Butler County, Ohio - Chapter 6, 1905 (part 1 of 18)

Personal Mention Bert S. Bartlow

This well-known and representative citizen of Hamilton stands as a worthy scion of old colonial stock, both in the agnatic and maternal lines. He has served as a member of the Ohio legislature and held other positions of distinctive public trust, while he is specially eligible for representation in a publication of the province assigned to the one at hand.

Bert Surene Bartlow was born near Mount Carmel, Springfield township, Franklin county, Indiana, on the ioth of July, 1869, his place of nativity having been the old ancestral homestead which was secured from the government by his greatgrandfather, James Bartlow, in 1814, prior to the admission of Indiana to the Union. Said homestead comprised a quarter section of the land in the territory northwest of the Ohio river directed by act of congress to be sold, and was deeded to James Bartlow by the United States government under date of June 25, 1816. This original deed is in the possession of the ^subject of this review and bears the signature of James Madison, then President of the United States.

James Thompson Bartlow, father of him whose name initiates this sketch, was born on the old homestead mentioned on the 7th of March, 1847. being a son of Joseph Carter Bartlow and Eliza Jane (Kennard) Bartlow, whose marriage was solemnized on October 22, 1841, the former having likewise been born on June 3, 18x8, on the old farm secured by his father from the government. The original American ancestors of the Bartlow family came from Holland to the new world prior to the war of the Revolution, and the first concerning whom authentic record is extant is Cornelius Bartlow, of New Jersey, from whom the subject is a representative of the fourth generation in line of direct descent. James Bartlow, son of Cornelius, was born m New Jersey, on the ioth of May, 1766. and his death occurred September 26, 1854. e married Isabella Wiley, a native of ir ginia, and they became the parents of thirteen children, of whom Joseph was t youngest. After the close of the Revolution James Bartlow and his youngest brother, Isaac, left New Jersey and removed to Martinsburg, Berkeley county, Virginia, now West Virginia, and there James married Miss Wiley. Later they became pio- neers of Bracken county, Kentucky, where they lived for a time in the block house at Augusta. After the extermination of the Indians, in whose suppression Mr. Bartlow took an active part, he settled on a farm near Augusta, where he continued to reside until 1814, in which year he removed to Indiana, as has been already noted. To Joseph C. and Eliza Jane (Kennard) Bartlow were bom four sons and one daughter, and of the number three are dead, William A., who died in infancy in 1843; George K., who died at his home in Blackburn, Oklahoma, December 22, 1899, and Mary A., who died at Richmond, Indiana, June 3, 1901. Those living are, James T., father of the subject, and Albert F., a prominent retired farmer residing at Anderson, Madison county, Indiana. Joseph C. Bartlow died on the 17th of May, 1899, and his wife passed away on the 6th of February, 1904, at the home of her son James T., in Hamilton. She was born in Westchester, Butler county, Ohio, on the 2d of March, 1824, being a daughter of George G. and Jane (Thompson) Kennard, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of Pennsylvania. They were numbered among the sterling pioneers of Butler county, having resided for many years at Westchester. Union township, and later near St. Charles, in Morgan township, where both died many years ago.

In Franklin county, Indiana, on the 17th of September, 1868, was solemnized the marriage of James Thompson Bartlow and Almira Luse. After his marriage Mr. Bartlow was identified with agricultural pursuits for several years, and for a short interval, in 1872 and 1873, he was engaged in mercantile business in Hamilton. He then returned to Indiana, in whose public schools he was a successful teacher until 1876, in which year he came again to Butler county, Ohio, settling in Reily township, where he taught school about eighteen years. In October, 1896, he removed to the city of Hamilton, where he has a comfortable home, in the first ward. He has always been a stanch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, and while a resident of Reily township served as township clerk and assessor. For five years after his removal to Hamilton he was an attache of the department of public works, and of late he has been employed as weighmaster for the factory by the Champion Coated Paper Company of Hamilton. He is a member of Hamilton Tent, No. 317, Knights of the Maccabees, of which he has been record keeper for the past several years. To James T. and Almira (Luse) Bartlow have been born four children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest. Emma was married, February 19, 1890, to George W. Abbott, of Franklin county, Indiana, and his death occurred on the 19th of May, 1903. To Mr. and Mrs. Abbott were bom four children, Orpha, Howard, Dale and Oakley, of whom Orpha, the only daughter, died November 4, 1904, in her fourteenth year. Mrs. Abbott has recently purchased a fine farm four miles east of Hamilton, and there she now maintains her home. The two younger children of James T. and Almira Bartlow are Anna C. and Mae, both of whom remain at the parental home.

Almira (Luse) Bartlow, mother of the subject of this review, was born in Springfield township, Franklin county, Indiana, on the 1 2th of June, 1849, and is a daughter of Hiram and Rebecca (Rynear- son) Luse, whose marriage occurred on November 11, 1834. The maternal ancestors were closely associated with colonial and Revolutionary history. The lineage is traced to Henri Luce, one of the first settlers of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. One of the first of the name to achieve distinction was Judge David Luce, of Morris county, New Jersey, who was appointed by Governor Dinwiddie as judge of the colonial court, in 1742, and he served in this capacity until 1768. History records that six of his sons were valiant soldiers of the con tinental line during the war of the Revolution, and three of the number became members of the Order of Cincinnatus, namely: Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Luce, Lieutenant Walter Luce and Sergeant Israel Luce. Matthias Luse, great-great-grandfather of the subject, was born 6n October 19- T759> and died in 1828; he likewise served in the war of the Revolution, as did also two of his brothers and their honored father. He married Susannah Stark, of Flanders. New Jersey, she being a daughter of General John Stark, of the New Jersey forces in the Continental armies. After the close of the war General Stark served for a number of years as a member of the New Jersey state senate. About 1780 Matthias Luse removed to Washington county, Pennsylvania, and settled in Amwell township, where he acquired large tracts of land. He was a minister of the Baptist church, being identified with the Redstone Baptist Association, and had the honor of administering the rite of baptism to Alexander Campbell, founder of the Disciples' or Christian church. His wife died in 1858. Robert Luse, great-grandfather of the subject, was bom on October 19, 1780, and came to Ohio early in the year 1800 and settled near Reilv, Butler county. In 1808 he married Mary Jones, a daughter of Jonathan and Keziah Jones, honored pioneers of Reily township, and in 1813 he removed to Springfield township, Franklin county, Indiana, where he died in the year 1827. His son Hiram, born in Reily township, Butler county, Ohio, on the 26th of January, 1811, died at his home in Franklin county, Indiana. on the 4th of June, 1898. His wife, whose maiden name was Rebecca Ry nearson, daughter of John and Anna (Carle) Rynearson, was born in Warren county, Ohio, October 30, 1813, and her death occurred November 8, 1891.

Bert S. Bartlow, to whom this resume is dedicated, passed his boyhood days in Indiana and Ohio, attending the public schools with regularity and assisting in the work of the neighborhood farmers during his vacations. He earned his first money by carrying water and sheaves in the harvest field. Pie early manifested a distinctive predilection for study and his ambition to make a success in life was early quickened. After completing the curriculum of the public schools he was matriculated, in September, 1888, at the age of nineteen years, in the preparatory department of Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, and in the autumn of the following year he became a member of the freshman class. He was graduated with honors on the 14th of June, 1893, having given special attention to economic and collateral subjects. He received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and special honors in the department of political science. During his college career he was three times chosen by the Erodelphian Literary Society as orator on the occasion of the celebration of the anniversary of Washington's birthday, and was also one of the orators of his class in the commencement exercises. He was active in literary society work and from 1891 to 1893 was editor and manager of the college paper, the Miami Student. He was one of the seven young men in Miami University who secured the charter for the local chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and h£ still retains an enthusiastic interest in this organization. After his graduation Mr. Bartlow studied law for several months, in the office of Hon. Edward E. Hull, of Hamilton. For several years he was a special newspaper correspondent, and for several months after its founding, in 1901, he was editor of the Butler County Press, while in 1902 he served as city editor of the Hamilton Evening Sun.

Mr. Bartlow manifests great interest in the success of the principles of the Democratic party, and his career in the political field has been one of no little distinction for so young a man. He served from July, 1894, to August, 1898, as clerk of the board of deputy state supervisors of elections for Butler county. In August, 1897, he was nominated as representative of Butler county in the state legislature, securing a plurality of six hundred and thirtyfour votes over eight competitors in the nominating convention, while in the following election, in November, he was elected by a majority of three thousand one hundred and fifty-one, the largest majority accorded, to any member of the general assembly of that year. He was chosen as his own successor in 1899, thus serving four consecutive years and being a member of the seventy-third and seventy-fourth general assemblies. During his first term he was a member of the following named committees : Asylums for the insane, insurance, and universities and colleges. He was an active worker on the floor and in committee and introduced and pushed through to enactment a bill known as the board of control bill, the same providing for the reorganization of the city government of Hamilton. This law remained in force from April, 1898, until May, 1903, and afforded admittedly the best system of government Hamilton has ever had during its history as a municipality. Within his first term Mr. Bartlow also secured the passage of the law authorizing the construction of the soldiers, sailors and pioneers' monument in Hamilton, on the site of old Fort Hamilton, and also a monument in Middletown, dedicated to a similar purpose. During his second term in the legislature the subject held position on the important committees of railroads and telegraphs, fees and salaries, and elections. Within this term he was instrumental in securing the enactment of a law regulating the fiscal affairs of Butler county, and this law has effectually protected the county treasury* from overdrafts and ill advised expenditures. His career as a legislator was marked by its sincerity and its usefulness, especially in the conservation of economy in public expenditures. He was and is the friend of labor, and in the legislature voted for all measures intended to advance the cause of the honest working man. He wielded much influence and proved himself worthy of the honor conferred. Mr. Bartlow is an uncompromising adherent of the Democratic party, coming of the oldtime stock, and has proved a most able and successful campaign worker, having de- livered numerous political addresses and represented his party in county, district, state and national conventions. In July, 1903, he was appointed by the secretary of state a member of the board of deputy state supervisors of elections, for Butler county, in which he had previously served as clerk, and he still retains this incumbency, being chief deputy of the board.

As touching his fraternal relations we note that Mr. Bartlow is affiliated with Hamilton Lodge, No. 17, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Hamilton Lodge, No. 572, Knights of Pythias; Hamilton Senate. No. 26, Knights of the Ancient Essenic Order, of which he was the first excellent senator, while in September, 1901, at the session of the supreme senate, in Cincinnati, he was honored in being chosen supreme senator of the order in the world, this being the highest office in this well-known and influential society, and of which he continued incumbent for a term of two years. He is also a member of Miami Council, No. 10, Fraternal Censer, with which he. became affiliated in 1897. On the 10th of June, 1903, he was elected supreme president of the order, in the meeting of the supreme council at Dayton, Ohio, in which city he was re-elected in July, 1904, for i further term of three years. He is also a member of Esther Court, No. 4, Tribe of Ben Hur, in his home city. Mr. Bartlow is specially active in connection with fraternal society work, and in his official capacity as supreme president of the Fraternal Censer he is achieving notable success. The Fraternal Censer is an insurance order organized under the laws of Ohio, and is one of the vigorous young orders of the state. Its supreme office is located at Dayton, where the subject now passes the major portion of his time, well-appointed offices being maintained in the Reibold building in that city. The order has councils in all the larger cities of Ohio, and has carried its extension work into Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Missouri and Virginia. In addition to his executive duties in this connection Mr. Bartlow visits the various councils and has charge of the field work and extension enterprises of the order, while he is also editor in chief of an attractive journal, The Censer, published in the interests of the order and issued each month. He is a member of the First Presbyterian church in Hamilton, and is liberal and tolerant in his religious views. Mr. Bartlow has not as yet joined the ranks of the Benedicts.

The head of the municipal government in Hamilton is a type of German-American citizenship, whose life and character are worthy of emulation and whose history is essentially a part of the history of Butler county.

Mayor Bosch has served more years at the head of Hamilton's city government than any two of his predecessors since the incorporation of the city. He is the sixteenth mayor and was first elected as an independent candidate in 1893. Though a pronounced Democrat, a leader of the party, and a wise counsellor in all its political deliberations, the necessities of the case, in the spring of 1893. seemed to suggest the introduction of a candidate inde- pendent of party nominations. Mr. Bosch was so chosen, and elected. From 1893 until the present day he has stood at the head of the municipal affairs, sometimes elected as the nominee of his party and other times elected as the people's candidate. He has served the city under both the old and new charters, as well as under the recent radical changes of the statutes in relation to municipal government. Mr. Bosch has been at the head of municipal affairs in Hamilton during the phenomenal growth and prosperity of the city, covering the last eleven years, and has contributed his full share to this end. The city has passed through an era of great financial and business depression, as well as a period of remarkable growth and progress. Under his official regime the present electric light system was established, and the municipal ownership of various beneficent enterprises fully consummated. The sewerage system has been revolutionized, and the improvement of streets and parks has been an item of public interest and the source of extensive distribution of large sums of public money among the worthy wage earners of the city. This occurred largely at a time when a serious financial depression was upon the whole county, and served to alleviate suffering and provide profitable employment to many who were dependent upon their hands for a livelihood. The policy of Mayor Bosch has been safe and conservative, and though not free from criticism, his is but the fate of all public servants long continued in office. Each succeeding campaign brings out a candidate whose friends make a special canvass along some well-defined lines of reform, but when the votes are counted a majority are recorded in favor of the man whose official acts have aroused a harmless criticism, and Mayor Bosch is continued. Thus it has been through successive elections since 1893, and the popularity and efficiency of the incumbent have been emphasized as the years roll by.

Mr. Bosch possesses some characteristics peculiar to himself. He is seldom much disturbed by the efforts put forth to compass his defeat, but keeps on in the even tenor of his way. Much of the Mayor's strength lies in his humane instincts in his administration of police court affairs. In the prosecution of a criminal he considers, not only the evidence, but the hardships which a long confinement, or heavy fine, may impose upon innocent parties; he weighs the offense in the balance of justice and the public welfare, and duly considers the claims of innocent and helpless children upon the earnings of the prisoner. If in his judgment the public good will be best conserved by turning the prisoner free with a fatherly reprimand, this is done; otherwise he is sentenced, and the execution of the judgment held in abeyance, conditioned on future good citizenship. Many cases are on record where the fine has been remitted, \Vhen the prisoner demonstrated his worthiness, by subsequent good behavior. It is very doubtful if any man could have administered the numerous duties of mayor of Hamilton for as long a period with less criticism than Mayor Bosch has received.

To keep abreast of the times in a growing city, municipal debts for public improvements and purchases were necessarily contracted, and this has been the source of some complaint, though as a general thing the heaviest taxpayers are in sympathy with the administration. Obstructionists exist in

At the age of twelve years he accompanied his parents to Hamilton, and spent the two succeeding years in the schools of this city. His first independent effort was in the capacity of an apprentice to the printing trade, on the National Zeitung, but that business becoming uncongenial, he left the office before fully completing his apprenticeship and learned the trade of a cigarmaker. He followed this business successfully for a number of years, being in business on his own account for some time. He finally sold out to accept a lucrative position in the employ of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad Company, and retired from that position to enter upon the duties of mayor of Hamilton.

Mr. Bosch is a son of Frederick and Lena (Breitling) Bosch, both of whom were natives of Wurtemberg, Germany. The father came to America in 1852, and after being variously employed at Ithaca, New York, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Cincinnati, Ohio, he finally settled on the farm where the subject was bom, and remained there until 1870, when he established a home in Hamilton. Here he died in January, 1888, leaving a wife and four children. His widow survived him until July 27, 1900. Both parents were devoted and active members of the German Evangelical church.

her of years, but is now the proprietor of the Hotel Atlas in this city. He is a successful business man and is deservedly popular in bis chosen calling. Jacob and Lena complete the family circle. The former is associated with his sister's husband, Fred Humbach, in the laundry business, being the proprietors and operators of the Miami Steam Laundry. They are both careful and conservative business men, and turn out a fine class of work.

On the 31st of May, 1883, Mr. Bosch was united in marriage with Miss Mary K., daughter of Daniel Schwab, of Hamilton. She is a representative of a numerous and prominent family in this city and county and is a lady of high social attainments. This happy union has been cemented by the advent of a son and two daughters, Walter and Edna, who are now entering society and the sterner duties of life in the maturity of young manhood and young womanhood, and little Miss Lillian, the pride of the family.

Mayor Bosch has always taken an active interest in public affairs, and is an ardent advocate of popular education. He was a member of the board of education from the fourth ward for several years, and serve two vears as clerk of that body. He is public-spirited and enterprising as a citizen, and is always an able champion of the claims o anv worthy enterprise calculated to enhance the interests of Hamilton. He is far-seeing and sagacious, a close observer of the workings of the municipal policies in other cities, and ambitious to serve his constituency m the light of this intelligence. His public services will bear the test of close scrutiny, and it is the prophesy of those best informed that his public career will go own

Mr. Bosch is identified with his political party as a thorough organizer and zealous worker, wielding a potent influence in the counsels of Democracy. He is modest and retiring in his social life, the force of circumstances having made him a leader in social functions. The family are regular attendants at the public services of St. John's church, and Mr. Bosch is a liberal contributor to the support of the gospel. Of the social orders, he is affiliated with the Royal Arcanum, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Hon. Warren Gard

This distinguished attorney is a Butler county product, of whom the city of Hamilton is justly proud. Seldom, indeed, does a professional career, in any line of human effort, launch out into prominence and distinction without a long and tedious period of probationary growth. The career of this subject, however, was somewhat marked, even from his schoolboy days. He was always a zealous student and early manifested a disposition to "go to the bottom of things" in student life. Mr. Gard was especially favored, also, in being a descendant of an able lawyer, hence his early training was in keeping with his chosen professional career. Endowed with a brilliant mind, retentive memory, a magnificent voice and winning personality, it is not strange that he early manifested those traits of character which distinguished the successful lawyer.

Warren Gard is yet on the threshold of young manhood, though he has mapped out a career for himself far in advance of the mediocre. He was born in Hamilton on the 2d of July, 1873. His early education was acquired in the city schools, and he was graduated with the Hamilton high school with the class of 1890. He then entered the Cincinnati University, where he pursued a special course for three years, at the same time carrying the regular course in law at the Law School of Cincinnati. He was graduated in 1894 and in the spring of the same year he was admitted to practice in the courts of the state.

Mr. Gard at once opened an office in his native city and was engaged in general practice until January, 1898. In the autumn of 1897 he was nominated by the county Democracy as the party's candidate for the office of prosecuting attorney, and was elected at the general election of that year. He entered upon the duties of this onerous office on the first Monday in January, 1898. Almost from the date of Mr. Card's induction into office began a career of crime in Butler county never before equalled under the jurisdiction of any predecessor. It was no theoretical study with him, - that he had mastered in the schools, - but an intensely practical career, covering his entire period of incumbency, during which time a greater number of criminals were tried than in any previous four years during the existence of Butler county. Some of the defendants attained national notoriety, through the very hideousness of their crime. The friends of the defendants made every effort possible in their defense, and Mr. Gard was often confronted by the most talented and success- fu attorneys to be secured from the bar of the state. He never asked assistance in the prosecution of a criminal case, but, confronting his wily opponents, met their motions and concentrated efforts with characteristic zeal and tenacity. The notorious strangler, Alfred A. Knapp, was tried and condemned to the electric chair during the last year. The Keelor murder trial resulted in conviction, but the verdict was set aside because of faulty instructions to the jury, after which the defendant plead guilty to murder in the first degree, and received a life sentence in the penitentiary. The Thomas case was tried on an indictment for first-degree , murder, the jury returning a verdict of second-degree murder, and the defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Weiner case, indictment for first-degree murder, resulted in acquittal.

In the Spivey riot cases, one of the two defendants was convicted and sentenced to twenty-five years in the penitentiary, and the other died before trial.

The Bishop "faith cure" case was one involving somewhat peculiar conditions, upon which the higher court was asked to establish a ruling, or precedent. The parties were indicted for manslaughter, on the charge of criminal negligence on the part of the parents of a child seriously burned. They relied upon prayer as a curative agent, and refused to call medical aid, or to administer medicines. The supreme court established a ruling that "No conviction could follow, in the absence of a positive and direct statute covering such a case."

In the Barret and Willard grand larceny cases, wherein the defendants were indicted for stealing diamond rings, of the value of twenty-five hundred dollars, Barrett was convicted and sent to the penitentiary for a term of years. Willard was twice tried as an accessory and was finally acquitted. Besides these, there were many minor criminal cases brought to trial by Mr. Card in his official capacity, in all of which he demonstrated his ability as a lawyer, and entire fairness and honesty as a mediator lietween crime and justice.

Mr. Gard was his own successor in 1900, receiving at the polls a very strong endorsement of his services, from the people of the county. No man ever retired from a public office in Butler county with a more eeneral recognition of his ability and special fitness, than Warren Gard.

Not alone in legal lore is Mr. Gard a leader, but in the social and political world he is ' recognized as a moulder of public thought and sentiment. As an orator, it is said that his equal does not exist in Butler county, and. whatever the topic chosen, his well-stored mind and ready use of language enable him to speak with fluency and readiness. He was one of the principal speakers at the memorial services in Hamilton, on the death of President McKinley, his associate being Hon. H. L. Morey, now deceased. It is said by those who heard this address that it was a masterpiece of eloquence, pathos and oratorical sublimity. As a campaign speaker, Mr. Gard is in structive and inspiring; his arguments are forceful, his similes pleasing, his comparisons rich and fertile in advanced thought. As a leader in the political affairs of Butler county. Mr. Gard has a future bright with partv honors, should he decide to claim them, and as an attorney in private practice, should he thus decide, his future career be crowned with deserved success.

Warren Gard is the youngest of two living sons and one daughter, deceased, born to Hon. Samuel Z. and Mary (Duke) Gard. Both parents were natives of Butler county, the father born in 1832 and the mother in 1840. Samuel. Z. Gard has spent his life in the legal profession, and, when in active practice, was considered one of the ablest attorneys at the Butler county bar. He was prosecuting attorney of the county from January, 1862, until January, 1866, and also served a year by appointment in 1871, in the same office. He was educated at Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio, then under the jurisdiction of the renowned educator, Horace Mann. He read law under the tutelage of Hon. Alex F. Hume, of Hamilton, and was admitted to the bar in 1859. Owing to delicate health, he has not been in active practice in recent years. He has been a lifelong Democrat and an able and influential advocate of the doctrines of his party.

Homer Gard, the eldest son of S. Z. Gard, is managing editor and principal stockholder of the Hamilton Evening Democrat, the oldest paper in Butler county. He is also the present city clerk. The daughter. Nora, died in infancy.

The subject of this review retired from the office of prosecuting attorney on the first Monday in January, 1904, and is now established in pleasant offices in the Reily block, engaged in private practice. He is an affable, companionable gentleman, devoted to his friends, and zealous and ambitious in his profession. His official career, and the prophecy of future honors, are very properly a part of the history of Butler county.

John C. Braun

John C. Braun, county recorder of Butler county, was bom in Hamilton on the 24th of April, 1865. He is descended from a well-known German family and well sustains the prestige established by his ancestors. His parents were John and Margaret (Nill) Braun, who came to America in youth, and were married in Hamilton. Here the father engaged in work at his trade, that of a carpenter and contractor, but he did not live long to enjoy the fruits of his labors, dying on the 12th of June, 1876, at the age of forty-six years. His widow, now well-advanced in years, nobly took up the battle of live alone and reared and educated her family of four children, and still bears the name of her first love. Her home is in Hamilton.

The eldest of this family is Mary, a maiden lady, whose home is with the family of the subject; Jacob is a well-to-do contractor and builder in this city; Emma is the wife of Joseph Long, a machinist in Hamilton ; the subject of this sketch is the youngest. He received a good commonschool education and took up the active duties of life at an early age. His general character was such as to inspire confidence upon the part of employers, and while yet in his teens he secured a position as bookkeeper with the Martin Mason Brewing Company. This was practically his life work up to the time of his election to the office of county recorder, having served about twenty years in the employ of this well-known firm.

of Mr. Braun urged his candidacy for the office which he now holds. But, while he had always taken an active interest in political affairs, and was recognized as a stanch Democrat, he had no idea of ever being a candidate for public office. However, the entreaties of his friends prevailed and he entered the canvass, backed by many loyal supporters. His nomination and election followed and he took possession of the office on September i, 1902. He is an avowed candidate for renomination, and since it is a long-established custom to concede two terms to each efficient county officer, it is more that probable that Mr. Braun will be his own successor in 1904.

The subject of this sketch was married on the 24th of June, 1889, selecting for a life companion Miss Josephine Huber, a native of Hamilton and daughter of the late proprietor of the Butler House, Andrew Huber, deceased. This was a very happy union, cemented. by the advent of three little daughters. But it was of short duration. The loved wife laid down the trials of life and passed to the other shore on the 1st of October, 1898. Since her demise the devoted sister, before mentioned, has assumed the care and training of the motherless children, with that unselfish devotion so characteristic of true womanhood. This display of sisterly love and sympathy has mitigated, in great degree, the poignancy of grief incident to his early bereavement, and Mr. Braun and his little family are comparatively happy around the domestic fireside. But there is still a "vacant chair," which no earthly devotion except a mother's ' can ever fill. The daughters are named Norma, Lorene and Josephine. Mr. Braun is a member of St. John's German Evangelical church, the religious home of his ancestors. Of the social orders, he holds membership in the Knights of Pythias, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Fraternal Order of Eagles and Royal Arcanum.

John M. Symmes

John M. Symmes was born in Fairfield township, Butler county, Ohio, on the 15th of August, 1833, and is a descendant of the historic Symmes family. He was educated in the common schools of Fairfield township and followed farming for a period of several years. He later took up the vocation of carpentering and also the agency for a patented iron fence, being successful in both ventures. On November 29, 1866, he was married at Cumminsville, Ohio, to Miss Jennie McMakin, to which union the following children were born : Cora, Maude and John. Mr. Symmes is a member of the Masonic fraternity and has ever taken a deep interest in the welfare of the order. It may be stated as an interesting fact that when General William Henry Harrison passed through this country on his way to the battlefield of Tippecanoe he borrowed of Celadon Symmes, Sr., the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, a sword and sash and a pair of pistols, which had been carried and used by Col. John Cleves Symmes in the war of the Revolution. The sword was subsequently restored to the family and has been handed down as an heirloom to the oldest son in the family ever since, and is now in the hands of the subject of this sketch, while the pistols are in the hands of the Ohio Historical Society at Columbus.

Joseph W. Culbertson

An enumeration of the representative citizens of Butler county would be incomplete without specific mention of the wellknown and popular gentleman whose name introduces this review. A member of one of the old and highly-esteemed families of this part of the state and for many years a public-spirited man of affairs, he has stamped the impress of his individuality upon the community and added luster to the honorable name which he bears. Joseph W. Culbertson, formerly one of the leading agriculturists of Turtle Creek township, Warren county, Ohio, but now living a life of honorable retirement in the city of Middletown, is a native of Piqua, Miami county, this state, and the son of William and Mary Culbertson, the father bom in Pennsylvania, the mother in the state of Ohio. The Culbertsons are of Scotch-Irish descent and, as stated above, the family is an old one, its history being traced to the colonial period. The subject's grandfather was a native of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and the son of a Revolutionary soldier who bore a distinguished part in the struggle for independence, serving throughout the war in the capacity of major. William Culbertson was bom in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio in 1832 as a contractor on the Miami and Erie Canal, having had charge of a great deal of the excavation and masonry work on that waterway. When a young man he learned the brick and stone mason's trade, which he followed during the greater part of his life and for some years after his marriage he lived at Piqua, where he built and operated a mill, in addition to which he also devoted considerable attention to the pork-packing business. Mary Coe, who became the wife of William Culbertson, was a daughter of Rev. James Coe. She lived a long and useful life, dying in 1898, her husband having preceded her to the grave in the year 1873. William and Mary Culbertson reared a family of eight children, seven of whom survive, their names being as follows: Eliza A., wife of James

S. Mitchell, living near Hamilton, this county; Fanny J., who married W. A. Eudaly, a prosperous farmer of Lemon township and a prominent Sunday-school worker: William L., one of the representative agriculturists of Butler county; Ettie M., now Mrs. George Shields, of Warren county, Ohio; Dr. James C. Culbertson, a distinguished physician of Cincinnati and editor of the Lancet and Clinic, one of the leading medical journals of the state; Belle, wife of Dr. J. M. Hunt, of Lytle, Ohio, and Joseph W., of this review, who is the second in order of birth.

Joseph W. Culbertson was born July 13. 1843, m Piqua. Ohio, and grew to young manhood on the family homestead near Blue Ball, in Lemon township. Reared under the wholesome influence of outdoor life on the farm, he early developed habits of industry and grew up strong of body and with well-defined purpose tp make the most of his opportunities and to become of some use to the world. During the summer seasons he assisted his father on the farm and in the winter time attended the country schools until the age of fourteen, after which he pursued his studies in the Monroe Academy until completing the prescribed course of the institution.

quently entered Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, where he remained until the middle of the junior year, and made a creditable record as a diligent and critical student. While attending this institution he became acquainted with a young lady of Canonsburg, by the name of Henrietta M. Allison, an acquaintance which eventually led to their marriage, the ceremony being performed on May 3, 1865. Mrs. Culbertson, whose birth occurred near the above place, on March 31, 1840, is the daughter of Andrew Allison, whose father, Hon. James Allison, was for many years one of the leading public men of western Pennsylvania. In an early day he served as judge of the Washington county court of common pleas, was elected to the legislature a number of terms and always took an active part in local and state affairs, having been recognized among his fellow citizens as a leader of thought and moulder of opinion.

Immediately after his marriage Mr. Culbertson moved to a farm near Blue Ball, Warren county, and from that time until 1899 devoted his attention exclusively tb agriculture, which he prosecuted with a large measure of success. He proved a model husband and by persevering industry and judicious management succeeded in accumulating a handsome competency, which enabled him, in the fall of the above year, to turn his farm over to other hands and take up his residence in the city of Middletown, where, as already stated, he is now living a retired life. Mr. Culbertson is one of the enterprising, public-spirited men of Butler county, and as such has ever manifested an abiding interest in progressive measures for its growth and development. Mr. Culbertson was the first president of the Franklin

Fanners' Club. All of his transactions have been characterized by scrupulous integrity and a high sense of honor and by reason of large success, unblemished character and a just and liberal life, he has nobly earned the universal esteem which he today enjoys. In politics he is a stanch and unwavering Democrat, and for many years has been a zealous worker for his party as well as a judicious adviser in its councils. He was twice nominated for office, that of representative and county commissioner, but by reason of the large normal majority of the opposition, failed of election, although carrying much more than the strength of his ticket in the two campaigns.

In every walk of life Mr. Culbertson's f\im has been to do his duty as he sees and understands it and his friends feel proud of him as an intelligent, high-minded citizen and useful member of society. While giving his attention to his business interests and conscientiously discharging the duties of citizenship, he finds time amid these claims to devote to the higher obligations growing out of man's relation to his Creator. He was reared a Calvinist and has always stood loyal to the creed, being at this time a member of the First Presbyterian church of Middletown. in which for several years he held the position of superintendent of the Sunday school; his wife and family also belong to the same congregation. Mr. Culbertson comes of an old Presbyterian family, his parents having been earnest and devoted members of the church, and it is a fact worthy of note that the churches in Piqua and Trov were organized by his grandfather, the former as early as 1817, the latter a few years after that date. To Mr. and Mrs. Culbertson three children have been bom, namely: Mary L., wife of John P. Harkrader, a farmer of Warren county, Ohio; Martin A., deceased, and Belle, who married William B. Foreman, of Middletown.

The subject of this review enjoys the distinction of being the oldest practicing physician in the city of Hamilton, but ff this were all, the honor would be one of indifferent order. There is therefore a further consideration in the case at hand, for in public repute Dr. Mallory not only stands at the head of his profession in the matter of years of active practice, but also holds this position of priority by reason of his skill and success as a practitioner. Like most men who have passed the confines of the mediocre in their choserl life work, he began at the foot of the ladder and wholly through his own efforts attained the exalted position which is his today.

Dr. Mallory is a native of the Old Dominion state, having been born in Botetourt county, Virginia, on the 27th of February, 1822. In that early epoch even the patrician old commonwealth of Virginia was not iar removed from that indefinitely designated quarter known as the "frontier," ninety of the country being wild and undeveloped. Though the exigencies of time and place measurably deprived him of the educational advantages enjoyed bv the youth of the present generation, the subject had at the age of seven years made some advancement along the lines of elementary education. At that age he accompanied his parents on their removal to what was then considered the far west, the family locating in Richmond, Indiana, while a few years later they plunged 'Still more deeply into the wilderness, settling on a tract of wild land near the present town of Newcastle, that state. The older sons in the family were soon compelled to depend upon their own resources for support and education. At the age of sixteen Dr. Mallory left the parental home, never again to return to the same for a place of permanent abode. His associates were, by reason of the environments, mostly laboring men of the rougher type, and among them he found but few congenial spirits. For the most part they considered brawn vastly superior to brain in the struggle for an existence. With these surroundings it is almost phenomenal that a boy of our subject's tender age at the time, entirely self-dependent and engaged in the hardest kind of manual labor, should ever have thought of higher educational attainments and of ultimately attaining prestige in an honorable and dignified profession. Dr. Mallory's first employment after leaving home was in connection with the construction of a public canal in the vicinity of the present city of Indianapolis, and the following six years of his life were spent in various sorts of manual labor, interspersed with a few terms in school. These were years of valiant struggle for the accumulation of a little money. His habits of life were simple and his wants but few. Usually all his labor contracts carried with them provision for board, washing and mending, so that the somewhat meager emoluments of his labor were mostly laid aside for the proverbial "rainy day." At the age of twenty-two young Mallory began the study of medicine, a profession which he had chosen in his boyhood years of servitude and for which he had made some previous preparation by private study. He was graduated in the Western Reserve Medical College, at Cleveland, Ohio, as a member of the class of 1850, while he had been engaged in the active practice of medicine for one year prior to receiving his degree from this excellent institution.

On the 10th of July, 1849, Dr. Mallory came to Hamilton, being then in the full bloom of strong and vigorous young manhood. He at once entered the practice, which, as the years passed, was augmented by rapidly growing professional strength and popularity. Medical practice in those days meant something. Long and tedious rides on horseback, in summer's heat and winter's turbulence, with the old-time saddlebags thrown across the saddle. Through drifting snow or seemingly bottomless mud, the valiant physician made his way, faith ful to his trust and his noble calling and self-abnegating in his efforts to relieve the suffering. All this implied weary days and nights of constant vigilance and utter disregard of his own comfort and of even his own health. In the same year which represented the inauguration of Dr. Mallory's professional labors here, there came the ever memorable scourge of cholera, the epidemic being so severe as to threaten the annihilation of the entire populace of the communities in which the epidemic found foothold. This was a time to try the souls of the conscientious physicians, and many of them succumbed to the ravages of the dread malady from whose insidious effects they labored so strenuously and faithfully to' save their fellow men.

Rebellion Dr. Mallory felt it his duty to lay aside his professional work and join the boys at the front. In 1861 he recruited a company of volunteers for the gallant Thirty-fifth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and of this company he was commissioned captain. He led his command to the front and participated with his comrades in several engagements. But the government was sadly in need of experienced medical men, and Captain Mallory was finally persuaded to accept a position as surgeon of the Fourth Kentucky Cavalry, with the rank and pay of major. He rapidly advanced in the estimation of his superiors and completed his term of service as surgeon of a division. Dr. Mallory returned to Hamilton in the full consciousness of duty well performed, and here resumed his position as a leader in professional and civic affairs. For more than a half century he has maintained that proud position, though wearing his honors without ostentation or undue self-esteem. No man living has done more for Hamilton than the venerable Doctor Mallory, and, as though not satisfied with the "three score years and ten" allotted to man, he is still actively engaged in life's work, his desire being to remain in the harness until he is called to obey the one inexorable summons. Though now a debtor to "borrowed time" to the extent of more than eleven years, he is in full possession of all his faculties, active and energetic as a man of fifty, representing in an eminent degree the great desideratum, - "mens sana in corpore sano." He utterly ignores the idea of retiring from the active practice of the profession in which he hasjabored so long, faithfully and successfully, and he pursues his studies zealously, keeping in touch with the advancements made in the sciences of medicine and surgery and being essentially a vital man of affairs. Dr. Mallory is a regular contributor to medical journals and is a recognized authority, his writings being held in the highest value by his professional confreres. In addition to this he has also written many articles for the public press, while he has also made a valuable historic contribution, in a series of character sketches of those who were resident of Hamilton in 1849. This volume is most comprehensive and interesting and is retained as a cherished souvenir in many of the families descended from the old pioneers represented in its pages. In his religious life Dr. Mallory has been a most devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in whose faith he was baptized when three years of age, while it may well be said his has been the "faith that makes faithful" He is at the present time a member of the official board of his church in Hamilton, and has been for many years one of its most zealous and effective workers. A number of years ago the Doctor wrote a history of Methodism in Hamilton, which was published by the Methodist Book Concern, of Cincinnati, and the same is a treasured volume in the archives of the local church. During the entire course of his active and eventful life Dr. Mallory has been recognized as eminently consistent in his Christian profession, exemplifying his faith in good works, being generous and charitable and a self-sacrificing worker for the good of humanity, both spiritually and temporally. As if the weight of years and the demands of his profession did not constitute a cause for exemption from other burdens, Governor Bushnell- appointed the

Doctor a member of the permanent monument committee charged with the erection of the soldiers, sailors and pioneers' monument, which is now in course of completion in Hamilton. Dr. Mallory takes an active interest in municipal affairs in his home city and has been instrumental in the inauguration of many needed reforms in public service and affairs. To him possibly more than to any other physician not in public office is due the recently adopted system of preventing the spread of contagious diseases in the county, while he was one of the leaders in defining the methods to be employed. He is a member of the Butler County Medical Society, the Union District Medical Association, and the Ohio State Medical Society, in each of which he is revered as a man and a physician. In 1849 the Doctor was initiated in the Masonic fraternity, at Brownsville, Indiana, and he now has the distinction of being the oldest Mason in Hamilton.

At Brownsville, Indiana, on the 14th of September. 1843, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Mallory to Miss Anna Maria Rider, and she proved to him a devoted companion and helpmeet during the half century of their wedded life. She was summoned into eternal rest on the 9th of October, 1894, their golden wedding anniversary having been celebrated in the preceding year. Of the five children of this union two died in infancy. Of the three living children we enter the following brief record: Martha J. is the wife of Adam Dickey, of Hamilton ; Imogene Alice is the wife of Dr. J. Thomas Knox, of Cincinnati, and Susanna is the wife of Nelson Williams, of Hamilton. A life of signal usefulness and honor has been that of the venerable sub- ject of this review, and no citizen of Hamilton is held in higher regard or is better known than this sterling pioneer. Dr. Mallory has three grandchildren living, and one great-grandson, Edwin Haviland Cox, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Haviland Cox, of Springfield, Illinois; also one greatgranddaughter, Elizabeth Taylor, the daughter of Arthur Payne Taylor and his wife, Norma Josephine Taylor, of Cincinnati, Ohio.

David K. Sample

David E. Sample, one of the prosperous farmers and stock raisers of Reily township, Butler county, Ohio, is a son of David and Marv (Cochram) Sample, both natives of Butler county, the former, as already stated, born on the old Sample homestead in Reily township and the latter on a farm in the immediate vicinity. The father of David E. Sample was a Kentuckian by birth and of Irish lineage. He came to Butler county in pioneer times, developed the farm in Reily township to which reference is made, and spent the remainder of his days ,on the same, dying a number of years ago, and leaving to his descendants not only a liberal share of this world's goods, but the memo rv of an honored name which they now prize as a valued heritage. David Sample was reared to agricultural pursuits, received his education in the public schools and the old College high school and in due time became one of the leading farmers and prominent citizens of Butler county. Some time after his marriage with Miss Mary Cochram he moved to a farm near Dartown, where he lived for several years, later re- turning to the old homestead in Reily township. In 1871 he purchased what was known as the Louis place, on which, with the exception of four years' residence in the city of Hamilton, he made his home during the remainder of his life. David E. Sample was not only one of the representative farmers «f his day and generation in Butler county, but also one of its influential men and public-spirited citizens. For many years he was a leading Democratic politician, took an active interest in public affairs and, as a member of the board of count) commissioners for a number of terms, was largely instrumental in ridding the county of the heavy indebtedness which for a considerable time caused the people much embarrassment. His influence in local legislation was strong and far-reaching and he brought about many important internal improvements and planned so well for the future that his administration is remembered as one of the best in the history of the county. In his business affairs he was likewise successful and everything to which he addressed himself appeared to prosper. He accumulated a handsome property, lived an honorable, upright life and lus death, in 1882. was greatly deplored by all who knew him or came within the range of his influence. To David and Mary Sample were born seven children, four of whom survive, namely: J. W.. C. C., Mrs. Elizabeth Sayers and David E., all but J. W. being residents of Butler county.

David E. Sample spent the years of his childhood and youth, on the farm which e now owns and cultivates and received his education in the country schools of Hamilton. Reared to the active duties of the farm and early becoming familiar with the m e pendent life which such experience naturally entails, he very wisely decided to devote his time and energies to agricultural pursuits, a decision he has since carried into successful effect, as is attested by his present high standing and independent position as an enterprising tiller of the soil. In the prosecution of his life work Mr. Sample has been handicapped somewhat by ill health which has interfered not a little with some of his plans and purposes, but in the main his progress has been commendable and, as already indicated, he stands today among the leading farmers and stock raisers of the township in which he lives.

Politically, his support is given the Democrats, and for a number of years he has been an active and influential worker in the party and one of its leaders in the township of Reily. Fraternally, he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and at the present time holds an important official position in the lodge to which he belongs and in which he has been a zealous worker ever since becoming a member of the organization.

In the month of February, 1895, Mr. Sample and Miss M. Cochram, of Reily township, daughter of William Cochram, were united in the bonds of wedlock, the union being blessed with one child, Mary, whose birth occurred in the year 1897.

While lalxwing earnestly and energetically to advance his individual interests. Mr. Sample is alive to the best good of the community and in touch with all movements designed to promote the public welfare. His business relations have brought him into contact with a large circle of neighbors and acquaintances, among whom are many warm personal friends, and wherever known his name is above reproach and his conduct such as to command the highest respect and confidence. His success in his chosen sphere of endeavor has been continuous and eminently creditable, resulting from judicious plans and carefully-directed effort and he well deserves his prosperity and the universal regard in which he is held.

Evert E. Williams

The profession of law has an able and successful representatve in the person of Mr. Williams, who is engaged in the practice of the same in the village of Oxford and who has gained prestige at the bar of the county and state. Mr. Williams is a native of Preble county, Ohio, where lie was born on the 26th of September, 1867, being a son of John and Caroline (Jordan) Williams, both of whom have ever maintained their home In that county, being representatives of sterling pioneer families of this section of the Buckeye state. The paternal grandfather of our subject was of Welsh extraction and came to Ohio from central Pennsylvania, while the maternal ancestry is of German extraction. The father of our subject has always been a farmer by vocation and he and his noble wife are held in the highest esteem in the county in which they have passed their entire lives. To them have' been born three children: Orion, who died at the age of two years; Viola E., who still remains at the parental home, and Everet E., who is the immediate subject of this sketch.

and his early educational advantages were such as were afforded in the district schools, which he attended during the winter months, while he assisted in the work of the' farm during the summer seasons. His ambition for a more liberal education was quickened and he was known as a most earnest student in his boyhood days, while the advancement which he made may be understood when we state that when he was but sixteen years of age he secured a license to teach. He, however, realized the expediency of continuing his studies, and he thus walked four and one-half miles each morning and night to arid from his home, to attend the high school at West Alexandria. In the fall of 1883 he began teaching in the district schools of his native county, and continued to follow the pedagogic profession until 1885, when he was matriculated in the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware,, where he continued his studies for several years. In the fall of 1892 Mr. Williams entered the law office of Judge Elam Fisher and Edwin P. Vaughan, who were associated in practice in Eaton, Ohio, with whom he continued his technical reading during the spring and summer months, teaching during the winter terms, and in the fall of 1893 he passed an examination which entitled him to enter the Cincinnati Law School as a member of its senior class, so that he was enabled to be graduated in that well-known institution as a member of the class of 1894. Therefore he remained with his former preceptors, in Eaton, Ohio, until the 1st of January, 1896, wdien he established himself in practice at Hamilton, Ohio, where he remained until the following November, when he came to Oxford and entered into a professional partnership with

W. J. Rusk, who passed the greater portion of the ensuing year in Texas, for the benefit of his health, the entire business of the firm thus devolving upon Mr. Williams, who purchased his partners interest in the practice in the fall of 1897, since which time he has conducted an individual business here, gaining precedence as an able and discriminating trial lawyer and safe and conservative counsel, while his success has been gratifying and his clientage of representative character. Mr. Williams has been the builder of the ladder upon which he has risen and his course has been such as to retain to him at all times the respect and confidence of those with whom he has come in contact. He is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party but has not been active in its work, preferring to devote his entire attention to his profession. He is a Knight of Pythias and a Freemason, and both he and his wife are members of the American - Reformed and Lutheran churches, respectively.

On the 23d of October, 1898, Mr. Williams was united in marriage to Miss Anna M. Sclilingman, of West Alexander, Preble county, where she was born and reared, and they have one son, Charles A., who was born on the nth of July, 1900.

George W. Trowbridge

Success is only achieved by the exercise of certain distinguishing qualities and it can not be retained without effort. Those by whom great epoch changes have been made in the political and industrial world began early in life to prepare themselves for their peculiar duties and responsibilities and it was only by the most persevering and continuous endeavor that they succeeded in rising superior to the obstacles in their way and reaching the goal of their ambition. That life is the most useful and desirable that results in the greatest good to the greatest number and, though all do not reach the heights to which they aspire, yet in some degree each can win success and make his life a blessing to his fellow men. In the list -of Butler county's successful business men, George W. Trowbridge, now living in honorable retirement, has long occupied a leading place. In his career there is much that is commendable and his life forcibly illustrates what a man of energy can accomplish when his plans are wisely laid and his actions governed by correct principles, noble aims and high ideals.

. Mr. Trowbridge is descended paternally from one of the oldest families of New England, one of his remote ancestors, Thomas Trowbridge, having come to America from Taunton, England, as early as 1636, and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, removing, two years later, to New Haven, Connecticut. After a few years' residence at the latter place he returned to England, where he spent the remainder of his life, leaving in Connecticut three of his sons, Thomas, William and James, all of whom became active in promoting the interests of the colony, the second being the founder of the family to which the subject of this review belongs. William Trowbridge married and reared several children, among whom was a son by the name of Joseph, who also left a number of descendants, one of his sons being David Trowbridge, who was 'bom and reared in Stratfield, Connecticut.

When a young man, David Trowbridge moved to Morristown, New Jersey, with the material interests of which the rest of his life was closely identified. Among his children was Dan Trowbridge, whose son David, born in 1768, was the grandfather of George W., of this review. The subject's grandfather, David Trowbridge, Jr., a native of Morristown, New Jersey, emigrated to New York, shortly after his marriage, and settled at a place called Painted Post, where his son Archibald was born in 1806 and where the family continued to live until 1819.

I11 that year he moved to Hamilton county, Ohio, and settled on Taylor's creek, about two miles northwest of the town of Cheviot, where he lived until 1841, when he changed his abode to. Ripley county, Indiana. David Trowbridge was well advanced in life when he went to Indiana, but lived for a number of years thereafter, dying in 1861, at Blountsville, Henry county, Indiant. at the ripe old age of ninety-one.

Archibald Trowbridge married Miss Ann M. Hafner, of Cincinnati, who bore him six children, only two of whom are living at the present time, George W., of this review, and a daughter by the name of Adaline. Archibald did not accompany his parents to Indiana, but remained in Cincinnati, where he engaged in business pursuits, his death occurring in that city in 1853.

George W. Trowbridge, v the direct subject of this sketch, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 4, 1830, and there grew to maturity, spending his early life pretty much after the manner of the majority of city lads. He received his preliminary educational training in a private school and at the age of fourteen entered Woodward College, in which he prosecuted- his studies for a period of four years, leaving the institution at the age of eighteen, to accept the position of account clerk, in a Cincinnati business house. After spending six years in that capacity he resigned his place and effected a co-partnership in the pork*packing industry with James Beaty, the firm thus constituted lasting twenty-five years, during which time it built up an extensive business and became one of the largest and most successful establishments of that kind in the city. After accumulating a handsome fortune as a pork packer, Mr. Trowbridge withdrew from the business in 1866 and moved to his farm in Butler county, which he had purchased four years previously, and on which he has since resided. It lies in section 2, town 2, range 2, between the Miami rivers, Union township, is highly improved and ranks with the finest and most valuable farms of the county. Mr. Trowbridge personally superintended the cultivation of his land until a few years ago, when lie retired from active labor and is now spending the evening of his life in comfortable retirement, being, as already stated, the possessor of an ample competency, every dollar of which was honorablv earned by his persevering industry and able business management. When a young man he labored diligently and husbanded his earnings with the greatest care until he succeeded in saving about fifteen hundred dollars, which he put in the pork-packing business. This was a most fortunate venture, as it proved the beginning of a long and successful career, which resulted in the accummulation of a fortune of sufficient magnitude to place him in affluent circumstances and make him independent during the remainder of his days.

In the month of January, 1852, Mr. Trowbridge was united in the bonds of wedlock with Miss Rebecca F. Sims, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, but who, from 1836 to her marriage, resided in Cincinnati, hour children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Trowbridge, two of whom survive, namely : Francis C., secretary and treasurer of the Black Clawson Co., of Hamilton, this state, and George T., who is still a member of the home circle. Religiously, Mr. Trowbridge and wife are respected communicants of the Christian church and fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order, belonging to Cynthia Lodge, No, 155, in Cincinnati, of which he is now the oldest living member. In politics he is pronounced in his allegiance to the Republican party, being one of its most active workers and influential leaders in Butler county and keeping in touch with all its progressive measures. He has devoted much of his time and attention to public matters, manifests an intelligent and abiding interest in all the great questions and issues before the people, and never forgets the obligations and responsibilities of citizenship, all of which he meets and discharges as becomes a true American.

Mr. Trowbridge is a man of keen intellect, mature judgment and large experiences, and his career throughout has been characterized by the practical intelligence and progressive spirit which mark the broad-minded, enterprising business man, who takes advantages of opportunities and moulds circumstances to suit his purposes. His life until recently was of great activity and constant endeavor, but from now on he proposes to enjoy the fruits of his many years of toil in a manner befitting one who struggled so long- and so successfully with the world. Mr. Trowbridge has traveled extensively throughout the United States, visiting nearly every part of the Union, with the twofold object in view of recuperating his health and seeing places of interest. His experience has been of great educational value, as it tended not only to broaden his mind and quicken his faculties, but also enabled him to gain by observation a proper conception of the great extent and vast resources of the country for whose government and institutions he has always been an ardent admirer and of which he is proud to called a citizen. In his own community no man stands higher in the esteem of the people than the subject, while his long period of residence in Butler county has made him widely and favorably known to the general public He is a pleasant, genial and accom- P is ed gentleman, whom to know is to respect and honor, and it is with much pleasure that the foregoing tribute to his worth is accorded a place in this volume ents died at the age of sixty-two years. There were eight children in the family, of whom the subject is the youngest. All are living, and all, with two exceptions, are residents of their native county. Their names are: Henry A., Christian, Julius, Theodore, Gustave, Caroline, the wife of Henry Koeper, and Rosina. wife of Edward Heinfeldt.

Mr. Dickmann began his educational career in a country school near the parental farm. He early determined .upon the ministry as his life work, and took the preparatory course in Hiram College, graduating from that department in 1897. Immediately thereafter he entered the Mead- \ille (Pennsylvania) Theological School, and completed the course in 1901. He was ordained to the ministry on the 9th of June of the year last written, and three days later consummated a tender alliance which had existed during his college life, wedding Miss Lillian Sundennann. She is a daughter of Henry and Louisa Sundennann, of Au- glaize county, her father being a prosperous fanner, and her education was acquired in the public schools of New Bremen. With his young- bride, Mr. Dickmann went to Pom-

Rev. Herbert A. Dickmann, pastor of , John s Evangelical Protestant church, Ha Ohio, is a native of New Brem, \ a,ze collllty* Ohio, born on the ?th - ugust. 1878. His parents were Henna , Genrietta (Meyer) Dickmann. f former a native of Frieshausen. Amt Rie ° Z' Germany, and Iattey born in Merc county, Ohio. The father accompanied h parents to America when a child of eigl years and settled on a farm in Auglaii county, where he ended his days. Both pa; eroy, Ohio, to which point he had been called as his first regular ministerial charge, this being a small mission church. After seven months of work there, the field of his labors was enlarged and he was called to the pastorate of St. Markus church, at Cincinnati. Here he labored for about two years with great success. The attendance at religious services increased and the membership was raised from one hundred and ten to one hundred and fifty families. When Mr. Dickmann accepted the congregation there rested on it a debt of seven thousand one hundred dollars, about two thousand ' dollars of which was paid off during his pastorate. The death of the late Rev. C. A. Hermann, D. D., created a vacancy in the pastorate of St. John's church in Hamilton, and Rev. Mr. Dickmann was called to this field of labor in October, 1903. This is a high compliment to the ability of Mr. Dickmann, in that he succeeded one of the most popular and successful ministers in Hamilton. Rev. Hermann was pastor of St. John's church for thirty-eight years and was so thoroughly identified with the people of his congregation that it was difficult to fill his place in the hearts of his people. During the few months of Rev. Mr. Dickmann s pastorate he has demonstrated the wisdom of the choice. He combines in one, the rate accomplishment of being both a good preacher and a good pastor. The position involves untold labors. The Germans are notably social in their natures, and at the same time devout and faithful in their religious duties, under whatever church name these may be performed. They require, or at least expect, their pastor to visit among them and by his presence and private counsels assist them in their religious lives. The parish contains five hundred families, the members of which are communicants at St. Tohn's church. To visit these regularly, and attend special sick calls, marriages and funerals necessitates constant activity and would seem to be sufficient employment for any man, but in addition to these duties comes the preparation of his literary work, two sermons weekly, one in German and one in English, and the conducting of mid-week and special services, and the additional labors of "housekeeping." Every good pastor is necessarily a good housekeeper, in clerical parlance. Mr. Dickmann has entered upon those multitudinous duties with zeal and commendable energy. . His services in this regard are the source of favorable comment, not only among his own people, but by the observing public. In the Sunday school, with its enrollment of nearly six hundred students, Mr. Dickmann is also a central figure, as in the Christian Endeavor and young peoples societies. Then the music must harmonize with the sentiments of the sermons, so that the minister is practically the "director of the music," in fact it would seem that the pastor is "everything" except janitor, and of course he has to superintend even these duties.

St. John's Evangelical Protestant church was the first religious organization of German Protestants in Hamilton. The church was organized in 1837, and the first house of worship was erected the year following. During the early pastorate of Rev. Heimann the present church building was erected. It is large and commodious and, though hardly in keeping with present-day church architecture, the interior is beautiful and convenient. The seating capacity is nearly doubled by the building of inside galleries on two sides and one end. A fine pip organ adorns the end gallery, and this, witi a well-trained choir, renders the musica feature of public worship attractive and inspiring., The handsome windows of the church were donated by the members and pastor, each one being commemorative o a biblical text or historical fact.

In addition to the societies previously named in connection with the church, t e Ladies' Aid Society has existed from the very foundation of St. John's church, it has been and still is a feature of gre strength, both financially and socially, and numbers among its members, past and present, many of the leading ladies of the city. A beautiful and impressive memorial service was recently held in commoration of the services of those ladies who have passed to the other shore. There are forty-two of those whose voices will no longer be heard in the counsels of this popular organization, and twelve of the orig'inal members still survive. This service was conducted by the present pastor, Rev. Dickmann, and was favorably commented upon by the city papers. There is also a Men's Aid Society in connection with the church.

Mr. and Mrs. Dickmann are the parents of one son, little Master Reuben, who was born May 23, 1902. Mrs. Dickmann's parents are both living at the old homestead in Auglaize county, and the names of their children are Lillian, Frank. Walter, Edwin, Bertha and Richard. Frank is employed in St. Louis.

Prof. Arthur M. Dunn

In point of continuous services the subject of this review is perhaps the oldest teacher in Butler county, and few men in the state of Ohio have as long or as distinguished a career as the one he has achieved since engaging in educational work nearly thirty-six years ago. Despite the fact of having spent more than an average lifetime in the school room, he is by no means obsolete in his teaching, but, on the contrary, keeps in close touch with the trend of modem educational thought, is familiar with the latest and most advanced methods of imparting instruction and stands deservedly high in a profession which perhaps more than any other tests the ability,, tact and success of those who adopt it as a life work. Prof. Arthur M. Dunn is a native of Xoble county, Ohio, where his birth occurred on October 28, 1845. His paternal ancestors were English, and the family was first represented in America by five brothers who settled in New Jersey in colonial lines and figured actively in the early history of that commonwealth. One of these brothers was the subject's greatgrandfather and from him is descended the branch of the family that is now scattered over various parts of Ohio and other central and western states. Samuel Dunn, the Professor's grandfather, was a native of Xew Jersey and a farmer by occupation. He married Mary Penn, a distant relative of William Penn, the founder of Philadelphia, and about the year 1800 migrated to Belmont county, Ohio, where he entered land, founded a home and took an active part in the growth and development of the part of the country in which he settled. He reared his family on the farm which he cleared from the wilderness, lived a quiet, useful life, as a thrifty tiller of the soil, and died many years ago, leaving to his descendants an honorable name and a reputation above reproach.

Among the children of Samuel J. and Mary Dunn was a son by the name of Arthur, who was born and reared in Belmont county, and who married in his young manhood Miss Salina Mitchell, a member of one of the early families of that part of Ohio. The Mitchells were English stock and the father of Mrs. Dunn was one of the pioneers of Noble county and devoted his life to agricultural pursuits. It is a mat- ter worthy of record that five of his sons were ministers of the Christian church, and to their labors and influence was largely due the success which attended the Current Reformation in Noble and other counties, as they were all able preachers and untiring in their efforts to restore the primitive faith and bring about a closer union with the different religious bodies. Arthur and Sabina Dunn were the parents of nine children, six sons and three daughters, of whom five are living at the present time, the subject of this review being the youngest of the family.

The early years of Professor Dunn on the farm were without any event of note, having been spent amid the routine of daily toil in the summer time, varied of winter months by attendance at the public schools, where he pursued his studies until his seventeenth year. He then entered Mt. Union College, and after completing a course in that institution, took charge of a school in his native county, which was the beginning of his long and remarkably successful career as an educator. Professor Dunn's educational experience in Noble county covered a period of eight years, during which time he taught in various districts and towns, rose rapidly in his profession and achieved wide repute as a capable instructor and efficient disciplinarian. His popularity is attested by his employment for many successive terms in the same district, and the demand for his services were so great that he always commanded a liberal salary, frequently receiving considerably in excess of the wages paid other teachers.

calling, devoting his vacations to work on the beautiful little farm in Liberty township, which he owns and which is planted with the choicest varieties of fruits, affording him a valuable as well as a varied and pleasing recreation. He has adorned and beautified his home in many ways, adding greatly to its appearance and attractiveness, and, being an enthusiastic horticulturist, receives no small part of his income from the proceeds of his farm. Professor Dunn carries a five-year license, one of thediighest grades under the present law. The demand for his services is so great that he is saved the trouble of seeking a place, his only difficulty being to make a judicious choice among the many schools offered him. He came to his life work with a mind well-disciplined by intellectual and professional training, and from the beginning to the present time has not ceased being a student. As already indicated, he keeps fully abreast the times in all matters relating to his profession, stands high in the educational circles of the county and as a teacher, institute worker and allround school man has few equals and no superiors in this part of the state. His long experience with young people has taught him how to secure their confidence and good will, without which no teacher, however brilliant his attainments, can hope to succeed, while his ability to interest his pupils as well as to instruct them, makes discipline and control in his school matters of minor importance. In his class work Professor Dunn aims to train the heart as well as the intellect, so .as to produce well-rounded, symmetrically developed character, the true object of education, in his opinion, being to send out from our schools young men and women mentally and morally qualified to

In addition to his professional career. Professor Dunn can boast of a brief but honorable military record, having served three months in the Army of the Potomac during the latter part of the Great Rebellion, and received a severe injury which necessitated his discharge at the expiration of the time noted. He enlisted May 2, 1864. in Company I, One Hundred and Sixty-first Ohio Infantry, and proceeding at once to the front soon experienced the vicissitudes of warfare, in campaign and battle, the principal engagement in which he participated being the action at Monocacy, Virginia, where he received the wound which rendered him unfit for further duty. In politics the Professor is a Republican, but he has never been an active party man, although well informed relative to all the great public questions of the times. Aside from serving for some years as marshal in Meigs county, Ohio, he has never held an office, his professional duties being such as to prevent him aspiring to or seeking public position at the hands of his fellow citizens. Fraternally he is a member of Thomas Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Cincinnati, and religiously subscribes to the Methodist creed.

Professor Dunn was married, in 187T, to Miss Belle Fowler, of Noble county, Ohio, a cultured and well-educated lady and for many years one of the most accomplished and successful teachers of the county in which she was born and reared. In addition to presiding over her husband's home, and being a loving and devoted mother to his children, she has aided him not a little in his professional work and kept in touch with his literary studies, besides manifesting an abiding interest in the intellectual, moral and religious movements of the different communities in which they have lived. At the present time she is president of the literary society at Monroe, also an earnest and consistent member of the church with which her husband is identified and a worker in all lines of activity under the auspices of the same. Of the children born to Professor and Mrs. Dunn four are living, namely: Rosa, wife of Prof. H. E. Smith' principal of the schools of Jacksonboro, this state; Nellie M., who married Edward Stewart, a machinist of Middletown; Waldo H., a student of Wooster University, also a teacher in the public schools, and E. Howard. who is prosecuting his studies in the Jacksonboro high school ; Willie M., the second in order of birth, and the only member of the family not living, died at the age of thirteen years.

Thomas Law

The subject of this sketch is one of the representative business men and honored citizens of Oxford, where he has maintained his home for more than thirty years and where he has gained success through welldirected effort. Mr. Law comes of stanch old English stock and is himself a native of the "tight little isle," having been born in Yorkshire, England, on the 17th of November, 1850, and , being a son of James and Mary A. Law, both of whom passed their entire lives in England, where the father was engaged in the shoe business for the major portion of his active life. They became the parents of three children, of whom the youngest is the subject of this sketch. His sister Emma still resides in England and the other sister, Fannie, is a resident of Australia.

Thomas Law was reared and educated in his native land, having attended the common schools and later completed a thorough course in Dove's Commercial College in Yorkshire, this being one of the largest institutions of the sort in the country. He continued his studies in this school for six and one-half years and then entered the employ of his father, with whom he was thus associated in the shoe business until 1870, on July 27th of which year he set forth to seek his fortunes in America, being at the time a young man of twenty years. He landed in due time in the city of New York and thence came directly to Oxford, Ohio, where he took up his residence on the 10th of August, 1870. In the following year he here established himself in the boot and shoe business, and in this line of enterprise he has ever since continued, while he has also been engaged successfully in the real-estate and insurance business since 1884. Through his energy, indefatigable industry, good management and sterling character Mr. Law has gained gratifying success and has retained the unqualified confidence and esteem of the community in which he has so long made his home. Though he is public-spirited and progressive he has never been an active worker in politics, giving, however, a stanch allegiance to the Democratic party. He is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, as was also his wife, and fraternally he is identified with the Royal Arcanum, the Foresters and the Order of Ben Hur.

On the 5th of August, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Law to Miss Margaret Schlenck, who was born in Brookville, Indiana, and who was a resident of College Corners, Ohio, at the time of her marriage. She was summoned into eternal rest in 1898, and is survived by her four daughters and one son, namely: Charlotte, who is the wife of William Timberman, of Oxford, Ohio; Jeanette, who remains at the paternal home; Mildred, a student in the Miami University, and Margaret and Thomas, who are students in the Oxford high school. The two elder daughters are both graduates of the high school, and Miss Jeanette also attended the Miami University. The family is prominent in the social life of the community and the pleasant home is a center of gracious hospitality.

Harry E. Smith

In no other land on the face of the globe is there accorded so perfect and consistent a recognition of individuality as in America, and here only has it been possible to overcome the prejudicial animus against admitting the ability and capacity of youth and to afford the individual a full province in which to exercise the most potent functions of which he is capable, regardless of the fact that over his head may not have passed so many years as represent the ages of those with whom he comes in competition in any of the fields of human endeavor. An exemplification of the potentialities of youth has been given in the successful career 01 the subject of this sketch, who is a member of the bar of Butler county, though not solemd Miss Brook* lent of of her eternal er four larlottc, man, of is at the : in the -et and Oxford iters are ind Mis> Univerhe social int home an active practitioner, and who has attained distinctive prestige in the educational work of this section, having been engaged in teaching for a number of years and being a man of high intellectual attainments and distinctive administrative ability. He is now principal of the public schools of Jacksonboro, and is one of the popular and highly esteemed citizens of the county. Mr. Smith is a scion of sterling pioneer stock in the Buckeye state, both in the agnatic and maternal lines, and his entire life has been passed in this fine old commonwealth.

Harry E. Smith was born on the homestead farm, in Warren county, Ohio, on the 17th of May, 1867, and is a son of Robert T. and Sarah E. (Allen) Smith. The father was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, in October, 1837, and devoted his life to agricultural pursuits, having become one of the influential and successful farmers of Warren county, Ohio, where his death occurred on the nth of August, 1901. His wife was born in the city of Cincinnati, on the nth of April, 1847, and was there reared and educated. She survives her honored husband and still resides in Loveland, Warren county. The father of our subject was educated in Farmers' College, in Cincinnati, and was a man of high mentality and sterling character, ever commanding the esteem and confidence of his fellow men. He served for four years during the war of the Rebellion, having been a member of the Fifty-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and having made an enviable record , as a loyal and valiant soldier. His marriage to Miss Sarah E. Allen was solemnized on the 8th of August, 1866, and of this union were bom eight children, all of whom are mother on the old homestead, a record concerning them being briefly entered, as follows : Harry E. is the immediate subject of this sketch; Araminta and Vessie E. remain with their mother; Retta is the wife of Dr. Paul Fisher, of Columbus, Ohio; Alvin has the general management of the home farm : and Leota, Earl and Wilson remain on the home place.

The subject of this review was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and waxed strong in mind and body under this grateful training, whose value is far too often unappreciated by those who thus gain the basis of the strength which makes for success in life, no matter what vocation may be chosen. After completing the curriculum of the public schools he entered the state university, in Columbus, continuing his studies in the literary department for one year. He then spent two years in the Normal University, at Lebanon, Ohio, where he was admitted to the bar in 1896. He began teaching in 1887, and has followed the pedagogic profession for the major portion of the time since, save for the intervals of college work. After his marriage he was for . two years employed in the public schools of Warren county, and for the ensuing five years he was a teacher in Mason, that county, while his success has been at all times pronounced in his labors as an instructor. After leaving Mason he taught for one year in Princeton, and since that time has been retained in his present position at Jacksonboro. He is enthusiastic in his work and an earnest and indefatigable student, while he has the power of infusing enthusiasm in his pupils, leading them to do the most effective work in their studies, and ever retaining their respect and confidence.

In politics Mr. Smith is an ardent advocate of the principles of the Republican party, whose cause his father espoused at the time of its organization, while his paternal grandfather was a stalwart supporter of the Whig party. Mr. Smith became affiliated with the lodge of Knights of Pythias at Loveland, Warren county. Both he and his wife are zealous and valued members of the Presbyterian church.

On the 24th of December, 1891, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Smith to Miss Rosabel Dunn, the nuptial ceremony being performed in the home of the bride's parents, in Lebanon, Warren county. She is a daughter of Arthur M. and Belle E. (Fowler) Dunn, well-known and honored residents of Warren county, where they have maintained their homes for many years, while Mr. Dunn has been a teacher in the public schools for the past thirty-five years. He was born October 28, 1845, ancl his wife on the 18th of June, 1849. They now reside in Middletown, Butler county. Of the three children of Mr. and Mrs. Smith only one is living. Stanford A., who was born on the 1st of December, 1892, died on the nth of June, 1894; Robert A., who was born on the 20th of Match, 1895, died April 7, 1896; and Stewart M. was Ijom July 26. 1897.

The homoeopathic system of medicine has proved a boon to humanity and its beneficent influence has gradually permeated the whole scheme of therapeutics, doing away with the heroic dosage which in past years worked so unmistakable physiological havoc through the reaction of the remedial agents administered. Among the able members of this popular school of medicine in Butler county is Dr. Marshall, who is successfully engaged in the practice of his profession in the city of Hamilton.

Dr. Marshall is a scion of sterling pioneer families of Butler county and was born near the town of Middletown, this county, on the 5th of April, 1868. He is a son of Isaac and Eleanor (Doty) Marshall, both of whom were born in Butler county, where the former has devoted his life to agricultural pursuits, being one of the honored and prominent citizens of Middletown and being at the present time a member of the board of directors of the county infirmary. He was born on the 2d of February, 1843, and his wife's death occurred *011 the 28th of July, 1879. Of this union were born five children, namely: Rachel A., who is now the wife of William Diver, a successful farmer of Madison township; Joseph D., who is the immediate subject of this sketch; Olive, who is the wife of Edward Stewart, of Middletown; Minnie A., who is the wife of Virgil Puckett, of Hamilton; and Sarah E., who died at the age of six years.