Williams County, Ohio - The whole text, 1920 (part 2 of 12)

In 1893, while a resident of Lima, Mr. Clemens was united in marriage to Miss Lillie May Smith, who was born and reared in Allen County. They have no children. Mrs. Clemens is an active member of the United Brethren Church at Bryan, and is popular in the social activities of her home village.

Harvey F. Brown is one of the efficient and popular officials of Williams County and his technical skill and discrimination come into effective play in his activities and service as county surveyor. He was born in Jefferson County, this state, July 28, 1883, and is a son of Ledlie H. and Leanora (Foreman) Brown, both natives of Hancock County, West Virginia, where the former was born in 1851 and the latter about 1851. The venerable father now maintains his home in Jefferson County, Ohio, his loved wife having passed to the life eternal in August, 1919, and the subject of this review being the elder of the two surviving children, his brother, Frederick R., being a resident of Toronto, Ohio. The father is a republican in his political faith, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and he holds membership in the Methodist Protestant Church, as did also his wife.

In his native county Harvey F. Brown was reared in the fine little City of Toronto, and after having there completed the curriculum of the public schools he continued his studies in Bethany College and graduated, after which he entered Ohio State University, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1912, and from which he received not only the degree of Bachelor of Arts but also that of Civil Engineer, the latter degree having been conferred upon him in 1912. After leaving the university Mr. Brown brought his technical knowledge into effective service by entering the employment of the Government as inspector of locks and dams on the Ohio River. He served also as village engineer of his home town of Toronto, Jefferson County, and later became borough engineer at Charleroi, Pennsylvania. In 1915 he established his home at Bryan, judicial center of Williams County, Ohio, and here he served as deputy county surveyor until November 5, 1918, when he was elected county surveyor, in which office he has continued to give most able and efficient service, with reputation as one of the representative civil engineers in this part of his native state. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and he and his wife hold membership in the Christian Church.

of one of the state normal schools of Pennsylvania but also of Bethany College in West Virginia, and who had been a successful and popular teacher prior to her marriage.

Alva E. Snyder, .M. D., who is engaged in the active general practice of his profession in his native city of Bryan, has long held distinct prestige as one of the able and representative physicians and surgeons of Williams County, is a member of one of the well-known pioneer families of the Buckeye State, his parents having been born and reared in Columbiana County, this state, where their marriage was solemnized.

Dr. Alva Earl Snyder was born at Bryan, Williams County, June 12, 1869, and is a son of Dr. Alva L. and Mary (Richey) Snyder. In his native county the father gained his early education in the public schools at Salem, and in preparation for his profession he entered and was graduated in the Eclectic Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, one of the foremost institutions of Eclecticism in the United States. Upon coming to Williams County Dr. Alva L. Snyder first engaged in practice at Montpelier, but later he removed to Bryan, the county seat, where he continued in practice until his death, as a result of an accident, on August 14, 1908, his widow here passing away in 1910. He was a man of sterling character and high professional ability, and he held for many years a secure place as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Williams County. In connection with his practice he conducted a well appointed drug store at Bryan and in the later years of his life his practice was limited to his office. He was one of the honored and influential citizens of Bryan, was affiliated with various professional organizations, was a republican in politics and was identified with the Masonic fraternity. He served fully thirty years as a member of the board of trustees of the Bryan cemetery.

In the public schools at Bryan Dr. Alva E. Snyder continued his studies until he had completed the curriculum of the high school, and he early gained practical experience in his father's drug store. Finally he perfected himself for service of this nature by completing a course in the Northwestern University Illinois College of Pharmacy, in the City of Chicago, from which he received the degree of Graduate in Pharmacy. As a licensed pharmacist he was thereafter associated with his father in conducting the drug store at Bryan, under the firm name of Dr. A. L. Snyder & Son, for five years, and in the meanwhile he became imbued with a determined ambition to prepare himself for the profession in which his father had achieved success and precedence.

In consonance with this ambition he was matriculated in famous old Jefferson Medical College, in the City of Philadelphia, and in this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1894 and with the well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. He has since been actively engaged in practice in his native city and has not only achieved marked success but has also added materially to the professional honors of the family name. He has subordinated all other interests to the service of his profession, but is loyal and public-spirited m his civic attitude, with deep interest in all things touching the wellbeing of his native city and county. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, and in the Masonic fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, his maximum York Rite affiliation being with Defiance Commandery' No. 30, Kmghts Templar, at Defiance, and he being also a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine He is actively identified with the Williams County Medical Society, the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.

Doctor Snyder served from 1900 to 1909 as surgeon in the Ohio National Guard, with the rank of captain, and thus he was well fortified in incidental military experience when he interrupted his private practice to tender his services to the Government when the nation became involved in the great World war. He enlisted in the medical corps on September 28. 1917, and, as captain, was called into active service June 25, 1918. He was in service at various military camps in the South, was assigned to service with Evacuation Hospital No 18, and on August 30, 1918, he sailed for France. He disembarked at Brest on the thirteenth of the following month. He continued in active and efficient service until the close of the war, as well as for some time after the signing of the historic armistice. He received his honorable discharge May 31. 1919. and has since given his attention to his large and representative private practice in Williams County It may be noted that Doctor Snyder is the elder of the two survivors in a family of four children, his sister, Maude, being the wife of Rev. Richard L. Locke, a clergyman of the Presbyterian Church.

In 1894 was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Snyder to Miss Netta L. Viers. and they have three children : Wilmer E. was one of the patriotic young men who represented Williams County in the war activities in France, where he was in active service nine months, he having enlisted and been assigned to the One Hundred and Forty- Eighth Field Hospital, and his service having been with the One Hundred and Twelfth Sanitary Train. Thirty-Seventh Division, in France;

Robert L. is in the aerial mail service of the United States ; and Carlton R. is at the time of this writing a student in the Bryan High School. Doctor and Mrs. Snyder are active members of the Universalist Church at Bryan and their pleasant home is a center of much of the representative social activity of the community.

Harry B. Calvin, who sold his farm and moved to Bryan in November, 1919, is thoroughly deserving of the proud American title of self-made man, the term being one that, in its better sense, cannot but appeal to the admiration of all who are appreciative of our national institutions and the privileges afforded for individual accomplishment.

Harry B. Calvin was born on his father's farm in Pulaski Township, Williams County, Ohio, on September 13, 1870, and is the son of Andrew J. and Emily (Byers) Calvin, both of whom were natives of Portage County, Ohio. They were reared and educated in their native county and both came to Williams County prior to their marriage. After the latter event they located on the farm recently sold by their son, and there they spent the remainder of their lives, the father dying in March, 1895, and the mother in 1912. They were active members of the Lick Creek Disciples Church, of which Mr. Calvin was a deacon. He was a republican in his political views and took an active part in local public affairs, having served as trustee of Pulaski Township. To him and his wife were born six children, namely: J. W., of Bryan; E. E., of Bryan; C. O., of Cadmus, Nebraska ; Rosa, the wife of W. H. Scott, of Pittsford, Michigan ; Harry B., the subject of this sketch, and Delia, of Bryan.

Harry B. Calvin received his educational training in the public schools of Bryan and the Normal School at Fayette, Ohio. He then learned the art of telegraphy and was employed by the Standard Oil Company, with which company he remained for twenty years, being employed as engineer and operator. In 1910 Mr. Calvin bought the old homestead in Pulaski Township and he then devoted his attention to its operation and showed marked ability as a progressive and practical farmer and was numbered among the enterprising agriculturists of his township.

On March 19, 1891, Mr. Calvin was married to Rilla Kieffer, who was born in Wayne County, Ohio, on September 13, 1870, the daughter of Jesse Kieffer. She came to Bryan with her parents and attended the high school there, after which she devoted her attention to the teaching of music. To Mr. and Mrs. Calvin was born a son, Eldred A., on April 4, 1892. He attended the public schools and the Bradner high school and on February 24, 1916, he was married to Emma J Sannar, who was born in Bradner, Woods County, Ohio, and is a graduate of the high school at Pittsford, Michigan. She taught school tor one year after completing her studies.

Fraternally, Mr. Calvin is a member of Bryan Lodge No 221 Knights of Pythias, of which he has served twice as chancellor' commander, and he and his wife are members of the local lodge of Pythian Sisters, of which Mrs. Calvin is a past chief and member of the Grand Lodge. Politically, Mr. Calvin has always supported the republican party and has been active in his advocacy of every movement for the advancement of the best interests of the community. He has been true and loyal in all the relations of life and stands as a type of that sterling manhood which ever commands respect and honor.

Emmet E. Calvin. - Three vocations, those of farming, teaching and plumbing, have entered into the activities of E. E. Calvin during a long, successful and honorable career, and in each of these occupations he so directed his affairs that he won not only material prosperity but established a reputation for efficient workmanship, integrity in his transactions with his follow men and co-operation with others in working toward the advancement of the general weal. Mr. Calvin, who has now retired from active affairs and is living in comfort at his home at Bryan, was born ona farm in section 6, Pulaski Township Williams County, Ohio, June 15, 1863, a son of Andrew J. and Emily (Byers) Calvin, natives of Portage County, this state.

The Calvin family is one that has been identified with Williams County since 1848, and the old homestead has belonged to several generations of the family, having been owned originally by David Calvin, later by Joshua Calvin, then by Andrew J. Calvin, who was succeeded by his son, Harry Calvin. Andrew J. Calvin was a lifelong farmer in Pulaski and Jefferson townships, Williams County and a man of rugged honesty and good citizenship. He was a republican in politics and served his township as a member of the board of trustees, and he and his devoted wife were faithful members of the Christian Church. They were the parents of six children - J W a resident of Bryan; E. E. ; Charles O., farming in Cadmus, Nebraska- Rose, the wife of W. H. Scott, of Pittsford, Michigan; Harry B., of Bryan, Ohio; and Delia, unmarried, a resident of Bryan.

E. E. Calvin attended the district schools of Pulaski Township while being reared on the home farm, and subsequently took courses in the normal schools at Wauseon and Fayette. He then began his career as a teacher in the rural districts, being for eight years a teacher in Pulaski Township, and for one year each in Center and St. Joseph townships. Where he gave up the work of an educator, with which he had combined farming during the summer months, he engaged in drilling wells and putting up windmills for thirty years. The last few years he has also added plumbing to his business. He followed that occupation during the winter periods while still continuing his agricultural operations during the summer months. Eventually Mr. Calvin settled at Bryan, where he now makes his home, and where he is highly esteemed because of his many sterling qualities and his public-spirited citizenship. He is a member of Bryan Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and in politics is a republican. He has several important business connections, and is a stockholder in the Farmers Co-operative Elevator Company at Bryan.

On December 9, 1894, Mr. Calvin was united in marriage with Miss Allie Scott, who was born in Superior Township, Williams County, Ohio, and to this union there have been born three sons: Denver, a graduate of the public schools, who is engaged in operating his father's farm in Pulaski Township; Gayle, a graduate of the Bryan high school, now at home with his father ; and Scott, who died when nine months old.

Hezekiah Poast has gained secure vantage-place as one of the leading buyers and shippers of hay and grain in his native county and maintains his residence and business headquarters at Bryan, the county seat. He was born on a farm one mile south and one-half mile west of Bryan, and the date of his nativity was December 11, 1854. His parents, John and Catherine (Rodkey) Poast, were born and reared in Pennsylvania, where their marriage was solemnized, and they were an ambitious young couple when they came from the old Keystone state to Ohio and established their home on a farm near Bryan. There the father continued his activities as one of the substantial farmers of the county until within a few years of his death, in 1861, when still a comparatively young man, his widow surviving him by a number of years and both having been earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of their eleven children only three are now living, all of the others having died when young. Esther, eldest of the three surviving children, is the wife of George Dustan ; Hezekiah, of this review, is the next younger ; and Susan is the wife of George Dick, of Williams County.

Hezekiah Poast was about seven years old at the time of his father's death and was reared to adult age on a farm, the while he made good use of the advantages afforded him in the schools of Williams County. He was but fourteen years of age when he found employment at farm work, and he received as compensation for his services the sum of $5 a month. He continued at farm work until he was eighteen years of age, and his maximum wages in the meanwhile never exceeded $12 a month. At the age noted he took charge of the operation of a farm owned by George Burns, and after thus continuing three years he rented the farm for one year. He then took charge of his mother's farm, on which he continued his activities until he had attained to the age of thirty-seven years, when he established his residence at Bryan and engaged in the buying and shipping of live stock. With this line of enterprise he continued his association until 1885, when he began buying and shipping hay, and later he expanded his operations by including the handling of grain. With this important business he has continued his connection to the present time, and he has long controlled a substantial business, based upon fair and honorable dealings and careful and conservative policies. In the business he now has as his efficient coadjutor his son-in-law, George Dawson, and they own five well-equipped places for the reception and shipping of hay and grain. These headquarters are at Bryan, Montpelier and Alvordton, Williams County, and Defiance and Moats, Defiance County, and through this medium they control a large percentage of the shipping business in these lines in this part of the state. Mr. Poast is a republican in his political proclivities but has been essentially a business man and thus has had no predilection for political activity or public office. He has been an earnest member of the United Brethren Church since he was fifteen years old and has been liberal and zealous in the furtherance of the various departments of church work, as has also his wife. He has been for twenty-seven years a member of the board of trustees of the United Brethren Church at Bryan. Mr. Poast chose as his wife Miss Mary E. Arnold, and they have one daughter, Lanorma, who was graduated in the Bryan High School and who later attended the Tri- State College, at Angola, Indiana. She is a talented musician and began teaching music when she was but fourteen years of age. By this means she earned the money with which to purchase her piano. She is now the wife of George Dawson, who is associated with her father in business, and their one child, Poast Dawson, was born in 1916.

Albert L. Youse is manifesting the same vigor and discrimination in his operations as one of the representative farmers of Pulaski Township as he did during his efficient administration in the office of sheriff of his native county, and he is a representative of the third generation of the Youse family in Williams County, in connection with whose annals, since the pioneer days, the family name has been one of prominence and influence.

Mr. Youse was born in Pulaski Township, this county, June 11, 1868, and is a son of Arthur L. and Elizabeth E. (Saddoris) Youse, both natives of Bryan, judicial center of this county, where the former was born in 1845 and the latter in 1847. Arthur L. Youse was a son of Jacob and Emma (Washburn) Youse, the latter of whom was a sister of Henry Washburn, who was a civil engineer by profession and who, at the instance of and in the service of the Government, was the first white man to make an exploration of the now famous Yellowstone National Park. Both the paternal and maternal grandparents of the subject of this review were numbered among the early settlers of Williams County and were associated with the early stages of civic and industrial development and progress in the county. Arthur L. Youse well upheld the honors of the family name, both as a loyal and public-spirited citizen and as a successful representative of the basic industries of agriculture and stock-growing. He continued to reside on his fine homestead farm, in Pulaski Township, until his death, in 1902, his wife having preceded him to the life eternal. Mrs. Youse was a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Youse was a staunch republican and was influential in community affairs in his home township and county. He was prominently affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he served as noble grand of his lodge and as chief patriarch of the encampment body of the fraternity. He and his wife became the parents of five sons and three daughters, all of whom are living except one son.

Albert L. Youse passed the period of his childhood and early youth on the old home farm, not far distant from his present farm, and his educational advantages were those afforded in the public schools of his native township. The major part of his active career has been marked by close and effective association with farm industry, and he was one of the substantial farmers of Pulaski Township when, in 1899, he was elected sheriff of the county, as the candidate on the republican ticket. He gave a most efficient administration and upon his retirement from office, in 1903, he accepted a position with the Bryan Plow Company, which he represented through both Ohio and

Indiana and with which he continued his association eight years. He then established his residence on his present farm, which comprises 124 acres and is one of the well improved and attractive rural homesteads in Pulaski Township, and which gives satisfactory returns under the able management of its progressive owner. Mr. Youse is also a stockholder and director of the Bryan Sheet Steel & Metal Company. He has been for many years an active worker in the local councils and campaigns of the republican party, and in the Masonic fraternity he maintains affiliation with the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Council at Bryan and rounds out the circle of the York Rite by his affiliation with Defiance Commandery No. 30, Knights Templar, in the City of Defiance. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church and he has been a member of the official board of the same for fully twenty years.

September 15, 1892, Mr. Youse wedded Miss Bertha Musser, who was born in Milford Township, Defiance County, on August 9, 1872. They have two adopted children - Frederick W. Youse and Lena S. Youse - both of whom remain at the home of the loved fosterparents.

H. A. Throne, proprietor of the marble and granite works at Pioneer, is one of the substantial men of Williams County, comes from one of the old-established families in this locality, and is living up to the high standards of integrity and dependability raised by his forefathers. He was born two miles east of Pioneer, on February 26, 1864, son of Henry and Rosanna (Martin) Throne, the former of whom was born in York County, Pennsylvania, but was brought to Richland County, Ohio, by his parents when he was five years old, the family locating five miles north of Mansfield. Henry Throne was there reared and learned the shoemaking trade, at which he worked at Mansfield, Ohio. Later he came to Williams County and bought 160 acres of land in the woods, about two miles east of Pioneer, and there he died, his widow surviving him for some time. They were members of the German Baptist Church, in which he was a deacon. In politics he was independent. He was the father of eight children, namely : David, who is a farmer of Madison Township ; Susan, who is the wife of John Eagle, lives in Van Buren Township, Hillsdale County, Michigan; Anna, who was the wife of William Bushong; Michael, who lives on the old homestead; Mary, who is the wife of Amos Myers, of Hillsdale County, Michigan ; H. A., who was sixth in order of birth ; Effie, who is the wife of William Kemmerly, of

H. A. Throne was reared on his father's farm and attended the neighborhood schools, remaining with his parents until he was thirtyfive years of age. In 1898 he moved to Pioneer and was engaged in selling monuments for Mr. E. S. Butler, of Montpelier, Ohio, but in 1908 he established himself in the same line of business and has built up a good patronage.

On August 5, 1886, Mr. Throne was united in marriage with Ida Rittenhouse, who was born in Richland County, Ohio, on September 21, 1865, but was brought to Williams County by her parents when she was four years old. She is a daughter of David M. and Amanda (Poorman) Rittenhouse, natives of Wayne County, Ohio, and Massillon, Ohio, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Throne became the parents of the following children : Vera, who was graduated from the North Manchester, Indiana, Conservatory of Music, in both vocal and instrumental music, is the wife of Loyal H. Martin, a partner of Mr. Throne, and a resident of Pioneer; and Audrey, who was born in 1903, died in 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Throne belong to the German Baptist Church. He is independent in his political faith. In addition to the seventeen acres where he lives, Mr. Throne owns 178 acres of land in Jefferson and Madison townships, and three residences at Pioneer. Mr. Throne takes a pride in the fact that he has been able to make his own way in the world, and having lived all of his life in this vicinity, he naturally is very much interested in the progress made by his community and willing to bear his part in any public improvements which in his judgment will result in a betterment of existing conditions.

Eli E. Strayer is a prominent representative of the real estate and loan business at Bryan and is a scion of one of the well-known pioneer families of Williams County. He was born in Jefferson Township, this county, August 30, 1858, and is a son of Peter W. and Mary C. (Butler) Strayer, the former of whom was born in Lucas County, this state, and the latter in Williams County. Peter W. Strayer was a boy at the time when his parents established their home in Williams County, and his father became a pioneer farmer in Jefferson Township, where the parents passed the remainder of their lives, secure in the high esteen of the entire community. Peter W. Strayer was here reared and educated under the conditions and influence that marked what may be termed the middle-pioneer period of the history of the county, and he became one of the successful exponents of farm industry in Jefferson Township, where he continued to reside until he was well advanced in years, both he and his wife having passed the closing period of their lives in the City of Montpelier, this county, and both having been zealous members of the United Brethren Church. Mr. Strayer was a republican in political allegiance and while residing on his farm he was called upon to serve in various local offices of public trust. Of the three children the subject of this review is the eldest ; Louise is the wife of William Porter, of Montpelier ; and Miss Carrie likewise resides at Montpelier - in the old home of her parents.

The boyhood and youth of Eli E. Strayer were marked by his attending the public schools and assisting in the work of the old home farm. He remained with his parents on the farm until the time of his marriage, shortly before attaining to his legal majority, and thereafter he continued his association with farm enterprise until his removal to Bryan, where he now controls a substantial and prosperous business in the handling of real estate and the extending of loans on approved real-estate securities. He has served as a member of the city council and is a staunch supporter of the principles of the republican party, both he and his wife being earnest members of the United Brethren Church at Bryan, in which he is serving as a member of the board of trustees.

July 2, 1878, recorded the marriage of Mr. Strayer to Miss Amanda Howey, and they have one son, Ralph H., who was born April 17, 1891, and who supplemented his public school discipline by a course in a commercial college at Morgantown, West Virginia, he being now associated with his father in the real estate and loan business.

H. Cortez Miller assumed the office of county auditor of Williams County in 1919, and this responsible executive preferment indicates the high regard in which he is held in his native county, where he has long been a progressive and representative farmer and where he continued his active association with agricultural and livestock industry until his election to his present office. His fine farm, of 160 acres, is modern in its improvements and facilities and is eligibly situated in Brady and Jefferson townships. He has been a leader in the promotion of farm enterprise and interests in the county and served three years as secretary of the Farmers' Institute of Williams County.

Miller, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Williams County, Ohio, where she still maintains her home. William C. Miller was but nine months old when his parents came to this county, where he was reared and educated and where his entire' active career was marked by close and successful association with the basic industry of agriculture, save for a period of two years which he passed, as a young man, in the state of California, where he gained his quota of experience in the search for gold - at the time when the gold excitement was still at its height in that commonwealth. Upon his return to Williams County he engaged in farming in Brady Township, and later he acquired farm property also in Jefferson Township. He continued as a successful exponent of farm enterprise in this county until his death and was one of the honored and influential citizens of his community. His political allegiance was given to the republican party and both he and his wife held membership in the Universalist Church at Stryker. They became the parents of six children and besides H. Cortez, of this sketch, three others of the children are living: Edwin U., a resident of Bryan; Carrie, the wife of Julius Vernier, of Chicago, Illinois; and John, a resident of West Unity, Williams County.

The present efficient and popular auditor of Williams County passed the period of his childhood and youth on the home farm, in connection with the activities of which he gained fortifying experience that was later to prove of inestimable value to him in his independent operation as an agriculturist and stock grower. In the public schools he continued his studies until he had profited by the advantages of the high school at West Unity, and thereafter he took a course in the Tri-State Business College, in the City of Toledo, besides having attended the Ohio State Normal School at Fayette. Thereafter he taught three terms of district school, and after this effective service he gave his undivided time and attention to farm enterprise until he was elected to the county office of which he is now the incumbent. He was for a number of years secretary of the Northwestern Ohio Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He was for several years a member of the republican county committee of his native county, and this in itself indicates that he has been influential in the local councils and campaign activities of his party. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Brady Township - Fountain Chapel - their removal to the county seat having been incidental to his election to his present office ; and he is affiliated with the Knights

The year 1902 recorded the marriage of Mr. Miller to Miss Jennie Hamet, who has served as a teacher in the public schools of Brady and Jefferson townships, Williams County, and they have one daughter, Florence Lyndall, who is a student in the Bryan High School at this time.

Edmond C. Carlin is one of the forward-looking representatives of farm enterprise in Pulaski Township, where his well improved farm gives distinctive evidence of his progressive policies and efficient management. This attractive rural homestead comprises sixty acres, and Mr. Carlin also owns about forty additional acres of land, the latter being attractively situated three and one-fourth miles northeast of Bryan.

Mr. Carlin was born in Fulton County, this state, August 8, 1876, and is a son of Lewis and Julia (Roberts) Carlin, both of whom were born and reared in France, where their marriage was solemnized and where their first two children were born. Upon coming to the United States the parents finally established their home on a farm in Fulton County, Ohio, not far distant from Stryker, one of the leading towns of Williams County. Though the father had been a locomotive engineer in his native land, he proved a successful farmer and he continued to reside on his well improved farm of ninety-two acres until his death, in March, 1919, his widow still remaining on the old homestead at the time of this writing. They became the parents of five children : Julia is the wife of Curtis Bonney; Lewis, Jr., resides in Springfield Township; Emma is the wife of Dr. Frederick A. King, of New York City; Edmond C, of this review, was the next in order of birth ; and Emil remains on the home farm with his widowed mother.

Edmond C. Carlin was reared on the home farm which was the place of his birth, in Springfield Township, Fulton County, and gained his early education in the public schools. He continued to be associated with the activities of the home farm until he reached his legal majority, and he then went to New York City, where he became associated with the hotel business, with which he continued his connection five years. He traveled about somewhat extensively through the eastern states, but finally he returned to Ohio, where was solemnized his marriage to Miss Bertie Lockhart. They settled on a farm south of Bryan, but later he sold this place and purchased his present farm, which has since continued the scene of his successful enterprise in diversified agriculture and the raising of good types of livestock. He gives loyal support to the cause of the republican party and he and his wife are earnest communicants of the Lutheran Church. They have six children, whose names and respective dates of birth are here recorded : Harvey, February 28, 1892 ; Naomi, November 2, 1893; Oscar, July 30, 1895; Dale, May 10. 1897; Lamoille, July 31, 1899; and Earl, May 7, 1918.

William M. Maneval. - A progressive and skilful agriculturist of Brady Township, William M. Maneval, whose farm lies one mile south of West Unity, is pursuing his pleasant and independent occupation with marked success, his well tilled land yielding bountiful crops. A son of Peter Maneval, he was born, September 2, 1862, in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, the descendant of one of the earlier families of that state.

Born in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Peter Maneval was there brought up and educated. Marrying when young, he settled near Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where he lived a number of years. Seeking a more favorable location, he came with his family to Ohio about 1872, and having settled in Williams County, a mile south of West Unity, he bought land and was subsequently engaged in tilling the soil until his death. Politically he was a stanch supporter of the principles of the republican party, and both he and his wife were active and worthy members of the Evangelical Church. To him and his wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Drum, four children were born, as follows: William M., the subject of this brief personal record; Emma, wife of Wilmer Heaton, of Fulton County, Ohio ; Rose, wife of John Zink, of Iowa ; and Frank, deceased.

Ten years old when he came with his parents to Williams County, William M. Maneval was educated in the schools of West Unity and Pulaski. Remaining with his parents until attaining his majority, he acquired agricultural knowledge and experience of value, and readily selected farming as his life work. Mr. Maneval has sixty-five acres of choice land in his own farm, but being a man of industry, energy and ambition he rents eighty acres of land adjoining his estate, and is managing the whole with highly satisfactory results.

Mr. Maneval has been twice married. He married first Miss Emma Buck, who died in early womanhood, leaving five children, namely: Florence, wife of Scott Baltosser ; Alda, wife of Joseph Kehr, of Brvan, Ohio; Vernon, living in Montana; Howard, of Bryan; and

Herman, also a resident of Bryan. On December 21, 1904, Mr. Maneval married for his second wife Catherine Weidler, who was born December 11, 1870, in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, and came to Williams County, where she was married. Four children have blessed their union, Walter, Edith, Lloyd and Lola. Mr. Maneval is a stockholder in the Farmers Commercial and Savings Bank. He is identified in politics with the republican party, but has never been an aspirant, for public office. He is a consistent member of the Methodist Church at West Unity, to which Mrs. Maneval also belongs.

Silas Shaffer. - Conspicuous among the representative agriculturists and stock men of Williams County is Silas Shaffer, of Pulaski Township. He has made his influence felt for good in his community, his life having been closely interwoven with its history for a number of years. His efforts have been for the material advancement of the same, and the well regulated life he has led, thereby gaining the respect and good will of all with whom he has come into contact, entitles him to representation in a work of the character of the one in hand. Silas Shaffer was born on his father's farm on section 12, Pulaski Township, Williams County, Ohio, on May 3, 1857, and he is the son of David and Mary E. (Smith) Shaffer. Both of these parents were natives of Maryland, where they were reared, educated and married. Sometime after their marriage they came to Ohio, buying a farm in Crawford County, where they lived for a time, but, selling that place, they made permanent settlement on section 12, Pulaski County, where they spent the remainder of their days. They were members' of the Reformed Church and Mr. Shaffer was a supporter of the democratic party. Of the eight children born to them, six are living at this time, namely: Michael, of West Unity, Ohio; Silas, the subject of this sketch; Mary, the wife of Henry Updyke, of West Unity, Ohio; David, of Pulaski Township ; Charles, of Bryan, Ohio ; Cora, the wife of Oscar Pifer, of Toledo, Ohio.

Silas Shaffer remained under the parental roof until he had attained mature years and his educational training was received in the common schools of Pulaski Township. After his marriage, which occurred in 1879, he began business on his own account and through the subsequent years he has gradually forged ahead until today he is in very comfortable circumstances and numbered among the substantial and representative agriculturists of his section of the county. He owns 100 acres of excellent land, the greater part of which is devoted to general farming, though he also gives some attention to the raising of live stock. Thorough practical in everything he does, he has so ordered his actions as to gain liberal returns for the effort which he puts into his operations.

On December 25, 1879, Mr. Shaffer was married to Maggie Fehliman, who was born in Springfield Township, Ohio, on February 11, 1859, the daughter of Lewis and Catherine (Caesar) Fehliman. Her father was a soldier for the Union during the Civil War and gave up his life on the altar of his country, being killed in battle on November 25, 1862. To Mr. and Mrs. Shaffer have been born five children, namely : Gertrude, who is the wife of Rev. W. E. Harmon, a minister of the Christian Church; Oscar, who married Daisy Reader, of Redlands, California; Elgie, who is a graduate in medicine and who served two years in the recent World War, was married to Gertrude Roback, of Columbus, Ohio ; Floyd, who was married to Cecil Coil, of Bryan, enlisted, on December 13, 1917, in the United States aviation service. He was first sent to Camp Grant, at Rockford, Illinois, but was later transferred to Camp Dorfield, in Florida, thence to Charleston, and still later to Newport News, Virginia. From there he was sent to Langley Field, in Virginia, and from there to Garden City, New York. He was finally mustered out on January 26, 1919, at Camp Sherman, Ohio, reaching home the following day. The fifth child, Paul, is at home with his parents.

Politically, Silas Shaffer gives his support to the democratic party and takes a keen interest in the advancement of the best interests of the community in which he lives. He is a stockholder in the Pulaski Grain Elevator and in other ways gives his support to material enterprises of the county. Mrs. Shaffer is a member of the Christian Church at Bryan. Mr. Shaffer has been successful in business and respected in his social life, and as a neighbor he has discharged his duties in a manner becoming a liberal-minded, intelligent citizen of the state where the essential qualities of manhood have ever been duly recognized and prized at their true value.

Dwight O. Leslie is numbered among the representative young business men of Bryan, judicial center of Williams County, where he is proprietor of the Bryan Monumental Works. His establishment is equipped with the best of modern facilities, his stock of monuments and other mortuary memorials offers at all times a wide range for selection, and the highest grade of workmanship is assured in all products turned forth from the establishment.

Mr. Leslie was born in Stark County, Ohio, September 1, 1883, and is a son of Amos and Samantha (Watkins) Leslie, of whose eight children all are living except one. Amos Leslie was born and reared in St. Joseph County, Indiana, whence he came to Ohio, where he later married Miss Samantha Watkins, who was born in Carroll County, this state. For a number of years Mr. Leslie has been engaged in successful market gardening near Canton, the judicial center of Stark County, his political support being given to the republican party and both he and his wife being active members of the Reformed Church.

Dwight O. Leslie gained his early education in the public schools of his native county and supplemented this by a course in a well conducted business college in the City of Canton. He then entered upon a practical apprenticeship in the monument business, and in the early years of his application to practical work in this line he received compensation of only one dollar a day. As a skilled workman he eventually commanded good salary, and he was finally made foreman of a leading monument concern in the City of Canton. He remained with this firm ten years and then, in 1914, came to Bryan and purchased a half interest in the business of E. B. Willett, the style of the firm now is the Bryan Monumental Works. The effective service given by the Bryan Monumental Works has gained to the concern a substantial and representative supporting patronage, and the high-grade work turned out constitutes the best advertising asset of the enterprise. Mr. Leslie is a progressive not only as a business man but also as a citizen, and is a republican in his political proclivities. He and his wife are active communicants of the Lutheran Church, in which he is an elder, and both hold membership in the local organization of the Pythian Sisters, he being, in 1920, the chancellor commander of Bryan Lodge, No. 221, Knights of Pythias, besides which he is affiliated with Bryan Lodge, No. 215, Free and Accepted Masons.

In 1908 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Leslie to Miss Ada Warley, of Carroll County, and they have one son, Harold, who was born December 4, 1910.

H. F. Planson. - Intimately associated with the agricultural interests of Springfield Township, his finely improved farm lying threefourths of a mile south and one mile east of Stryker, H. F. Planson holds high rank among the prosperous farmers of Williams County, the record of whose lives fills an important place in this volume. He

Peter Planson was born, bred and educated in Brady Township, near Lockport, and as a young man selected farming as his occupation. Industrious and economical, he saved his earnings, and soon after his marriage began farming in his. native township. Subsequently coming with his family to Springfield Township, he bought land near Stryker, and was successfully engaged in tilling the soil until ready to retire from active labor. Removing then to Stryker, he spent the closing years of his life in ease and comfort, both he and his wife dying there. Active in republican circles, he served as township trustee a number of terms. Religiously both he and his wife were members of the Baptist Church. His wife, whose maiden name was Frances Racine, came from France to Lockport, Ohio, when about twenty-two years of age and here she was married. Nine children blessed their union, as follows : H. F., the subject of this sketch ; Emiel; Ida; Charles; George; Nora, wife of James Roux; Sylvia; Fred; and a child that died in early life.

Completing his early education in the public schools of Stryker, H. F. Planson remained with his parents until twenty-five years of age, when, with very limited means at his command, he began the battle of life on his own account, for three years thereafter living on rented land. Having obtained some money, he then purchased sixty acres of the land included in his present farm, and in its management showed marked ability. He has since added by purchase forty more acres, and has now a fine farm of 100 acres, the greater part of which is under culture, the land being as rich and productive as any in the neighborhood. Mr. Planson has been very fortunate in his undertakings, and in addition to making many wise improvements on his home place, he is now building a modernly constructed residence in Stryker, on North Main Street, where he may eventually live.

Mr. Planson married, December 22, 1891, Anna Juillard, and to them three children have been born, namely: Mertie, a graduate of the Stryker High School, is the wife of Emil Hayes ; Arthur, who married Grace Bender, served as a corporal in the World War, and while in France was gassed ; and Edwin, a graduate of the Stryker High School, married Miss Sine, and lives in Stryker. A steadfast republican in politics, Mr. Planson was elected township trustee in November, 1919, and is rendering appreciated service in that capacity. He is an active and worthy member of the Baptist Church, of which he is a trustee and a deacon.

Daniel C. McTaggart, M. D., has been for more than thirty years established in the practice of his profession at Bryan, judicial center of Williams County, and holds secure vantage ground as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of this section of the Buckeye State. The broad scope of his practice indicates alike his ability and the high estimate placed upon him in his home community. Doctor McTaggart was born at Mapleton, Province of Ontario, Canada, July 19, 1856, and is a scion of the staunchest of Scotch ancestry. His father, Donald McTaggart, was born and reared in Scotland, where he received excellent educational advantages, and he was about twenty years of age when, in company with his four brothers, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean, on a sailing vessel of the type common to that period, and established his home in the Province of Ontario, Canada. He was a man of fine intellectuality, as may well be understood when it is stated that he was educated for the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, but he never entered the active service of the ministry. For several years after coming to America he held a clerical and executive position with a prominent lumbering company in Ontario, and finally he purchased land and turned his attention to farm industry, in which he achieved success and with which he continued to be identified during the remainder of his active career, his death having occurred on his fine old homestead farm in Elgin County, Ontario. His first wife was a young woman at the time of her death and he later married Miss Sarah House, and of the four children of this union two died in infancy, Doctor McTaggart of this review being the elder of the two surviving, and his sister, Mary, being the wife of William H. Healy, St., of Miami, Florida.

Doctor McTaggart profited fully by the advantages afforded in the public schools of his native province, and after completing the curriculum of the high school at Springfield, he continued to be associated with farm enterprise until he had attained to the age of twenty-seven years, besides which he did an appreciable amount of work as a carpenter. In consonance with his ambition he finally provided ways and means for its concrete realization, in that he began preparing himself for the medical profession. After preliminary study under effective private preceptorship he finally entered the Cincinnati College of Medicine, at Cincinnati, Ohio, and in this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1888. After thus receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he came to Bryan, in the spring of 1888, and Williams County has continued the stage of his earnest, humane and successful service in the work of his profession during the long intervening years. He has kept in constant touch with the advances made in medical and surgical science, avails himself of the best standard and periodical literature of his profession, and gains much also through his active membership in the American Institute of Homoeopathy, the Ohio State Medical Society and the Williams County Medical Society, of which last mentioned he is president at the time of this writing, in 1920.

A staunch supporter of the principles of the republican party, Doctor McTaggart has never sought public office but his communal loyalty has been effectively shown in his sixteen years of service as a member of the board of education at Bryan, of which body he is vice president at the present time. He and his wife are active members of the Christian Church and his Masonic affiliations are with Bryan Lodge, No. 215, Free and Accepted Masons; Bryan Chapter, No. 45, Royal Arch Masons; and Bryan Council, No. 101, Royal and Select Masters. He is affiliated also with the Knights of Maccabees.

At Mapleton, Ontario, Canada, in 1881, was solemnized the marriage of Doctor McTaggart to Miss Addie E. White, who was there born and reared and who is a daughter of Frederick and Elizabeth (Hull) White. Dr. and Mrs. McTaggart have two children: Hazel is the wife of Ralph B. Shannock, of Mansfield, Ohio, and they have one son, Donald R. Kenneth W. McTaggart, who is associated with business enterprise at Bryan, married Miss Freda Bragg and they have two children, Dorothy and Mary M.

Wilbur M. Fyke. - The extent and importance of the enterprises with which the late Wilbur M. Fyke was identified during the active period of his career caused him to be accounted justly as one of the prominent men of Williams County, and more particularly of Brady Township, where for many years he carried on operations as a farmer and breeder of stock. While late in life he lived in semi-retirement at West Unity, he maintained his interests in a number of enterprises in the county in which his business ability and good citizenship were factors in developing the natural resources of the section.

Mr. Fyke was born in Summit County, Ohio, May 13, 1855, a son of Henry and Catherine E. (Brett) Fyke. His father, born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, February 17, 1823, was a young man when he went to Wayne County, Ohio, where in 1850, he married Miss Brett, who was born in Pennsylvania, of New England ancestry, December 9, 1826. In 1857 they moved to Williams County and located on a farm in Springfield Township, south of Stryker, on which they made their home and carried on agricultural operations until 1909, when they moved to Stryker and retired. Henry and Catherine E. Fyke were the parents of six children : Frank, of La Grange, Indiana; Charles A., of Bryan, Ohio; Wilbur M. ; Mary, the wife of E. E. Mallory, of Los Angeles, California ; George, of Chicago, Illinois ; and Ella, the widow of John Paxton, of Bryan. The mother of these children died in 1896 and in 1898 Mr. Fyke married Catherine Chappens, who was born December 9, 1826, in Pennsylvania, and was eighteen years of age when she accompanied her parents to Summit County, Ohio. Mr. Fyke united with the Oak Grove Methodist Episcopal Church in 1868, and remained a consistent member thereof until his death at Stryker. April 12, 1910.

Wilbur M. Fyke was reared on the home farm near Stryker and obtained his education in the district schools and at a normal school at Bryan, under the instruction of Professor Mygrants. At the age of nineteen years he began to teach school, and this profession he followed for twenty-two years continuously, becoming one of the most popular and efficient teachers in Williams County. After he went to farming, he purchased 162 acres two miles east of West Unity, where he followed farming until 1907, at that time retiring from active operations and moving to West Unity where he maintained his residence until his death August 29, 1920.

While not actively engaged himself in farming affairs, Mr. Fyke held extensive holdings, and a feature of the work done on his farm was the breeding of cattle, he having seventeen head of registered Holstein cattle led by a prize-winning individual, as well as much good graded cattle. He was the representative at West Unity for Swift & Company, in the sale of fertilizer products, and was a life member of the Farmers National Congress. Mr. Fyke served as a director of the Brady Township Fire Insurance Company for fifteen years and as secretary and manager of the Electric Light Plant seven years, and was one of the founders of the Farmers Commercial and Savings Bank, in which he was a stockholder. Mr. Fyke likewise was active in religious work, as a member of the official board and recording steward of the Methodist Episcopal Church and treasurer of the Sunday school, in which he also taught a class.

On December 29, 1880, Mr. Fyke was united in marriage with Ada Cook, one of triplets, the others being: Dora, who married Jacob Smith; and Frank P., who married Mary A. Bradick. Mrs. Fyke, who is the only survivor in a family of fourteen children, was born on a farm south of West Unity, November 21, 1852, and was educated in the public schools. She is a member of a family which came to Williams County in 1350, and a daughter of Daniel and Rebecca W. (Kenney) Cook. The latter was born January 1, 1811, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Kenney, and became widely known as a student and a composer of poetry. She was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and greatly respected and beloved, and the first child born to her and her husband was the late Hon. Theodore Cook. To Mr. and Mrs. Fyke there have been born four children : George, a graduate of West Unity High School, who is carrying on operations on the old homestead east of West Unity; James C, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a graduate of the high school at West Unity, and of the university at Ada, Ohio, in mechanical engineering; Frank C, a graduate of West Unity High School, and of mechanical engineering at Ada, and now with the Standard Oil Company at Elizabeth, New Jersey, and Charles W., who died aged two months.

Ernest E. Culbertson, who holds the position of cashier in the First National Bank of Bryan, was born in this village, the judicial center of Williams County, October 3, 1883, and is a son of William F. and Jennie (McGraw) Culbertson. William F. Culbertson passed his entire life in this county, where his parents settled in the pioneer days, and he was long numbered among the representative business men and honored and influential citizens of his native county. He served five years as treasurer of the county and thereafter was engaged in the lumber business at Bryan until the time of his death, when he was about fifty-nine years of age. His widow was a girl when she came with her parents to West Unity, this county, where she was reared to adult age and where she remained until the time of her marriage. She passed to the life eternal in 1904, both she and her husband having been zealous members of the Presbyterian Church, in which Mr. Culbertson long served as an elder of the church at Bryan, he having also been affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. Of the nine children seven are living.

In the public schools of Bryan, Ernest E. Culbertson continued his studies until his graduation in the high school, and thereafter he served three years as deputy county treasurer, under the administration of his father as county treasurer. Upon his retirement from this position he assumed that of bookkeeper in the First National Bank of Bryan, on November 15th, 1909, and he has since continued as an efficient member of the office corps of this representative institu- tion, in which he now holds the position of a cashier. He is an active and loyal worker in the local ranks of the republican party, is past master of Bryan Lodge, No. 215, Free and Accepted Masons, which he has represented in the grand lodge of Ohio, and he is also secretary of Northwest Chapter, No. 45, Royal Arch Masons. Both he and his wife are earnest members of the Presbyterian Church at Bryan, and he is serving in 1920 as superintendent of its Sunday school.

November 18. 1911, recorded the marriage of Mr. Culbertson to Miss Taisy Kline, daughter of Henry O. Kline, of Bryan, and they have two children - Jane and Margaret.

Joseph P. Arnold, president of the State Bank of Kunkle, living at Bryan, is one of the prominent and influential representatives of banking enterprise in Williams County, and takes due satisfaction in claiming the judicial center of the county as the place of his nativity. He was born at Bryan, December 20, 1863, and is a son of Charles and Violet A. (Fulton) Arnold. The father was born in the Province of Alsace-Lorraine, France, and was nine years of age when he accompanied his parents on their immigration to America, he having been reared and educated in Ohio, and having been a resident of Williams County for many years prior to his death, which occurred at Bryan. He was a carpenter by trade and became a successful contractor and builder at Bryan, his political allegiance having been given to the republican party and both he and his wife having been earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They became the parents of five sons, of whom four are living: Edward J. is a resident of Anderson, Indiana ; Hiram W. maintains his home at Bryan ; and Charles A. is a resident of Greenfield, Indiana; the subject of this review being the youngest of the number. The mother was born in Pennsylvania and was a child when her parents came to Ohio and established their home in Williams County, where she was reared and educated and where she passed the remainder of her life.

Joseph P. Arnold is indebted to the public schools of Bryan for his early educational discipline, and after attaining to adult age he was for sixteen years here engaged in the meat market business. He devoted the next decade to farm enterprise, but his financial advancement was primarily the result of his successful operations in the buying and selling of real estate - principally farm properties in this section of the Buckeye State. In 1913 Mr. Arnold returned to Bryan, and he was one of the organizers and incorporators of the Kunkle State

Bank, with the active administration of which he has since continued to be prominently identified. The other officers of this substantial institution are as here noted : Philip Wagner, president, now deceased ; John Kunkle, second vice president, and George W. Wagner, cashier. The bank bases its operation on a capital stock of $25,000 and its business is of most substantial order, based on wise and conservative policies and careful management, and upon the unqualified confidence of its supporters. Mr. Arnold gives the major part of his time and attention to the affairs of this institution, but is also superintendent of Garver Park, at Bryan, and maintains a general supervision of his farm, which is well improved and comprises 120 acres. As a young man Mr. Arnold wedded Miss Catherine Lantz, daughter of the late John Lantz, who was president of the Montpelier National Bank, at Montpelier, this county, at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Arnold have no children.

Levi B. Kunkle. - Among the native born citizens of Williams County who have spent their lives within its precincts, and have aided in every possible way its growth and development, is Levi B. Kunkle, whose birth occurred, April 26, 1858, on the farm where he now lives, it being located one mile south and one-fourth of a mile west of West Unity, in Brady Township, where his father, John H. Kunkle, located in pioneer days. He comes of distinguished patriotic stock, his grandfather, Henry H. Kunkle, having fought bravely in the War of 1812, while his great-grandfather, Jacob Kunkle, served for seven years in the Revolutionary war.

Born January 26, 1818, in Perry County, Pennsylvania, John H. Kunkle remained there until 1835, when he made his way to Shelby, Ohio, where he learned the trade of a tailor. Removing from there to Mansfield, Ohio, he followed the trade of a carpenter for a while. Deciding to change his occupation, he came to Williams County in 1841, and invested what money he had, all of which, with the exception of 50 cents that constituted his entire wealth when he arrived in Ohio, he had accumulated in Richland County, in land. He bought eighty acres in Brady Township, and as a general farmer met with good success. As his means increased, he added other land by purchase, at the time of his death having title to 215 acres of good land. He was active in public affairs, and served one or more terms as township trustee. He married, in 1848, Lavina Bargahiser, who was born in Richland County, Ohio, where her parents, Levi and Susan Bargahiser, were pioneer settlers, and into their household five chil- dren were born, as follows: George, Susan, Lavina, Hattie, and Levi B. Both parents were active and faithful members of the Presbyterian Church.

The youngest child of the parental household, Levi B Kunkle grew to manhood on the farm where he now lives, and as a boy and youth attended the district schools of Brady Township, in the meantime becommg familiar with the various branches of agriculture. Succeeding to the ownership of a portion of the home farm, he is successfully following his chosen vocation, having, in sections 17 and 18 173 acres of fertile land, which he cultivates with desired results the soil being rich and fertile.

On July 23, 1884, Mr. Kunkle was united in marriage with Elizabeth Neaster, who was born and reared on a farm in Brady Township and they are the parents of two children, namely: Blanche born' March 8. 1885; and Golda, born March 20, 1893. Blanche, who was educated in the West Unity High School, married George Stevens a farmer living just across the road from Air. Kunkle, and they have one daughter, Elizabeth Stevens, born December 13, 1912 Golda the younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kunkle. a high school graduate, married Frank Hoover, of West Unity, and they have one daughter, Mary A., born September 18, 1916. Mr. Kunkle is a faithful repubhcan in politics, and has served as township trustee for seven years. Both he and his wife are esteemed and valued members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Benjamin Franklin Neff, senior member of the firm of B. F Neff & Son, manufacturers of drain-tile and brick, at Bryan has been the dominating figure in developing one of the most important industrial enterprises of Williams County, and the high-grade products manufactured at the Neff plant find constant and cumulative demand m connection with material improvements in both town and farm properties in this section of the Buckeye State.

Mr. Neff was born in West Moreland County, Pennsylvania November 10, 1855, and is a son of John G. and Mary (Garver) Neff, who were born and reared in the old Keystone state and who there continued to reside until 1868, when they came to Williams County, Ohio, and established their home at Bryan. The father had not only proved successful as a farmer but also as a manufacturer of brick and tile, and he it was who founded the substantial industry of which his son Benjamin F. is now the executive head. After coming to Williams County John G. Neff first confined his attention to the manufacturing of brick, but later he amplified the enterprise to include the manufacturing of high-grade drain-tile. Eventually he admitted his son Benjamin F. to partnership in the business, and the son later assumed full control, his progressiveness and energy having come effectively into play in extending the scope of the industry and making it one of much importance in a practical way as well as a medium for the achieving of substantial success. The parents passed the remainder of their lives in Williams County, where they held high place in popular esteem, both having been zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the father having been a democrat in his political faith.

Benjamin F. Neff acquired his rudimentary education in his native state and was a lad of about thirteen years at the time of the family removal to Williams County, where he continued to attend school for the next few years and where he finally became actively associated with his father's manufacturing business, as previously noted. After he had attained to his legal majority he became associated with his father in establishing a brick yard at West Unity, this county, and of this he had the active management for ten years, within which he did a substantial business in the manufacturing of brick and tile. After selling the plant and business at West Unity he returned to Bryan and became a partner of his father in the brick and tile manufactory at this place. Here he has since continued the enterprise with success and upon admitting his son to partnership the present firm name was adopted. Mr. Neff also owns a farm of fifty acres, near Bryan, and he maintains a general supervision of the operations on this place, which is devoted to diversified agriculture and the raising of live stock on a somewhat limited scale.

Mr. Neff is found aligned staunchly in the ranks of the democratic party, but he has had no desire for public office, though he served four years as treasurer of Pulaski Township. He is past master of Bryan Lodge. No. 215, Free and Accepted Masons, and is affiliated also with the local chapter of Royal Arch Masons and the Council of Royal and Select Masters. He is a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Bryan, as was also his wife, and is serving as chairman of its board of trustees.

In 1881 Mr. Neff wedded Miss Laura Allison, of Stryker, this county, and their gracious companionship was severed when on January 7, 1919, Mrs. Neff passed to the life eternal, her memory being revered by all who came within the sphere of her kindly influence. Of the three children the eldest is Emery A., who was graduated in the Bryan High School and who is now the junior member of the firm of B. F. Neff & Son; Arthur G. was graduated in Oberlin College and later in historic old Harvard University, and he is now a successful contractor in the City of Detroit, Michigan, he having enlisted m the heavy field artillery when the nation became involved in the World war and having continued in camp service twenty-two months, his command having not been called to active service overseas; and Florence, whose higher education was received in the great University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, is now the wife of James Roe, editor of the Bryan Press, in her native city.

Eli R. Sheline. - Possessing shrewd business sense and bein- able to put into his enterprises the full force of well-directed efforts Eli R. Sheline, now living retired at Edon, has been one of the men who has ra.sed the standards of production in manufacturing in this region, and still maintains a prestige in his community because of the interest he always manifests in civic affairs.

Born in Carroll County, Ohio. December 4, 1848, Eli R Sheline was but six years old when he was brought to Williams County by his parents, Andrew and Ann Sheline. so that he has spent practically Ins whole life in this section of the state, and here all of his interests center.

Andrew Sheline was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania April 20, 1819, and his wife was born in Carroll County, Ohio in 1823. Coming to Carroll County, Ohio, when a young man. Andrew Sheline was there married, and was employed in building several grist mins m that county as he was a carpenter and millwright In

1855 he came to Williams County, and built the first grist mill at Edon, operating it and developing the plant to considerable proportions during the war between the states. Both he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives at Edon, and became very prominent as members of the Christian Church there, in which he was a class leader and elder. He was one of the founders of the church and continued to be one of the very liberal contributors to it until his death. In politics he was a republican. His interests were not confined to his mill, but he owned stock in a number of enterprises at different times and was exceedingly successful in all that he undertook The children born to him and his wife were as follows : Benjamin F., Edwin K.. Eli R.. Mary, Louisa, Jennie, Harriette A. and Samantha, who are living, the second child, Martha E., is deceased.

Eli R. Sheline attended the public schools of Florence Township until he was fifteen years old when he entered Hiram College, and then attended school at Bryan, Ohio, but although prepared for the profes- sion, he never taught school, but began working for his father in the mill. In 1866 Andrew Sheline erected a woolen mill, and later Eli R. Sheline bought an interest in it, and eventually took all of the stock, becoming the sole owner in 1882, and conducted it until it was destroyed by fire, at which time, due to the shock and anxiety, his health failed, and since then he has lived in practical retirement.

On February 25, 1875, Mr. Sheline was married to Rebecca J. Eyster, who was born in Fulton County, Ohio, but was married at Edon, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Sheline became the parents of four children, namely : Cordelia and Arthur E., who are both deceased ; Holland L., who is foreman of one of the factories at Edon ; and Orville, who died at the age of two years. Both Mr. Sheline and his wife are members of the Christian Church. Like his father Mr. Sheline is a republican. He, too, has been very successful, and in addition to other property, owns 116 acres of land adjoining the lower end of Edon.

J. E. Alspaugh.' - The record of the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch contains no exciting chapter of tragic events, but is replete with well defined purposes which, carried to successful issue, have won for him an influential place in business circles and high personal standing among his fellow citizens. His life work has been characterized by unceasing industry and perseverance and the systematic and honorable methods which he has ever followed have resulted not only in gaining the confidence of those with whom he has had dealings, but also in the building up of a good business and the accumulation of a good property.

J. E. Alspaugh, manager of the Stryker Lumber Company, at Stryker, Ohio, is a native son of the Buckeye State, having been born on his father's farm, about sixteen miles southeast of Columbus, Franklin County, on July 14, 1867. He is a son of Jonathan and Christiana (Beartsch) Alspaugh, the former a native of Van Wert County, Ohio, and the latter born in Franklin County on the same farm where the subject was born. Jonathan Alspaugh was reared to manhood in Van Wert County, and at the outbreak of the Civil war he offered his services in defense of the Union, enlisting in the Forty-sixth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served three years. After his return from the army, he moved to Franklin County and engaged in farming, becoming the owner of sixty acres of land in Van Wert County, Ohio, on which he carried on general farming operations. He was an earnest supporter of the republican party and served as assessor of Wilshire Township. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and was affiliated with the Masonic order. To him and his wife were born eight children, six of whom are living, namely : J. E., the immediate subject of this sketch; Louisa, the wife of Elmer Coffman ; O. A., of Cuyhoga Falls; E. H., a physician of Wilshire, Ohio; Bertha L., wife of Fred Heardering, of Anderson, Indiana, and Gracie, a stenographer in Chicago.

J. E. Alspaugh was about one year of age when the family moved to Van Wert County, Ohio, and there he was reared and secured his educational training in the public schools. He spent his summers in working on the home farm until he had attained his majority, when he engaged in farming for about seven years. He then went to Rockford, Ohio, where he engaged in carpentering and contracting for about thirteen years. During the following three years he gave his attention to agricultural pursuits, but then engaged in the lumber business at Wilshire, which commanded his attention for six years. In May, 1919, Mr. Alspaugh came to Stryker and purchased a large interest in the Stryker Lumber Company, of which he was elected secretary, treasurer and manager, which positions he still occupies. He is thoroughly familiar with every phase of the lumber business and has demonstrated his thorough qualification for the line of work in which he is engaged.

Mr. Alspaugh was married to Flora Lauckhart and they have become the parents of six children, namely : Finley, who is manager of the Edon Lumber Company, at Edon, this county; Arnold, who is now on his father's farm in Mercer County, Ohio, is a veteran of the World war, having served with the 157th Aviation Squadron and spending two years in England and France; Ada is the wife of Wilber Smalley; Zelah is the wife of Randolph Shaffer; Ezra and Esther are at home.

Mr. Alspaugh gives his support to the republican party, while, religiously, he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian Church, which he served as ruling elder at Rockford, Ohio, but they are now members of the English Lutheran Church, Stryker, Ohio. Fraternally, he is a member of Shanes Lodge, No. 377, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is a past master; Celina Chapter, No. 120, Royal Arch Masons, and of Ivanhoe Commandery, No. 54, Knights Templar. His record is the story of a life whose success is measured by its usefulness - a life that has made for good in all its relations with the world, and he therefore has richly merited the enviable position which he now enjoys in the community.

Roy E. Oberlin. - A prominent and influential citizen of Brady Township, Roy E. Oberlin has been profitably engaged in general agriculture on section 30 for upwards of twenty years, owning and occupying one of the best improved and most desirable farms in this part of Williams County, it being advantageously located three miles northwest of Stryker. He was born, March 14, 1873, in Jefferson Township, Williams County, a son of Orlando Oberlin, and a grandson of Jacob Oberlin, who settled in Jefferson Township in 1854, and on the farm which he reclaimed from its primeval wildness spent his remaining years.

Born in Holmes County, Ohio, Orlando Oberlin was a small lad of eight summers when he came with his parents to Williams County, where he was bred and educated. Choosing the free life of a farmer, he located soon after his marriage on section 25, Jefferson Township, where his efforts in cultivating and improving a farm were well rewarded. Retiring from active labor in 1915, he has since lived in Bryan, his home being at No. 342 East Bryan Street. Patriotic and public spirited, he enlisted, in 1863, in the Thirtieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served as a soldier in the Civil war until the close of the conflict. He is a sound republican in politics, and a member of Bryan Lodge. Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Orlando Oberlin married Althea Reid, who was born in Williams County, Ohio, a daughter of George Reid, who was an early pioneer of Jefferson Township, locating there in 1826, when he took up land from the Government, and with true pioneer courage cleared and improved a homestead. Two children were born of their marriage, as follows : Roy E., the subject of this brief sketch ; and Theodore F., engaged in farming in Jefferson Township.

Receiving his elementary education in the district schools, Roy E. Oberlin subsequently continued his studies at the Fayette Normal School for a year. Remaining beneath the parental roof-tree until twenty-three years of age, he taught school winters, and worked on the home farm through seed time and harvest for seven years. When ready to begin life on his own account, Mr. Oberlin purchased 135 acres of land in Jefferson Township, and that he has met with such unquestioned success in its management may well be attributed to his industry, agricultural skill and keen foresight. He is also actively interested in various enterprises, being vice president of the West Unity Bank, and one of its directors ; president of the Northwestern Ohio Mutual Rodded Fire Insurance Company; and a director of the Farmers Elevator Company at Pulaski, and director of the Farmers Elevator Company at Stryker.

Mr. Oberlin married first, November 10, 1895, Lizzie Barkdoll, who died September 23, 1910, leaving three children, namely : Wayne! during the World war, is assistant cashier at the Stryker Bank; home; Willis, who was in the training camp at Denison University during the World War, is assistant cashier at the Stryker Bank; and Mercy, attending the Stryker High School.

Mr. Oberlin married for his second wife, October 18, 1911, Cora E. Schnur, a native of Defiance County, Ohio, and they are the parents of two children, Eunice, born December 5, 1912; and Kenneth, born November 28, 1919. Politically Mr. Oberlin is identified with the republican party. Fraternally he is a member of Superior Lodge, No. 179, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at West Unity; of Bryan Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows ; of the Encampment; and of the Grand Lodge, of which he is past noble grand. He is likewise an active member of Springfield Grange No. 499. Mrs. Oberlin is a consistent member of the German Reformed Church.

Guy Mignin. - The life of Guy Mignin, of Stryker, has been such as to elicit just praise from those who know him best, owing to the fact that he has always been true to every trust reposed in him and has been upright in his dealings with his fellow men, at the same time lending his support to the advancement of any cause looking to the welfare of the community at large.

Guy Mignin was born in Stryker, Ohio, on March 30, 1881, and is the son of Frederick and Anna (Bostetter) Mignin, both of whom were natives of Springfield Township, Williams County, the father born in 1846 and the mother in 1856. Frederick Mignin was reared on the paternal farmstead and secured his education in the public schools. About the time he attained his majority he went to Chicago, where he obtained employment as a fireman on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, that being during the period when wood was used almost exclusively on railroad engines in the West. Later he was employed for a year in a lumber yard at Chicago, and at the end of that time he returned to Williams County and engaged in the lumber business on his own account. At that time Mr. Mignin gave special attention to walnut lumber, which was very plentiful in this locality. He was successful in this enterprise, so that he was soon able to buy and remodel the sawmill, making it one of the best in this section of the state, and this mill has been in operation ever since in the manufacture of hardwood lumber. During the later years of his life he was in poor health, though he continued to look after the details of his business affairs until within a few months of his death. At the time of his death he still owned enough standing timber to keep the mill running for several years. At the time of Mr. Mignin's death, which occurred on August 22, 1911, the entire community suffered an irreparable loss, for he had been one of the sterling characters of the community and had enjoyed the highest degree of confidence and regard. A man of high moral character, unimpeacheable integrity, persistent industry and excellent business judgment, he stood "four square to every wind that blows," and in all his business affairs his word was considered as good as his bond.

Guy Mignin was reared in Stryker and educated in its public schools. In about 1898 he became identified with the lumber business, of which he assumed complete control on the death of his father. He also has general oversight of two farms which his father left in Springfield Township. Mr. Mignin gained invaluable business experience under his father and possesses those qualities which make for success. With a keen insight into trade conditions, and energetic in the handling of his products, he has been very successful in his management of the mill, while as a manager of the farms he has exhibited progressiveness and practical ideas which have stamped him as a man of versatile ability.

Mr. Mignin was married to Mable Henning on March 18, 1903, and they have two children, Anna and Jeanne. Mrs. Mignin is a graduate of the Stryker High School, class of 1900, and she had taught for one year in the schools of Brady Township prior to her marriage.

Fraternally, Mr. Mignin is a .member of Evansport Lodge, No. 511, Free and Accepted Masons; Bryan Chapter, No. 45, Royal Arch Masons ; Defiance Commandery of Scottish Rite and Zenobia Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; Stryker Lodge, No. 432, Knights of Pythias, and he and his wife hold membership in Evansport Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. Politically, Mr. Mignin has always given his support to the democratic party. Because of his business ability and his splendid qualities of character, he enjoys to a pronounced degree the good will and esteem of all who know him.

E. E. Vernier. - The recent controversy which has become widespread throughout the country in regard to the emoluments granted the educational profession is one that has established the fact that the interest taken in our educators is national and that regardless of the compensation which they receive their value to society is recognized and their worth in the development of future citizenship cannot be surpassed. In many intelligent communities the citizens have evidenced their appreciation of the value of educators by elevating them to positions of public trust and responsibility, notably at Stryker, Ohio, where E. E. Vernier, a teacher for two decades and the incumbent of the chair of mathematics in the Stryker High School, has been elected mayor of the city.

Mayor Vernier was born on a farm in Springfield Township, Williams County, September 5, 1883, a son of C. H. and Camilla (Guiman) Vernier. His father, born in Springfield Township, December 31, 1852, has been a resident of the rural districts all his life and still continues to be engaged in threshing work. He is a republican in his political views, and he and Mrs. Vernier, a native of Defiance County, Ohio, are members of the Plymouth Brethren faith. They are parents of four children: E. E. ; Lendall, a conductor on the T. & I. Railroad; Asa, storekeeper at the car shops of that company; and Blanche, a graduate of the Stryker High School and the Bowling Green Normal School, who is teaching in the public schools of Stryker. E. E. Vernier attended the district schools of Springfield Township and the Stryker High School, following which he took normal work at the Ohio State University and Miami University. He began, teaching in 1901, and after some experience in the rural districts began his work in the schools of Stryker in 1911, eventually being given the chair of mathematics in the Stryker High School. He was and is still known as one of the most capable and popular instructors this community has known and during his long experience as a molder of the minds of youth has formed many lasting friendships with parents and pupils, as well as with school officials and fellow educators. A republican in his political allegiance, he has long taken an interest in public affairs, and served as clerk of Stryker and Springfield townships for three terms. His official record in this position showed that he was of mayoralty timber, and November 4, 1919, he was the successful candidate for his party for the office of chief executive of Stryker, to which position he was elected by a gratifying majority. Mr. Vernier is fraternally affiliated with Stryker Lodge, No. 432, Knights of Pythias, of which he is past chancellor, while Mrs. Vernier belongs to the Pythian Sisters. Their religious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal Church and their pleasant home is located on North Defiance Street.

Mayor Vernier married Miss Gertrude Juillard and they are the parents of two children, Vivienne May, born in 1910, and Robert Juillard, born in 1920.

William H. Gardner has found in his native county ample scope and opportunity for successful business exploitation and is one of the representative figures in the mercantile circles of the county seat, where he is president of the Bryan Hardware Company. He is a member of a family whose name has been identified with the history of Williams County for more than three-fourths of a century and was born on the parental homestead farm, in Center Township, this county, August 10, 1860, a son of Moses and Jane (Taylor) Gardner, who were born and reared in Pennsylvania and whose marriage was there solemnized. In 1842 the parents came to Ohio and established their home on a pioneer farm in Center Township, where the father reclaimed much of his land from the native forest and where he continued as a prosperous and influential exponent of agricultural industry until his death. He was a man of high principles and marked business acumen. He purchased land in the early days at a low price, and accumulated a large landed estate, which became very valuable with the passing years. He was an active advocate and supporter of the principles of the democratic party and was one of the influential and public spirited citizens of Center Township, of which he served as treasurer for a number of years. His devoted wife proved his able coadjutor in the achieving of independence and prosperity and their names merit a place of honor on the roster of the sterling pioneers of the county. Mr. Gardner died when about seventy-one years of age and his widow passed the closing period of her life at Bryan, where she died when about seventy-three years of age. Of their eight children three are living: Curtis D. is vice president of the Farmers National Bank of Bryan and is individually mentioned on other pages of this volume ; William H., of this review, is the next younger, and Ira E. is a resident of the City of Toledo, this state; Mollie married Aaron Brannon and both are now deceased.

The invigorating environment and activities of the old home farm compassed the boyhood and youth of William H. Gardner, and he continued to attend the public schools until he had completed schooling in Farmers Center. That he made good use of these advantages is shown by the fact that he became a successful teacher and taught in the district schools during the winter terms for five years. He thereafter became the owner of an excellent farm of eighty acres in Center township, and he erected good buildings on the place, besides making other high-grade improvements and adding forty acres to the area of his farm. He continued his active association with the basic industries of agriculture and stock growing for ten years, and in 1892 he removed with his family to Bryan, primarily for the purpose of giving his children the advantages of the excellent schools of this village. His is not the nature that enjoys inactivity, and he has found ample demands upon his time and attention in connection with the substantial business of the Bryan Hardware Company, of which he is president. He has been an active and loyal member of the Bryan Business Men's Association and has given liberal support to its progressive policies and movements, which have proved specially potent in furthering the civic and industrial advancement of Bryan. Of this association he served for a time as president. His political convictions are indicated by his unfaltering support of the cause of the democratic party, he and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in their home city and he is serving as a member of its official board. Mr. Gardner is past master of the Bryan Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, besides being affiliated also with the local chapter and council, and with the commandery of Knights Templar at Defiance, the while both he and his wife are members of the Order of the Eastern Star.

Mr. Gardner married Miss Blanche Tomlinson, who likewise was boAi and reared in Center Township, this county, and they have three children : Ethel, who was graduated in the Bryan High School and later in the Boston Conservatory of Music, has established and is successfully conducting a school of music in the State of Washington ; Walter T., who likewise was graduated in the Bryan High School, is now manager of the Bryan Motor Service Company and the Auburn Garment Company. He is high priest of the Bryan Chapter of Royal Arch Masons at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1920, and is also worthy patron of the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. He married Miss Bessie Updyke, daughter of Emerson B. Updyke, a representative farmer near Bryan. Harry W., the younger son, is the active manager of the Bryan Hardware Company, of which his father is president, as already noted. He likewise continued his studies in the Bryan schools until his graduation in the high school, and both he and his brother are numbered among the progressive and popular young business men of their native county. He wedded Miss Alice Killits, whose father is presiding on the bench of the Federal District Court in the City of Toledo.

John A. Leavy. - The subject of this sketch has spent practically his entire life in Williams County and his persistent and commendable efforts have benefited alike himself and the community, for he has always had deeply at heart the well being and improvement of the county, using his influence whenever possible for the promotion of enterprises of public benefit, besides taking a part in all movements for the advancement of the community along social, civic and moral lines. Consequently he richly merits the high standing which he enjoys among those who know him best.