues, and the manner of his preparatory instruction gave him respect for labor and taught him the value of a dollar. He thoroughly mastered his chosen trade, and his entire career has been passed in the atmosphere of the steel business. Mr. McIntosh was married September 6, 1913, at Wheeling, W. Va., to Mrs. Bessie B. Shafer, who was born in that city, October 17, 1885. By a former marriage, Mrs. McIntosh is the mother of one daughter, Florence, who is now a student in the Middletown high school. In 1915 Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh came to Middletown, where Mr. McIntosh entered the services of the concern with which he is at present connected, and with which he has since made such a good impression. Since his arrival he has purchased a comfortable and attractive home on Crawford street, which is often visited by the numerous friends of this young couple, who are people of decidedly domestic tastes and who value their home above anything else. However, Mr. McIntosh appreciates the companionship of his fellows, and is a member of the Loyal Order of Moose and the Woodmen of the World, and he and Mrs. McIntosh belong to the Christian church. His political tendencies incline him to be liberal in his views and actions.

Charles E. McKinley, son of John and Sara (Waugh) McKinley, was born in West Virginia, August 5, 1868. The parents were of Scotch-Irish descent, and it is highly probable that they are of the same Clan as that to which the late President McKinley belonged. Charles E. was the second of five children in the family: W. J., now deceased; Charles E.; E. D., now a farmer in Jefferson county, Ohio; Mary B., Mrs. J. S. Nixon, in Jefferson county; Anna J., Mrs. John Lee, in Wellsburg, W. Va. It is quite evident that the patriotic, liberty-loving spirit of his ancestors is inherent in our subject. He enlisted in the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, Rough Riders, at Santa Fe, N. M., May 6, 1898, and is justly proud of the Certificate of Merit issued and presented to him on recommendation of the late President Theo. Roosevelt, then lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, for distinguished services in the Spanish-American war. December 24, 1900, at Greensburgh, Pa., Mr. McKinley was married to Winona Rarigh, born February 1, 1876, in Armstrong county, Pa., and was a daughter of Archibold and Catherine (Nichols) Rarigh. Her parents were of English extraction. The mother died September 26, 1917, her father is still living in Pennsylvania. She had six sisters and brothers: Lenore, Mrs. R. A. McKinney, in Armstrong county, Pa.; Lawrence, in Beaver, Pa.; Claire, deceased; Esmer, living in Tarentum, Pa.; Dolcy, Mrs. Harry

Page 536

Gilmore; and Ruby, Mrs. George Keyes, in Tarentum. Mr. and Mrs. McKinley are the parents of five children: Dorothy, Marjorie, Richard, Margaret, deceased, Chester Theodore. Dorothy is a graduate of the Middletown High school, class of '19. In 1912, Mr. McKinley moved his family from Vandergriff, Pa., to Middletown, Ohio, and engaged with the American Rolling Mill company as a rougher. He has built a handsome home on Moore street and has closely identified himself with material interests of the city. His individuality, energy and public spirit were made manifest through his great accomplishments in the Liberty bond sales and other war work. Mr. McKinley is a member of the Oakland Presbyterian church, belongs to the Knights of Pythias and holds liberal views in politics.

Isaac McLane, one of the leading real estate dealers of Middletown, has developed a business that yields him a gratifying income, and proves that in entering this line of activity, he found his proper life work. He was born in Franklin, Warren county, Ohio, May 8, 1837, a son of James and Rachel (Dearth) McLane, and grandson of William McLane, who came to Ohio from Virginia in 1805, and after a stop at Monroe, located at Middletown. James McLane was born at Middletown, October 13, 1814, near the present site of the Shartle foundry. He saw the first shovel of dirt thrown out of the the Miami canal, and after it was completed, drove the first boat, the "Sally Jackson.” In 1828, with his father, he removed to Franklin, where he established a general store on the corner of River and Sixth streets, and soon thereafter opened the first livery stable in the place. Not only did he make a remarkable record as a business man, but was an inventor as well, and in 1850, completed his hollow roller. Although this venerable gentleman had passed the century milestone several years, on his 104th birthday, October 13, 1918, he was visited by Odd Fellows from all over the country to pay him honor, as he enjoyed the distinction of being the oldest member of his fraternity in the United States, joining it in 1850. He is now deceased, having passed away September 24, 1919. Isaac McLane was reared at home, and attended the schools of Franklin. In 1859, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Shrackengast, a daughter of Asbury and Elizabeth Shrackengast, both natives of Preble county, Ohio. There were two children born of this marriage, namely: James Scott, and Eva. In 1885, Mr. McLane was married (second) to Miss Emma Craig, a daughter of Henry and Hannah Craig, natives of Butler county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. McLane have one daughter, Rachel Edna, who is the wife of A. E. Duvall, foreman of the Middletown, Ohio, Machine Company of Middletown. Mr. McLane's services to his community have been very valuable, and are appreciated by his fellow-citizens. Through his enterprise realty values have been increased, outlying districts have been built up, and outside capital has become interested, and it is more than probable that much of the present prosperity of Middletown is directly due to him and his intelligent foresight which enabled him to see so far into the future, combined with his faith in the ultimate development of the little city in which he has spent so many years.

Page 537

Mrs. Elizabeth F. McLaughlin. Among the highly esteemed residents of Middletown one who has formed and held many friendships during her residence here is Mrs. Elizabeth F. McLaughlin. She is a native of Hamilton, Ohio, and a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Gluhm) Holthaus, the former of whom died October 9, 1905, and the latter December 28, 1918. She was educated in the parochial schools of Hamilton, where she was first married to Joseph Duerr, a son of Frank and Barbara (Ritt) Duerr. Mr. Duerr died June 10, 1892, at Hamilton, leaving his widow with four small children. Although her means were small, her courage was great, and she kept her little flock together. Her eldest daughter, Clara, is now Mrs. C. O. Stansfield, of Urbana, Ohio; John is a resident of Middletown; Lillian is now Mrs. Frank Sauter; and Harry also lives at Middletown. November 12, 1895, Mrs. Duerr married Martin McLaughlin, a native of Sligo, Ireland, who died October 1, 1905, at Middletown. Mr. McLaughlin was one of the most highly respected men of Butler county. He served six years as county commissioner and seven years as township trustee, and his record in office was an excellent one and one which reflected credit upon his ability and his high sense of public duty. At his death his widow was again left with small children: John, Mary, Robert and Martin, of whom Robert is now deceased. Again the courageous woman faced the world with her children, and she now has the pleasure of seeing them established or on their way to being so. Her son John is office manager of the Kuntz Lumber company, of Middletown; her daughter Mary is taking a nurse's course at Mercy Hospital, Hamilton; and her son Martin is attending Holy Trinity school. Mrs. McLaughlin is a woman of fine intellect, womanly qualities and pleasing personality. She is a devout member of Holy Trinity church, and has her own charming home on Harrison avenue, where she is always glad to welcome her many friends.

James Edward McMechan. Butler county is admirably suited for farming and stock raising, not only because of climatic conditions and the fertility of the soil, but also because of its location with regard to transportaiton facilities, thus enabling farmers to find a ready market for their produce, and this is also considered a very important factor in determining agriculturists as to the selection of their land. One of the substantial men of Butler county who has obtained desirable results from the operation of his farm, and who is also well known as a dealer in real estate, is James Edward McMechan, the owner of a valuable property in Wayne township. Mr. McMechan was born February 23, 1867, at Four Mile, St. Clair township, Butler county, a son of James P. McMechan. His grandfather was James McMechan, a native of Ireland, who was an early settler of Butler county and one of the pioneer merchants of Collinsville. He married Mary Brooks, of St. Clair township, daughter of William Brooks, of Pennsylvania, and they became the parents of fourteen children, all of whom grew to maturity and all now deceased. James P. McMechan was born near Collinsville, Ohio, and grew up in Milford township, where he received his education in the home schools. After the death of

Page 538

his father he farmed the property which the elder man had purchased and took care of his mother until her death. Mr. McMechan married first Ann Crockett, and they became the parents of three children: William, deceased, who lived at Seven Mile, Ohio; and Ellen and Mary, who are also deceased. Mr. McMechan was again married and was the father of two children: William D., a machinist by trade, who resides at Hamilton; and James Edgar. James Edgar McMechan was educated in the home schools and took up farming as his life work when he had grown to maturity. He resided at home until the time of his first marriage, to Miss Anna Pottinger of Symmes Corners, Ohio. Folowing her death, he was united with Edna May Morris, of near Venice, Ohio. Mr. McMechan has two children: Walter James, born July 28, 1915; and Laura Frances, born May 11, 1918. Mr. McMechan has always been a farmer and has resided on several different places in Butler county. In 1906, he took up his residence and started operations on his present property, located in Wayne township, where he has 116 acres under a high state of cultivation. He has made good improvements, and the farm presents attractiveness and an air of prosperity which speak well for the good management of the owner. Mr. McMechan is engaged in general farming, and to some extent in the raising of a good grade of live stock. He is capable and efficient in his work, having a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of his business, and his industry has resulted in the development of a property which brings him a satisfying revenue. In addition to his farming operations, he operates as a dealer in real estate, and in this connection has shown himself conversant with land values in this locality. His reputation as a business man of integrity equals that of his skill as an agriculturist. In his political adherence he casts his vote with the Republican party. Mr. McMechan is a member of the Presbyterian church, while Mrs. McMechan adheres to the Christian faith. Both are widely known in their community and have numerous friends.

Rev. William J. McSurely was born in Adams county, Ohio, September 1, 1834, a son of Hugh and Mary (Clark) McSurely. His father, a native of Lexington, Ky., went in young manhood to Adams county, Ohio, where he met and married Miss Clark, a native of Virginia, they then settling at Rockville, Ohio, where Mr. McSurely followed tanning and farming. He was possessed of only a public school education, but was a man of intelligence and broad information, and was a public-spirited and loyal citizen and a soldier of the Union during the Civil war. He and his wife, both of whom died in Adams county, Ohio, were the parents of three sons: William J., of this notice; Samuel M., who passed his life as a farmer and was a soldier during the War between the States; and George A. George A. McSurely attended Miami university during 1859 and 1860, and at the outbreak of the Civil war enlisted in Company E, 70th Regiment, Ohio Vollmteer Infantry, with which he took part in various engagements, including those of the Atlanta campaign, and received his honorable discharge July 28, 1865, after taking part in the Grand Review at Washington, D. C. In 1900 he was elected

Page 539

treasurer of Miami university, a position which he held for ten years. For about eight years he was engaged in farming in Adams county, but in 1888 located at Oxford, Ohio, where he was proprietor of a grocery, and for nine years was elder in the United Presbyterian church and clerk of sessions. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. McSurely married Martha Clark, and they had two children: Laura, deceased; and Mary, who took a course in Miami university from which she was graduated in 1899, was later a teacher in the Oxford schools until 1906, and is now a teacher in the Hughes High school at Cincinnati. William J. McSurely attended the local schools and remained at his home with his parents until 1850, in which year he was sent to North Liberty academy, where he studied for two years. In 1853 he entered Miami university, from which institution he was graduated in 1856, at which time he took up the study of theology in the United Presbyterian seminary at Oxford. Licensed to preach April 14, 1858, he was ordained and installed pastor of the United Presbyterian church in Oxford in 1859, and November 12, 1860, married Hulda Taylor, of Sparta, Ill., who died in May, 1918, at the age of fifty-seven years. She was a daughter of John K. and Sarah (Wylie) Taylor, of South Carolina. Reverend McSurely left Oxford in 1866 and went to Kirkwood, Ill., remaining there until 1868, when he was given a charge at Loveland, Ohio, for one year. For the next thirty years he was pastor of the Hillsboro First Presbyterian church, was president of the Hillsboro library for twenty years, and from 1887 to 1900 was a trustee of Miami university. In 1899 he retired from active pursuits and removed to his present home at Oxford, where he is surrounded by numerous devoted friends. During the long period that he labored in his Master's service he had the love and veneration of his people, and his influence was most marked in bringing unbelievers to see the light and in assisting others to the attainment of contentment and happiness. He and his wife were the parents of three children: William H., the eldest, was born at Oxford, Ohio, in 1865, and after graduation from Wooster college in 1886, read law under Hon. Frank Steele. In 1887 he went to Chicago, Ill., where he entered the law office of Morton, Burly & Howell, and was admitted to the bar in 1888 and subsequently to a partnership in the firm of Morton & Burly. He was married October 18, 1892, to Marry E., daughter of Joseph S. Cadman, a Chicago attorney. He was elected judge of the supreme court at Chicago, in April, 1907, and for the past four years has been on the Appellate bench. He is a Republican in politics. Judge McSurely and his wife have two children, Marion and William C., who reside with their parents. The second child of Reverend McSurely is Ella G., educated at Hillsboro and Oxford college, and a graduate of Miami university, class of 1901, was subsequently a teacher at Hillsboro and assistant librarian. She attended a library school at Brooklyn, N. Y., from which she was duly graduated, and has been assistant librarian at Miami university, and makes her home at Oxford with her aged father. James E. McSurely, the third child of Reverend McSurely, was born at Hillsboro, and after his leaving Miami university in 1890 was in the National

Page 540

Bank of Hillsboro for three and one-half years and then was graduated from the Cincinnati Law school, and subsequently established himself in the grocery business at Oxford but eventually disposed of his interests and for the past several years has been a traveling representative on the road for the Lexington Roller mills, of Lexington, Ky. He was married in 1902 to a Miss Walker, who died in 1911, leaving two children: James E., jr., and Alexander W., both of whom make their home at Oxford with their grandfather.

Jacob Naegelen, who has been identified with the American Rolling mill at Middletown since the opening of that plant in 1900 as a machinist, was born July 15, 1862, at Cincinnati, Ohio, a son of Charles and Theresa (Grever) Naegelen, natives of France who came to the United States as a young married couple. The mother passed away in 1903, but the father still lives, being now eighty-two years old. There were three children in the family: Jacob, Julius and Charles, and Jacob is the only survivor. Charles Naegelen lost a son who met a hero's death on a battlefield in France, and his loss so affected his father that he soon succumbed to grief and followed him to the grave. Jacob Naegelen received only a public school education and as a youth applied himself to learning the trade of machinist. This vocation he followed for many years in different localities, but since the opening of the American Rolling mill at Middletown, in 1900, he has been identified with this great plant. In politics he takes a non-partisan stand. Mr. and Mrs. Naegelen are consistent members of the Lutheran church, and as thrifty people have put away a comfortable competence for their evening of life, in addition to which they own a pleasant, modern home on Young street. Mr. Naege1en was married at Cincinnati, February 27, 1884, to Frances, who was born at Cincinnati, February 26, 1863, a daughter of Philip and Sophia (Winkleman) Huffert. Mr. Huffert died in 1907, while his widow still survives as a resident of Middletown. There were five daughters in the Huffert family: Eva, the wife of P. H. Morton, of Cincinnati; Flora, the wife of Walter Barrett, of that city; Rose, the wife of William .T anson, of that city; Lillie, the wife of Frank Rheimegar, also of Cincinnati; and Mrs. Naege1en, of Middletown. To Mr. and Mrs. Naege1en there have been born five children: Jacob, formerly of Cincinnati, but now in the United States Navy, stationed at Norfolk, Va.; Lawrence, of Cincinnati; Charles, of Middletown, was with the Nineteenth Engineering Corps, in France; Ju1ius, of Middletown; and Theresa, the wife of Guy Hatton, who holds a responsible position with the Big Four railroad at Middletown.

Fred W. Nagel. Both in private life and public affairs, Fred W. N agel has proved himself eminently capable, energetic and trustworthy, and during the lifelong period of his association with Oxford, has won a permanent place as a practical and constructive promoter of the best business and civic interests of the community. Mr. Nagel, who has been in the business of funeral directing at Oxford since 1907 and has one of the leading establishments of the city, was born at Oxford, October 18, 1876, a son of Fred and Catherine Nagel. His parents, natives of Germany, emigrated to the United

Page 541

States in 1851, locating for a time at Florence, Ky., and then coming to Oxford, where the father, a wagonmaker by trade, followed his vocation until the outbreak of the Civil war and then enlisted in the service of his country as a member of an Ohio volunteer infantry regiment. After his honorable discharge from military service, in which he had made a splendid record for brave and faithful performance of duty, he returned to the duties of civil life and for a number of years conducted a wagon-making establishment at Oxford, where his death occurred in 1877, Mrs. Nagel surviving him until 1919, when she passed away at the age of eighty-one years. They were faithful members of the Presbyterian church and the parents of ten children, of whom five are living: Henry, a resident of Oxford; Louise, the wife of Henry Ady, of Riverside, Cal.; Carl, the proprietor of a meat market at that place; Fred W.; and Kate, twins, the latter of whom is the wife of C. C. McKee, of Riverside. Fred W. Nagel received his education in the public schools of Oxford, and in 1900 embarked in business on his own account as the proprietor of a livery and transfer enterprise, of which he was the owner at Oxford until 1917. In the meantime, in 1916, he had enrolled as a student in the Cincinnati School of Embalming, and after completing the course, in 1917, engaged in the undertaking business, which he has since followed with success. He controls a business which has the confidence of the people of Oxford, and his personal tact has done much to make his services acceptable to families at the time of their greatest grief, while the complete equipment of his place of business and his facilities for the reverent handling of the dead have combined to give his establishment a recognized place among the specialized business houses of the city. In June, 1897, Mr. Nagel was united in marriage with Miss Nora Stanbery of Mount Carmel, Ind., and they have four children: Charles; Marjorie, a graduate of Oxford High school, who also attended the Western College for Women; Fred H. and William. The eldest son, Charles, was educated in the public schools of Oxford and the Miami sumrner school, and joined the Ohio National Guards, with which he served during the trouble on the Mexican border. When America entered the Great war, he was the youngest soldier to go from Oxford, being a member of Company E, 166th Infantry, of the famous Rainbow Division, and served for one hundred and forty-five straight days in the front line trenches in France. Wounded and gassed, he was confined to the general headquarters hospital for an extended period, and then received his honorable discharge and was sent home. Fred W. Nagel has been a prominent figure in Democratic politics, is a member of the Butler County Democratic Central committee and has served as a member of the Oxford City council. He has been an active supporter of good and beneficial movements, and his public record has been an excellent one. With his family, he belongs to the Presbyterian church, and as a fraternalist holds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias at Oxford, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Hamilton, in all of which he is very popular.

John F. Neilan. Prominent among the men who have made

Page 542

creditable records in professional fields at Hamilton is found John F. Neilan. The votaries of the profession of law must, to be successful, be endowed with native talent, sterling rectitude of character and singleness of purpose, while equally important concomitants are close study, careful application and broad general knowledge in addition to that of a more purely technical order. Mr. Neilan fully meets all these requirements of his chosen calling, and thus has been able to advance himself to a position of prominence at the state bar. Mr. Neilan was born at Hamilton, Ohio, December 28, 1881, and comes honestly by his predilection for the profession which he now honors, being a son of John F. Neilan, the elder, who was for years a prominent attorney of Hamilton, until death cut short his career, October 8, 1907. He secured his preliminary education in the parochial school of St. Mary's church, following which he pursued a course at St. Xavier's college, Cincinnati, and then entered upon his professional studies at the Cincinnati Law school. Graduating with his degree in 1903, he was admitted to the bar the same year, and at once entered practice as his father's associate. Father and son combined to furnish a most successful legal partnership and this connection continued until the death of the elder man, since which time Mr. Neilan has practised alone, having a large and important clientage. His marked ability is recognized by the public and the profession, and is the outcome of close study, thorough preparation of his cases, keen analysis of the facts and a logical application of the law that bears upon them. In politics he is a Democrat, and for four years he served as city solicitor of Hamilton. His religious connection is with St. Mary's Catholic church. He belongs also to the Hamilton and Butler County County clubs, and to the Hamilton, Butler County and Ohio State Bar associations. February 22, 1906, Mr. Neilan was united in marriage with Marie W., daughter of John R. Woods, of Hamilton, and they are the parents of one child: Kathleen, eleven years of age.

Edward H. Nein. All lines of business industry at Middletown, Ohio, have grown and increased in extent, scope and value during recent years, and the credit for this desirable state of affairs must be largely given to the enterprising realty dealers, whose energy and modern methods have assisted in putting the city on a sound financial basis through encouraging new settlement and attracting business houses to this point. Of the firms who have been prominent in developing new sections of the city, none is better known than that of Nein Brothers Realty company, which, within less than a decade, has come rapidly to the forefront among the leading operators of the municipality. Edward H. Nein, the senior member of this firm, and a man widely known and highly esteemed in business circles, was born near Cambridge City, Wayne county, Ind., February 6, 1878, a son of Henry and Margaret (Grau) Nein. His father, born in Germany in 1839, was sixteen years of age when he came to the United States and during the rest of his life was engaged in agricultural pursuits, his death occurring in Butler county, Ohio, in 1901. Mrs. Nein, who was born in Butler county, Ohio, February 14, 1848, survives her husband and lives at Hamilton, this state. Edward H.

Page 543

Nein attended the common schools until he was fifteen years of age, and then spent two years at the Shandon (Butler county) High school. This was followed by two years of study at the National university, Lebanon, Ohio, and when he left that institution, at the age of nineteen year's, he began teaching in the district schools, a vocation which he followed for four years. When he was twentythree years old he entered the normal school at Valparaiso, Ind., but left after one year and began bookkeeping, which he followed several years. Advanced to the position of traveling salesman, he followed that occupation for four years, and in 1908, embarked in the real estate business at Hamilton, Ohio. In 1910, he removed to Middletown, where he formed a partnership with his brother, John F. Nein, and this has existed ever since, being known as the Nein Hrothers Realty company. The company is engaged chiefly in the sub-dividing of property into city lots and the building of homes, and in ten years of business the firm has developed six residence sections of Middletown. The brothers have devoted a good deal of time to the selling of homes on the easy payment plan to workmen. Edward H. Nein is one of the energetic, progressive and thoroughly informed men of Middletown, where his standing among business men is of the best and his friendships numerous. His knowledge of realty values is extensive, and the straightforward methods by which he does business have gained him the complete confidence of his extensive clientage. He was married November 6, 1902, to Elizabeth M. McCoy, who was educated in the graded schools of Butler county, a daughter Mr. and Mrs. William McCoy, the former a resident of near Oxford, and the latter deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Nein have two sons: Lyman Randolph, born in 1903; and Gordon Russel, born in 1905. Mr. Nein has always taken an active part in the municipal affairs of his home city. Fraternally he is affiliated with the United Commercial Travelers, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Scottish Rite degree of Masonry, and is a Shriner. With his family, he belongs to the Presbyterian church.

John F. Nein. As Middletown has become, year by year, a more and more important commercial and industrial center, its business has naturally increased, and its population has reached a magnitude which has been a constantly growing tax upon the capacity of its residence districts. This state of affairs is being met by the capable realty operators, who have solved the question involved by the development of new sections of the city, in which they have furnished homes, largely for the working classes, and in this field no concern has accomplished greater or more successful results than that of Nein Brothers Realty company. John F. Nein, the junior member of this firm, a man widely versed in realty values and a skilled and thoroughly reliable bussiness man, was born near Cambridge City, Wayne county, Ind., August 15, 1880. His father was Henry Nein, who was born in Germany in 1839 and came to the United States in 1855, the rest of his life being passed in farming in Indiana and Ohio, and his death occurring in Butler county of the latter state. Henry Nein married Margaret Grau, who was born in Butler county, and who survives him and makes her home at Hamilton. John F. Nein

Page 544

was educated in the country schools of Butler county, Ohio, and the high school at Shandon, and was reared as a farmer's son. His career up to 1907 was passed on the home place in Butler county, where he was associated with his father in agricultural operations, but in that year he turned his attention to real estate as a vocation, and established himself in business at Middletown. For three years he continued to operate alone with growing success, and in 1910 was joined by his brother, Edward H. Nein, the firm of Nein Brothers Realty company being founded at that time. This has grown to be one of the important business houses of Middletown, and is at present largely engaged in the subdividing of property into city lots and the building of homes. In the ten years that the company has been in existence, it has developed six residence sections of Middletown, and the selling of the greater number of these homes has been on the easy payment plan to workingmen and their families. In this way, many who would otherwise be unable to secure property of their own, have become home-owners, and if there were no other reason the firm should for this fact be considered one of the constructive development factors of the city. In business circles of Middletown, John F. Nein is known as an alert, astute and energetic operator, and one who has won and held the complete confidence of those with whom he has come into association and contact. While not a politician in the accepted sense of the term, he has taken an intelligent and active interest in the municipal affairs of his home city and in matters of state and national importance. His fraternal affiliations are with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and Lafayette Lodge, No. 37, Knights of Pythias. As a churchman, he belongs to the Presbyterian faith, as do also the members of his family. August 5, 1903, Mr. Nein was united in marriage with Flora L., who died July 31, 1918. She was the daughter of Halsey and Elizabeth Henry, and was educated in the schools of Butler county and graduated at the high school in Hamilton. She was the mother of one daughter and two sons: Velma, born in 1904; Floyd, born in 1906; and Russel, born in 1910. On January 7, 1920, Mr. Nein was married to Florence Carolyn Abbott of Hamilton, Ohio.

Louis T. Nein, who has risen from the schoolroom to public honors and success, and who now occupies the position of treasurer of Butler county, was born at Milton, Ind., and was a child when brought by his parents to Morgan township, Butler county, Ohio, where he grew up on a farm and received his early education in the district schools. After his graduation from the New London High school, in 1901, he taught a rural school for one year in Milford township, and was then made principal of the Millville school, a position which he retained two years. Going then to Indianapolis, Mr. Nein became identified with the Pennsylvania Railway company, and with that line rose to the office of chief clerk of the accounting department of the Indianapolis office. In 1912 he resigned and went to Middletown, Ohio, where he established himself in business as the proprietor of a general merchandise store. In 1914, he was appointed city auditor of Middletown, and served in that office until August 3, 1919, when he resigned to take the position

Page 545

of treasurer of Butler countv to which he had been elected in November, 1918. Mr. Nein is a.Blue Lodge Mason, a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, a Pythian and a member of the Y. M. C. A. He is a Democrat in his political tendencies and is accounted one of the strong men of his party in Butler county. With his family he belongs to the Presbyterian church. Mr. Nein married in 1907, Ethel, daughter of George Hawk, and they are the parents of two children: Earl Louis and Helen Elizabeth.

Clarence Newcomb, who belongs to one of the old and honored families of the Miami valley, and who is now chief electrician at Sorg's mills, at Middletown, was born at Franklin, Warren county, Ohio, in 1879. He is a grandson of John Newcomb, who fought with an Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Civil war, and who still survives as a resident of Indiana. Clarence Newcomb received his education in the public schools of Franklin, and as a youth began to learn the trade of electrician, after mastering which he was variously employed until entering Sorg's mills. There he won consecutive promotion until he was placed in his present position, one in which he has numerous responsibilities, in the faithful and efficient discharge of which he has gained the full confidence of his employers and the respect and esteem of those over whom he has charge. Mr. Newcomb was married July 12, 1894, to Miss Mary E. Murphy, who was born in 1881 in the home of Mrs. Anna O'Flynn, the oldest woman of Irish parentage at Franklin, who still resides in the same home. To this union there were born three sons: Fred, Howard and Isaac. The Newcomb home was saddened February 11, 1919, by the death of Mrs. Newcomb, following an operation which was held in the hope of curing her of a trouble that had made her ill for a number of years. She was a beautiful character, an exceedingly devout woman, and a faithful member of the Catholic church. She was an excellent housewife and a loving and tender mother and wife, and the beauty, sincerity and maternal affection which were hers are revealed in her farewell letter to her husband. Following her suggestions therein, Mr. Newcomb has, since her death, become a devout Catholic, and is also carrying out his wife's request by sending their little son, Isaac, to a Catholic boarding school. Fred Newcomb, the eldest of the sons, completed his education in the Franklin High school in 1914, and at that time went to Cleveland, where he secured employment at the Riverside furnace, as crane man. He continued in this firm's employ until September 9, 1918, when he enlisted in the United States Navy, at Cleveland, and when the Minnesota forest fires broke out went with his comp.any up the Great Lakes to assist in stamping out these conflagrations. Returning from that service, he received his honorable discharge and was mustered out of the service December 22 1918 at which time he returned to his former position, which he still occupIes.

John. C. Newlin, who is associated with his son, Le Roy Newlin, in the painting and decorating business at Middletown, is a representative citizen and reliable business man of this city. He is a

Page 546

native of Indiana, son of James Crozier and Charlotte (Johnson) Newlin, the latter of whom died when he was one year old. He was reared by Norman McMackin, an uncle, of Sharon, Ohio, with whom he remained until eighteen years of age. He was educated at Sharon and there learned his trade, following the same ever since and for a number of years has been a resident of Middletown. February 19, 1885, he married Laura Belle, daughter of Otis and Cynthia (Davidson) Preble, then of Batavia, Ohio, of New England ancestry. Mrs. Newlin has two sisters: Catherine, Mrs. George Long, of Middletown; and Ida, Mrs. J. B. Drake, of Bethany. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Newlin: Le Roy, Harry Edward and Carrie. Both Harry E. and Carrie are graduates of the Middletown High school and both are employed in a clerical capacity by the American Rolling Mill company. Le Roy, who is his father's partner in business, is an overseas soldier with the following honorable record: He entered military service April 26, 1918, in Company 5, 33lst Infantry; was sent first to Camp Sherman; then to Camp Merritt; sailed in June and reached England June 16; Havre, France, June 19; sent to Montigny on the Marne; August 1, was transferred to company L; and was sent to an army training school for two months. October 1 moved with his unit to Malicorne; December 16 to La Suze; left for Brest December 30; sailed for the United States January 17, and reached home in April, 1919. The returned soldier immediately resumed work with his father and has proved just as faithful and efficient in civil life as in military. This firm has done the greater part of the fine decorating in new buildings erected here and their work is considered above criticism and their business methods honest in every particular. In 1915 Mr. Newlin erected his handsome residence on Garfield avenue. He is liberal in his political views as to outside affairs, but locally is deeply concerned in all that affects the welfare of Middletown. He is a member of the Oakland Presbyterian church.

James C. Niblock, son of John and Catherine (Donahue) Niblock, was born March 14, 1870, at Struthers, Ohio. The parents came from Belfast, Ireland, to establish their home in the "land of the free," and proved worthy citizens of their adopted country. Mrs. Niblock died in Huntington, Ind., in January, 1888, and the death of Mr. Niblock occurred at Fort Wayne, Ind., in October, 1918. Mr. and Mrs. Niblock were the parents of nine children: Maggie, Mrs. Thos. Mylott, of Decatur, Ind.; David, now in Anderson, Ind.; Catherine, Mrs. J. W. Place; Andrew, in Warren, Ohio; Henry, in Chicago; Lizzie, Mrs. Charles Hammond, in Huntington, Ind.; John, in the west; Will, in Muncie, Ind., and James C., our subject, who married Emma C. Love, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Melmer) Love, at Muncie, Ind., February 10, 1891. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland, January 16, 1870, and came with her parents to Montreal, Canada, when quite a young girl, where her father engaged in the railroad business. Her mother died September 10, 1902; her father, July 31, 1911. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Niblock: Catherine, Mrs. Charles Bolton; Harry, married Maud Mulligan; Margaret, William and Alice. William

Page 547

served in the World war with the 2d Division, U. S. Marines. Mr. Niblock is a heater and has been employed by the American Rolling Mill company since the plant was located in Middletown, nineteen years ago. He is a good citizen and neighbor and has many friends. He owns a fine home on Grand avenue, is a member of St. John's Catholic church and liberal in politics.

George H. Nichol. For one of its oldest families and most interesting agricultural landmarks, Hanover township, Butler county, is indebted to the courage and farsightedness of the progenitor of the Nichol family in this region, who took up his residence here during the presidency of James Monroe. John W. Nichol was of Scotch-Irish extraction and came from Pennsylvania. Entering a goodly portion of land he erected a dwelling of rough logs, and a stout heart and eager determination transformed hardships into shining stepping-stones to better things, so that he realized many of his worthy ambitions and became a prominent and well-to-do man of his locality. On this farm was born his son, Joseph W. Nichol, who married Henrietta Kyger, who belonged to an old family of Pennsylvania. She was born on the old Kyger homestead in Milford township that is now owned by her son, John W. Nichol, one of the enterprising, progressive and successful agriculturists of Butler county. Following their marriage, Joseph W. and Henrietta Nichol took up their residence on the Nichol place, and there followed farming successfully until Mr. Nichol's death, after which his widow moved to Hamilton, where she passed away. They were laid to rest side by side in the cemetery at Darrtown. Their children were: John W., of Darrtown; Mrs. Nellie Hansel, of that place; Mrs. Sallie Herron; Mrs. Louise Coulter; Elizabeth, who is deceased; and George H. George H. Nichol was born on the old Nichol homestead in Hanover township, June 25, 1867, and received good educational advantages, attending the schools of Hanover township and Oxford, and also spending one year at Lebanon university. After leaving school he began to assist his father at home, and February 19, 1897, was married in Milford township to Elizabeth, daughter of Henry and Margaret Snyder, former residents of this township who are now deceased. The Snyder children were: Mrs. Ida Trump; Samuel; Elizabeth, now Mrs. Nichol; Mrs. Barbara and Mrs. Maggie Harris; Harris; William; and Charles, who is deceased. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Nichol settled on their present property, which consists of 200 acres, and which is highly improved and in an excellent state of cultivation. In addition to this property, Mr. Nichol owns another tract of 159 acres in Milford township, and a one-half interest in a third property, of 218 acres, likewise in Milford township. While general farming has been his regular business and one in which he has gained a full share of prosperity, he has also met with much success in raising Shorthorn cattle and is considered an authority upon live stock. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Darrtown and of the Lutheran church, and takes a wholesome interest in charitable institutions, being one of the most generous men when called upon to forward and assist any worthy cause, as exemplified in his large contributions to the

Page 548

various war drives. His clean and upright life commands respect and good will, and, as the legitimate owner and custodian of a large estate, he inspires admiration for his sagacious and thrifty management and control. To Mr. and Mrs. Nichol there have been born four children: Helen, Joseph M., Dorothy and Elizabeth Louise, of whom Dorothy is deceased.

John A. Nicol, who is a substantial retired resident of Middletown, bears a name that has been held in much esteem in Butler county for many years. He was born near this city, a son of John G. and Kunngunde (Eighler) Nicol. John G. Nicol was born in Bavaria, Germany, and came from his native land to the United States in company with his father, the mother having died in Bavaria. October 28, 1856, he married Kunngunde Eighler, who died while their three children were very young. Of these, two are living, John A. and Anna Barbara; the second born, Kate Marguerite, being deceased. Bavaria has always been one of the rich provinces of Germany, but there were many poor but honest people there also, and to this latter class the Nicols belonged. In 1863 John G. Nicol crossed the Atlantic to the United States and when he reached Middletown, Ohio, he had but nineteen cents left. He immediately sought work and at first made a living for himself and family by sawing wood, his industry being the recommendation that secured him the position of hauling logs for the Wardlow Thomas Paper company. He afterward engaged in farming, living on the William Walter farm near Middletown, which was a fine property and which he later purchased. For many years he continued to work his land and brought it to a high state of production, and continued to reside on the farm until 1911, when he sold it to Albert Miller, removing then with his son and daughter to Lakeside where three fine residence properties were bought. Although Mr. Nicol has reached the advanced age of eighty-seven years, the passage of time has touched him lightly, and he is passing the evening of life tenderly cared for by his two devoted children. The family belongs to Bethlehem Lutheran church.

C. B. Niederlander. The captains of industry who are directing the financial activities of various sections in maintaining the nation's monetary prestige, and combating the influence of the foes to established currency and methods of transacting business, are the men who shoulder the responsibility for prosperity and advancement along every line of commercial and industrial activity. Without them and their sound, conservative policies, the country would be at the mercy of every irresponsible speculator or visionary idealist. These men of affairs keep their finger on the pulse of progress and are able to prevent undue stimulation or dangerous reflex action. One of the men who established a name and reputation in banking circles of the Miami valley is C. B. Niederlander, president of The American Trust & Savings bank of Middletown. Mr. Niederlander was born at Middletown, Ohio, April 6, 1864, a son of Joseph W. and Maria (Cunningham) Niederlander, the former a native of Alsace and the latter of Utica, N. Y. They were both young when they came to Middletown, where they were married, and where the

Page 549

father followed the tinsmith business throughout his life, being a man universally esteemed and respected. His widow, at the age of eighty-one years, still survives, as do their eight children: Benjamm B., Mary, C. B., W. J., Irene, Elizabeth, Amelia, and Laura. After attending the public schools of Middletown, C. B. Niederlander secured employment in a tobacco factory, but gave up this occupation to take up office work. His first connection with banking affairs was with the Merchants National bank of Middletown, where he rose to the post of cashier, continuing with that institution until November 30, 1910, when he became one of the organizers of the American Trust & Savings bank, his associates in that enterprise being P. A. Sorg, president; and J. W. Boyd, vice-president. The new institution opened its doors for business January 21, 1911, with a capital of $50,000, and in May, 1916, this was increased to $100,000, the surplus at this time being $50,000. The present officers of this, one of the most prominent, substantial and conservative banks of the county, are: C. B. Niederlander, president; A. H. Walburg, vice-president; Carleton Eldridge, cashier; and James F. Mulligan, assistant cashier. A man of unusual public spirit, interested in local affairs and proud of the city in which his career has been passed, Mr. Niederlander is a powerful factor in the furtherance of any measure which has for its aim the advancement of the people or the betterment of existing conditions. Although his interests are widespread, and the demands upon his time and sympathies countless, he is uniformly courteous, listening patiently and acting wisely according to the ripe judgment his experience has given him. He is fond of the companionship of his fellows, and is a charter member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in addition to belonging to the Knights of Columbus and Division No.2, Ancient Order of Hibernians, and he is a member of Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Middletown, Ohio.

Joseph Niemeyer. Various farms in Butler county have been improved by the occupancy of Joseph Niemeyer, at present retired, although still the owner of a ninety-five acre tract in section 36, Lemon township. From the years 1903 to 1917 he increased the value of this fine property, was extensively engaged in general farming and stock raising, and established a standard of agricultural procedure creditable to any community. Mr. Niemeyer was born December 15, 1842, in Westphalia, Germany, and attended the schools of his native land, where he lived until he was twenty-four years of age. He arrived in the United States in 1866, with no knowledge of the English language, and with but a limited capital. Both of these discrepancies were attended to, however, for he quickly learned the language of his adopted country, and gave himself a good practical education therein, while, being a willing and capable workman, he soon found employment, and during the two years that he remained in Cincinnati earned good wages in a foundry. In 1868 he came to Hamilton, O., where for six months he worked for the firm of Owen, Lane & Deyer, and then established himself in business on his own account as the proprietor of a dray line. He was married February

Page 550

6, 1878, to Miss Anna Maria Boehm, who was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, and came alone to the United States in 1872, locating at Hamilton, where she met and married Mr. Niemeyer. She died in the faith of the Evangelical church, May 20, 1917, at the age of sixty-four years. Following his marriage, Mr. Niemeyer located in Warren county, where he began his agricultural operations, but after four years returned to Butler county and located on a farm in Lemon township. From that time forward he lived on various farms, in the same township, until 1903, when he bought his present property, a tract of ninety-five acres in section 36. As a scientific farmer and excellent business man, he made a success of his operations, and during the time that he was actively engaged in operations, remodeled the buildings and made many valuable improvements, so that he now has one of the fine country homes of Butler county. In 1917 he retired from active life, although he still owns his farm. Among his neighbors, and throughout the township, Mr. Niemeyer is much esteemed and bears the reputation of being a man of superior information, sound judgment, strict integrity and commendable public spirit. He is adaptable and obliging and has the faculty of getting along with all with whom he is associated. Mr. Niemeyer and his wife had one daughter: Ida Marie, who was born February 19, 1880, in Warren county, O. She was married March 14, 1899, to George H. Matson, who was born on the old Matson place in Lemon township, Butler county, a son of Joseph Matson, deceased, who was for many years an agriculturist of that township. George H. Matson has always been a farmer and is now operating the property of his father-in-law, being accounted one of the skilled and capable representatives of the farming industry in Lemon township. He and Mrs. Matson are general favorites in their community, where they have many warm friends. They are the parents of two children: Ralph Joseph, born June 24, 1900, and who is now a student in the agricultural department of the State university, at Columbus; and Helen Marie, born November 19, 1912.

continue page 550