Lorain City (part 62 of 77)

In 1889 he married Lillian B. Burgess, of Norwalk, Ohio. They have two children: William Breckenridge, who is attending high school ; and Corinne, in the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College. The family are members of the First Congregational Church. Mr. Durand is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and has filled the various chairs in the lodge of Masons. In politics he is a republican. For sixteen years he filled the office of township clerk at Oberlin, and was chief of the local fire department for eight years.

CuarLes E. Witson. From a successful career as a farmer in Avon Township, Charles E. Wilson graduated into a position of business and public leadership at Elyria. Mr. Wilson is one of the honored veterans of the Civil war, has spent most of his life in Lorain County, has served with credit in public office, and among other important relations which he sustains toward .business is chairman of the board of directors of the Lorain County Savings & Trust Company, one of the largest and solidest banking institutions of Northern Ohio.

Charles E. Wilson was born in Avon Township, Lorain County, Ohio, August 26, 1840, a son of William and Elvira (Clishee) Wilson. The father was born in Northamptonshire, England, in 1812, and came to the United States at the age of eighteen with his father, William. William, Sr., was twice married, and his first wife died in England and his second in Avon Township. After living in Cleveland, Ohio, for a few years William Wilson, Jr., was married in that city to Miss Elvira Clisbee, and in 1839 they removed to Avon Township. Lorain County, settling on a tract of land which at that time was covered by woods. He died there January 19, 1860, at the age of forty-seven vears two months and nine days. In politics he was a democrat, and a member of the Baptist Church. His wife, who was of New England stock. lived to be eighty-five years of age and passed away at Tabor, Iowa. May 23, 1904. In 1867, after the marriage of her son Charles, she and three of her children went to Cassopolis, Michigan, lived in that state about three years, and then went West to Tabor, Iowa, where she spent the rest of her years. Mrs. Wilson in Iowa took a very prominent part in church work, was a devoted Baptist, and was especially known for her kindness and helpfulness in times of sickness and need. She was laid to rest at Tabor. In the family were six children, three boys and three girls, of which two sons and one daughter are still living: Charles E., who is the oldest of the family; Nancy, wife of N. 8S. Phelps, living on a farm near Glenwood, Iowa; Louis E., of Tarkio, Atchison County, Missouri; Anna, wife of J. S. Graves of Tabor, Iowa, died there leaving one son, Thaddeus L., who after the death of his mother was brought to Lorain County by his uncle, Charles E. Wilson, was reared and graduated from the Elyria schools and is now married and lives in Portland, Oregon; Willis S., who died at the age of twenty-three in Tabor, Lowa, where he is buried ; and Alice, who died and was buried at Tabor, Iowa. All these children were born in Avon Township, Lorain County.

Charles E, Wilson had the stimulating environment of the partly developed farm during his early youth, and when the occasion and opportunity were given attended the common schools of Avon Township. He afterwards had one term of instruction in Oberlin College. He had just reached manhood when the war broke out, but did not enlist until 1864, when he left the heavy responsibilities of the home and enlisted in Company H of the First Ohio Heavy Artillery, which was in service chiefly in Eastern Tennessee. He remained with the army until after the close of the war, and was discharged at Nashville, Tennessee, in June, 1865. After the surrender of Lee he returned home, and in the fall of the same year drove a team to lowa, and spent one year on a farm in that state. Returning to Lorain County, he was married, and located on the old homestead, which for several years he rented, and later bought. Mr. Wilson was an active and progressive farmer in Avon Township until 1886, and now for almost thirty years has been a resident of the City of Elyria. In public affairs he has always been an influential factor, and his chief service was as county commissioner, a position he held for six years and ten months, two terms of three years each, after which he served an appointive term of ten months.

Mr. Wilson has long been active in financial affairs at Elyria, and was formerly a stockholder in the Elyria Savings Deposit Company. With the organization of the Lorain County Banking Company, he sold his stock in the former institution and became one of the original stockholders of the new company, and on the 15th of November, 1915, the bank was reorganized as the Lorain County Savings & Trust Company and its capital stock increased. He has been one of the directors for a number of years, and is now chairman of the board. The Lorain County Savings & Trust Company has capital stock of $150,000, and surplus and undivided profits of nearly $115,000. The total resources according to a statement made in the spring of 1915 aggregated over #2,000.000. Probably the item in this statement which most accurately indicates the high standing of the bank in Northern Ohio is that showing the deposits, which at the time aggregated over $2,000,000. The cxecutive officers of the banking company are: Arthur B. Taylor, president; Richard D. Perry, vice president; Louis B. Fauver, second vice president; Alvin J. Plocher, secretary; Herbert A. Daniels, treasurer ; Aloysius M. Thome, assistant treasurer. The board of directors comprise a number of the best known business men and citizens of Lorain County.

In addition to his responsibilities as chairman of the board of directors of the Lorain County Savings & Trust Company Ar. Wilson is a stockholder in various enterprises in Elyria and elsewhere, including the Cleveland, Columbus and Southwestern Electric Railway. He is president of the Masonic Temple Building Company of Elyria. He is a member of Richard Allen Post, G. A. R., of Elyria; of King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons; and of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce. While not a member of any church, he is a regular attendant and supporter of the Methodist Episcopal Society of Elyria, where his wife has an active membership. Among other public services he has been a member of the Elyria city council, and in politics is a republican on national issues.

In Avon Township. on April 16, 1867, Mr. Wilson married Miss Elzina Lucas. She became his wife when he was still struggling to get a start as a young farmer, and they have traveled life's highway together, sharing and dividing each other's joys and sorrows for nearly half a century. To their marriage were born two daughters. Mrs. Alice E. Edwards, the only one now living, resides at the Wilson home in Elyria, and her daughter, Miss Alice W. Edwards, after graduating from the Elyria High School in the class of 1914 entered the Ohio Weslevan University at Delaware. The other daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson was named Grace, and died at the age of sixteen years. The daughter, Mrs. Edwards, and her daughter, are members of the Congregational Church at Elyria.

ALBERT Z, TILLOTSON. While most lawyers of Lorain County have their homes in Elyria, one of the able representatives of the profession is Albert Z. Tillotson, of Oberlin. Mr. Tillotson has a very large private practice, and his position is such that it is evident he made no mistake when he returned from his career as a school man, which he had followed for a number of years, to the law.

Born at Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio, August 2, 1867, he is a son of Zadock and Emily M. (Metcalf) Tillotson. Both parents were natives of Ohio, his father born in Brunswick in 1835 and his mother in Liverpool in 1843. They were married in Liverpool, Ohio, in 1860 and the father died after a long career as a farmer in May, 1913, at the home of his only son and child, Albert Z., in Oberlin. The mother died in 1898. The latter was a member of the Baptist Church while the father was a Methodist, was a republican in polities and was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Albert Z. Tillotson finished his education in the Oberlin Business College. and had also attended a select school at Brunswick. His work as a teacher was continued through sixteen terms, and in the meantime he had taken up the study of law under his uncle, C. A. Metcalf, and after his admission to the har practiced with his uncle at Oberlin and Elyria for five years. Since then he has been alone in practice and has handled eases before all the courts of the state and the Federal district.

In politics he is a republican and an active party man in his section of Lorain County. He has served as justice of the peace. and was elected police judge of Oberlin, being one of the youngest men honored with that office. He has also been a candidate for nomination as probate judge.

In 1888 Mr. Tillotson married Emily C. Felakins. She was born in Sullivan. Ashland County, Ohio, daughter of George Felakins. a farmer and early settler there. Mr. and Mrs. Tillotson have a_ fine family of eight children: Roy E., who is now a senior in Oberlin College: Jessie, a teacher in the public schools; Marvy E...a teacher at Penfield; Frances E., who is employed in Cleveland, Ohio; Ruth Marie, Esther M.. Ruby Lou and Rose Elaine, all at home.

Mr. Tillotson is a member of the Baptist Church, is a Mason. having served as senior deacon in his lodge. has passed all the chairs of local

GEORGE. L. WELLER. Lorain County has produced a few men whose work has heen notable in the realm of invention, and one of these is George L. Weller, who for many vears was superintendent of the Elyria waterworks. and is now engineer of the steam plant in the Great National Tuhe Company's works at Lorain. Mr. Weller has from an early age manifested great skill, both in handling and in perfecting mechanical apparatus and at different times has given to the industrial world a number of devices which have served to lighten and cheapen the lahor and time involved in the older methods of performing a given piece of work.

Elyria has been the home of Mr. Weller practically all his life. He was horn there. March 24, 1864, a son of John and Marv (MeCollum) Weller. His father died in 1890 at the age of fifty-seven. The old Weller homestead is just north of the citv. There George L. Weller grew to manhood, gained his early education in the public schools of Elyria. was also a student in Oberlin College for a time, and then attended that old and substantial institution for business training, the Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York. His father was a stone mason, and from him he learned the same profession and that furnished him his chief means of livelihood until 1890. In the meantime, in 1889, he was appointed superintendent of the Elyria waterworks, and held that office consecutively for more than twenty years, until 1912. During the reconstruction of the waterworks after municipal ownership had been decided upon and while the pumping station was being constructed on the shores of Lake Erie, he did much work of the nature of civil engineering, and after having seen the new plant installed and in successful operation he resigned in 1912, and then went with The National Tube Company at Lorain. There he has charge of everything in that big plant that runs by steam power. The steam boilers generate altogether about a quarter million horse-power, and Mr. Weller is the capable man who has the responsibility of keeping up to the highest point of efficiency all of this power making plant.

Out of the originating genius of his own mind and his long experience in handling machinery, Mr. Weller designed the filters and the filtering process now for a number of years used in the Elyria waterworks. The value of this invention can be best told in terms of cost. When he became superintendent the company paid about nine dollars per million gallons for the filtering of water, but his new process reduced that cost to 50 cents a million gallons. In 1912 Mr. Weller secured patents both in the United States and in Canada for what is known as the Weller Water Meter. Another of his inventions is a channeling machine, used in stone quarrying, and this machine was one of the principal products manufactured by the Weller Engineering Company for a number of vears. He has also invented and patented a number of other implements and processes used in stone quarries.

He is one of the prominent members of the Lorain County Engineering Club, whose membership includes electrical, mechanical and steam engineers residing in this county. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and belongs to The Elyria Chamber of Commerce and in polities is a republican. Mr. Weller was married July 19, 1893, to Miss Ida Alma Black of Vermilion, Ohio, daughter of John and Mary Black. They are the parents of two children: Jay C., who graduated from the Elyria high school in the class of 1912, and is now a student in Oberlin College; and Vileda, who is a member of the graduating class of 1917 in the Elyria high school.

ALBERT V. I[\GEMAN. <A native son of Lorain, Albert V. Hageman has passed his entire career in this city, among whose business men hy his learning, industry, ability and character he holds a high place, while he is no less valued in the community as a liberal-minded and enterprising citizen. During his business life here, Mr. Hageman's hands have taken hold of incipient enterprises and have guided them to success; he has been honored by his associates with election to positions of trust not because of his self-seeking or importunity, but because such positions seek one who has shown rare intelligence and fidelity in the management of his own affairs.

Mr. Hageman was born at Lorain, October 12, 1871, and is a son of Conrad and Catherine (Claus) Hageman, natives of Germany, the father having come to this country in 1845 and settled in Ohio, where his subsequent career was passed in farming in the vicinity of Lorain. After attending the public schools of Lorain, Albert V. Hageman entered a commercial college at Oberlin, Ohio, where he completed a business course. [lis first position was that of bookkeeper for the Amherst Stone Quarries, where he remained three vears, subsequently becoming clerk in the Lorain Savings and Banking Company, in October. 1894. In

1901 he was made secretary and treasurer of this institution, positions which he held until it was sold to the Cleveland Trust Company, in 1908, when Mr. Hageman was made manager of the new ownership and held that position until October, 1907. In 1897 he had been elected treasurer and general manager of the Black River Phone Company, which under his direction has grown and developed rapidly and now has 3,600 subscribers. Various other positions have been and are held by Mr. Hageman. He is president of the Amherst Home Telephone Company ; was one of the organizers of the Cleveland Life Insurance Company, of which he served as a director two years and then resigned; was formerly a member of the advisory board of the Cleveland Trust Company ; was one of the purchasers of the Hoffman Heater Company when that company had failed, and assisted in bringing it to success, when he sold out his interests, in 1911; is a director of the Citizens Home and Savings Association and a member of the finance committee of that enterprise. and was one of the organizers of the Wickens Company. He has shown his faith in the future of Lorain and its industries by investing his means in realty and other holdings, and for some years has been the medium through which some large and important real estate transactions have been carried through. As a city servant he has ever been ready to do his full share toward advancing the community's welfare, and in 1915 his abilities were recognized by his appointment to the position of trustee of the Lorain Sinking Fund. He belongs to the Cleveland Athletic Club and is also well and favorably known in fraternal circles, being a Knight Templar and Shriner in Masonry, and a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Improved Order of Red Men. With his wife. he belongs to the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer. at Lorain, in which he is serving as vestrvman. Mrs. Hageman was formerly Eleanor M. Cunningham, of Clyde. Ohio.

GEORGE P. Watton. It is not every man who can leave, when called from earth prematurely, a successful and growing concern to his family. The Walton Ice Company at Elyria. regarded as one of the important institutions in the commercial district, is a monument to the energy and integritv of the late George P. Walton, and it is still carried on as a prosperous concern under the direct management of his family. While Mr. Walton deserves great credit for building up this flourishing enterprise, he is remembered not only for what he did in a material way but also for the genial personality, the kindly nature, and the public-spirited citizenship which were dominant qualities in his character all his life.

There was one locality in the City of Elyria with which George P. Walton's career was identified more than any other. This was the place of his hirth, and in a house which is now the family homestead and he himself assisted to construct, located on the same site. he passed away. The Walton home is at 671 East River Street. There George P. Walton was horn October 31, 1859, and he died January 4, 1912, when a little past fifty-two vears of age. His parents, John and Catherine (Garrety) Walton were early settlers of Elvria, having established their home there in 1844, Thev came to Lorain County from Vineland, New Jersey, but John Walton was born in Northamptonshire, England. and his wife in Dublin. Ireland. Mrs. Catherine Walton died in Elyria thirteen vears after the birth of her son George. John Walton was a brickmaker, worked at that trade for a number of vears. but late in life became paralyzed and was helpless for several vears before his death, which occurred in April, 1897. In the family were three sons and two daughters, all of them now deceased.

close of his life, George P. Walton was reared, gained his education at Elyria. and when still a boy learned the butcher's trade from the late John Savage. He was employed in that line until 1893, and then took up the ice business. For a number of years he handled the natural product, and got his supply from Black River which in years gone by was the scene of ice cutting and gathering in all this section of Northern Ohio. He also operated a cider press at Coon's Mill, thus making his ice gathering operations and cider making furnish alternate employment for the different seasons of the year. In the spring of 1911, about a year before he died, Mr. Walton erected an artificial ice plant on Winckles Street. and had the plant in full running order before his death. The immediate cause of his death was an injury to the foot occasioned by the falling of an iron bar at the ice plant, from which injury blood poison developed, and after an illness of six weeks he passed away. Mr. Walton had a host of friends not only in Elyria but in all the surrounding country, and enjoyed success because of the fact that he was master of his business. Personally he was extremely popular, and the estimation in which he was held was well stated in the words expressed at the time of his death that ''he was a big hearted, jolly, good natured man that it was a pleasure to meet.'' While always busy and doing something that was worth while, he was devoted to his home and family, and outside of business hours could usually be found within the family circle.

As already stated, The Walton Ice Company is a family business, and the oldest child, Miss Florence M. Walton, has shown herself to be a splendid business woman and has assumed many of the responsibilities connected with the business since her father's death. Prior to that time she had kept the books of the company and thus acquired a considerable knowledge of its affairs. The artificial ice plant on Winckles Street has a daily capacity of fifteen tons of ice, and the ice is manufactured from distilled water. There is also storage space for 1,500 tons, and in 1915 the company erected a cold storage plant which furnishes facilities for the storage of fruit, eggs and butter. The company operates a number of wagons for supplying the local and family trade and the business is making rapid progress each year.

Before his death George P. Walton was a member of the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association. His family are members of St. Mary's Catholic Church at Elyria. At St. Mary's Church on May 17, 1882, he and Miss Elizabeth C. Neipfoot were married. She was born on Sugar Ridge in Elyria Township, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Meyer) Neipfoot. Her mother was born in Germany, coming to this country with her parents when she was eleven years of age. The father was born in Saxony, Germany, came over when about twenty-six, was a cabinet maker for a number of years, but subsequently bought a farm on Sugar Ridge and looked after its operations the rest of his active life. The mother died on that farm December 10, 1894, and the father subsequently lived in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Walton, at Elyria, until his death. December 6, 1896, at the age of seventy-seven. Mrs. Walton was educated in St. Mary's Parochial School in Elyria.

Mrs. Walton's fivé children are Florence M., Roland H., Charles F., KXarl P. and Elmer W. All were born in the comfortable brick house at 671 East River Street, in which their father died. George P. Walton and his father and another man burnt the brick for the construction of this cld residence. The children all attended St. Mary's Parochial School until they were about twelve years of age, and later continued their education in the public schools. Elmer, the youngest, is a member of the class of 1916 in the Elyria High School and is a capable young student, showing a high average in all his classes. All the children have been brought up with more or less familiarity with their father's business, taking an active part in its affairs, and its success and continued prosperity are largely due to the harmonious workings of the members of the Walton family. The son Roland H. is now the active manager of the company. He is affiliated with Elyria Lodge No. 465, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Elyria Lodge No. 431 of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, Elyria Lodge No. 778 of the Loyal Order of Moose, the Knights of St. John and the Elyria Chamber of Commerce. The son Karl P. is also affiliated with the Elyria Lodge of Elks. The Walton Ice Company as a business institution has membership in the Elyria Automobile Club.

ANDREW W. Davipson. In the rural districts the honors of politics are usually better bestowed on the basis of merit and qualifications than in the large city communities. At the present time the trustee of Camden Township is Andrew W. Davidson, who was first elected to that office in the fall of 1913 and was re-elected in 1915. My. Davidson has for years been recognized as one of the most substantial citizens in the Kipton community and is a man in whom his fellows place implicit confidence both for what he has done and for what he is.

He was born in Russia Township of Lorain County, September 28, 1869, a son of Andrew and Martha (Edgar) Davidson. His father is the venerable Andrew Davidson, and the name of Davidson has for more than half a century been linked with the sterling qualities of industry and integrity in Lorain County.

Andrew W. Davidson grew up on his father's farm in Camden Township, acquired an education in the local schools, and started out when quite young to make his own way in the world. With the sturdy discipline of the farm, he was able to fit in usefully in any employment to which he turned his hand. For seven and a half vears he was in the butcher business at Kipton, and in 1902 bought a farm of eighty-eight acres, which has since been the principal object of his energy and ambition. He subsequently added fifty acres to his first purchase, but having sold twenty-five acres his estate now consists of 113 acres. In many ways he has improved his land, and for a number of vears has conducted a small dairy, shipping considerable milk to the city centers.

As a result of his growing prosperity Mr. Davidson was able in 1910 to put up a comfortable and commodious two-story frame house, and by home advantages and otherwise he has provided liberally for his family. He also put down a well on his land and has a sufficient supply of gas for domestic uses. In October, 1899, Mr. Davidson married Miss Elizabeth Geist. Her father, Adam Geist. was a native of Germany and when - quite young came to Camden Township but is now living retired at Kipton. Mr. and Mrs. Davidson have four children: Mildred A.. Ear] E., Florence E., and Melvin Howard, all of whom are at home and are getting their education in the Kipton schools. Mrs, Davidson is a member of the Disciples Church at Kipton. In polities Mr. Davidson has always affiliated with the democratic party.

V. Apair, M.D. It is as a very capable and skillful physician and surgeon that Doctor Adair has contributed his best known and most useful services to the City of Lorain, where he established his home and office after an unusually thorough training for his life vocation.

Meanders. Andrew Ay Davidson

and stock raiser, and the son grew up on a farm, attended country schools, finishing his literary training in the Muskingum College, and soon afterward entering the Starling Medical College at Columbus, where he was graduated with the degree M. D. in 1906. Doctor Adair before coming to Lorain had unusual opportunity for experience by the four years passed as assistant physician in the Massillon State Hospital. From there he came to Lorain, December 1, 1910, and has since enjoyed a very fine practice, and his capabilities were recognized in his appointment in May, 1914, as health officer for the City of Lorain. He is a member of the Lorain County and Ohio State Medical societies and the American Medical Association.

Fraternally Doctor Adair is identified with the Masonic order and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. On October 8. 1913, he married Miss Mabel MacRae of West Bay, Novo Scotia, Canada.

Hon. Larrtes B. Smits. The distinction gained by the late Judge Smith during his long career as a lawyer and man of affairs comprise an important addition to the many worthy associations of the name in Lorain County. His was one of the first families to make permanent homes in this section of Northern Ohio. The year 1914 was the centennial of the Smith family residence in this county, and it is due to the varied achievements of the family during the century as well as to the individual attainments of the late Judge Smith that the following brief history is offered for permanent record.

This branch of the Smiths was long identified with New England and was of Puritan stock. The founder of the name in the wilds of Lorain County was Chiliab Smith, grandfather of the late Judge Smith. He was born in the colony of Connecticut, November 11, 1765, and died in 1840, his boyhood having been spent in the midst of the Revolutionary war. For a number of years his home was in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. where he married Naney Marshall, who was born January 19, 1765, and died December 5, 1824. In 1814. toward the close of the second war with England, they set out with their family for the old Western Reserve of Ohio. Wagons drawn by oxen conveyed them by tedious stages.to the present site of Elyria, and from there they were five days in cutting a road through the heavy forest to their permanent place of settlement, where they arrived October 16, 1814. Their home was included in the territory which in April, 1817, was organized as Amherst Township. The land came into the Smith possession through a trade of eastern property with the Connectieut Land Company. Chiliab Smith was a tailor, and while looking after the work involved in clearing up a new tract of land he also gave his services to such of the pioneer families as required his skill in the cutting and fashioning of the homespun garments then almost universally worn. He was also an exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in the absence of regular preachers or missionaries he held many meetings in his neighborhood and frequently the Smith home was the scene of a gathering for prayer and the reading of the gospel. When old age came upon him, grandfather Smith turned his farm over to his children, who also inherited the good name of one of the finest pioneer characters in Amherst Township. The Smith homestead was located on Little Beaver Creek, four miles west of the present City of Elyria, and the home was also employed for purposes as an inn, and was the first tavern in that locality.

In the next generation was David Smith, who was born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, March 20, 1797, and was a growing youth of seventeen when the family moved to Lorain County. In 1824 he mar- ried Miss Fannie Barnes. She was born in Berkshire County, December 23, 1802. To their union were born nine children, six of whom reached maturity. David Smith was a man who lived at peace with his neighbors and accomplished a great deal in his quiet way. In politics he was a democrat. He died April 30, 1861. His wife survived until August, 1888. She was of the Presbyterian faith, and attended the congregation at Elyria until 1840.

The third in his father's family, Laertes B. Smith was born in Amherst Township of Lorain County, September 21, 1828, and was sixty-nine when he died at Elyria, May 12, 1897. Though a lawyer for many years, his early experiences were all of the farm and mechanical trades. Educated in the common schools of his native township, he left the farm at twenty-one to learn the trade of harness-maker, which he followed for several years as his chief means of livelihood. At twenty-five he accepted employment in a hardware store at LaPorte, Indiana, and lived there about five years. His commercial experience had not entirely satisfied him, and on returning to Lorain County in 1858 he began to prosecute his law studies as vigorously as circumstances would permit. The firm with which he studied was Vincent & Sheldon in Elyria. Admitted to the bar in 1860, he began his practice with the same firm. During the following year Mr. Vincent retired, leaving Sheldon and Smith together, but soon after the outbreak of the war the former went into the army. The next year he formed a partnership with Judge W. W. Boynton, the venerable lawyer and jurist, who remains as one of the oldest figures in the Lorain County bar. They were in practice together about four years.

In June, 1871, Mr. Smith was appointed probate judge of Lorain County to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John W. Steele, and by subsequent elections his services were continued in that capacity until February, 1882, more than eleven years. It was often remarked that the widow and orphan had a firm and just friend as long as Judge Smith was on the probate bench. For the greater part of his remaining years Judge Smith performed the duties of justice of the peace in addition to his private law practice. He was not only well known but had hosts of warm friends throughout the county.

His marriage occurred December 26, 1871. Mrs. Smith, who is still living in Elyria, bore the maiden name of Margaret Smyth. She was formerly from Ontario County, New York. To their marriage were born seven children, four of whom are still hving: Mrs. S. TH. Squire, of Elyria: Mrs. A. B. Taylor, of Elyria; Frank C., who is now city editor of the Elyria Evening Telegram; Mrs. Frank T. Horan, of Elyria. Leroy B. died in 1907 in New Mexico. In polities the late Judge Smith was a democrat until Civil war times, after which he was firmly allied with the republicans.

WesLEY L. GriLts. Another of the native sons of Lorain County who is doing much toward upholding the high standard of the bar of the county and who is one of the representative young members of his profession in the City of Lorain, is he whose name introduces this review and who has here built up an excellent general practice. In numerous litigated cases of important order, in both criminal and civil departments of practice. he has tested and proved his power as a resourceful and efficient trial Jawver. and as a counselor he has shown himself well fortified. He subordinates all other interests to the demands of his profession and continues a close and appreciative student of the involved science of jurisprudence.

Lorain County, Mr. Grills was born on the 6th of February, 1885, a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Grant) Grills, who still maintain their home on the farm and who are well known and highly honored citizens of this section of the state. In the public schools of the City of Elyria Mr. Grills pursued his youthful studies until he had completed the curriculum of the high school, and thereafter he attended the literary department of the great University of Chicago for four years. In preparation for the profession in which he has achieved marked success and prestige, he entered the law department of Western Reserve University, in the City of Cleveland, where he completed the prescribed course and was graduated as a member of the class in 1911, his admission to the bar of his native state being virtually coincident with his reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws.

In June, 1911, he opened an office in the City of Cleveland, Ohio, and there remained until June, 1913, when he opened an office in the City of Lorain, where his ability, close application and personal popularity caused his professional novitiate to be of brief duration, as he soon developed a substantial practice, to which he has since continued to give his close attention, with a clientage of representative order. He is a member of the Lorain County Bar Association, is a republican in his political allegiance, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which he has received the chivalric degrees, a member of Lorain Commandery, Knights Templars. He holds membership also in the local organizations of the Knights of Pythias and other fraternal organizations, and is affiliated with the Phi Alpha Delta college fraternity.

On the 18th of October, 1911, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Grills to Miss Virginia Morehouse, of Elyria, she likewise being a native of Lorain County, where she was reared and educated, and their only child is a winsome little daughter, Ida Virginia.

Rey. Samvent L. Stewart, D. D. On other pages of this work will be found an interesting article on ''Methodism in Elyria,'' the author of which is Dr. Stewart, pastor of the First Methodist Church of Elyria. Dr. Stewart has spent nearly twenty years in the active ministry of the Methodist Church in Ohio, and is well known not only for his power and influence as a preacher, but also as one of the able constructive workers in church development.

Samuel Lemen Stewart was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, November 24, 1870. His father, Robert Stewart, spent his life in Guernsey County as a farmer, and also saw active service during the Civil war in the Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The mother, whose maiden name was Emiline Ferguson, has also been a resident of Guernsey County most of her life.

It was the public schools of Guernsey County that gave Doctor Stewart his early education, and from those he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, where his work gained him several degrees. He was graduated A. B. in 1894, received the Master of Arts degree in 1896, and his alma mater conferred upon him the degree Doctor of Divinity in 1913. In 1896 Doctor Stewart was graduated S. T. B. from the Boston University School of Theology, and immediately after graduation joined the North Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was a member of the North Ohio Conference until it was merged with the East Ohio Conference, making the Northeast Ohio Conference the largest body under conference organization in all Methodism. In the course of his active ministry Doctor Stewart has held pastorates at Chicago Junction, Clyde, and for six years before taking the pastorate of the First Methodist Church of

Elyria in September, 1911, was pastor of the First Methodist Church at Mansfield. While at Mansfield his successful work was signalized by the erection of a church edifice costing $85,000. Doctor Stewart has been an active member of the church since 1882.

On September 2, 1896, at West Lafayette, Ohio, he married Aliss Margaret Rogers, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Rogers, lifelong residents of Coshocton County. Her mother's father was Judge James Burt, one of the early settlers of Coshocton County. Jlrs. Stewart is also descended from Morris Fought, who was a soldier in the American Revolution. To their marriage have been born four children: Ruth Evangeline, Paul Rogers, Mildred Margaret, and James Robert Stewart.

Ropert GEoRGE ANDERSON, M. D. In 1915 Doctor Anderson concluded his twentieth year of consecutive practice as a physician and surgeon at Elyria. There is abundant testimony of his ability and standing as a physician in his large private practice. his influential associations with the local profession, and the general esteem paid him as a man and citizen.

Though Ely.wia has been the scene of all his work and experience as a professional man, Doctor Anderson was born on a farm in the Province of Ontario, Canada, May 25, 1868, and lived in Canada until coming to Elyria. His parents, Archibald and Mary (Burns) Anderson were Protestant people from the north of Ireland, came with their respective families to America, and Archibald Anderson cleared away the forest from a traet of land and developed a good farm home in Ontario. where he lived many years and died at the age of seventy-eight in July. 1895.

It was on this farm that Doctor Anderson spent his boyhood. acquiring the equivalent ef a high school education, and after some varied experience in paying his own way finally entered Trinity Medical College, now the Toronto Medical College, where he was graduated in 1595. A few months later he was in Elyria and began practice on the West Side. For twenty years now he has given his professional service to a widening circle of patrons and -has also been actively identified with The Elyria Memorial Hospital as a member of its medical staff since it was opened. -

Doctor Anderson is a member of The Lorain County Medical Society, The Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and in Masonry is affiliated with King Solomon Lodge No, 56. Free and Accepted Masons, and Marshall Chapter No. 47, Royal Arch Masons. He married Miss Laura E. Ferguson. who was born in Toronto. Canada. Their children are Eva Louise and George Bertram.

Mark A. WHITNEY. Representing one of the oldest and most substantial family names of Pittsfield Township, Mark A, Whitney was for many years a prosperous farmer in that locality of Lorain County. and is now engaged in the grain business at Oberlin.

He was born on a farm in Pittsfield Township November 22. 1869, a son of Mark and Cordelia K. (Gifford) Whitney. The grandfather, Joseph Whitney, was a native of Rutland, Vermont. and about 1836 pioneered into Lorain County and acquired a tract of land in Pittsfield Township. The maternal grandparents were Cornelius and Hannah (Nye) Gifford, the former born at Lee, Massachusetts. and passing away at a great old age November 13, 1900, while his wife was born November 17. 1782. at Columbus. New York. The Gifford family established a home in Lorain County in 1833. Mark Whitney, father of Mark A., was born in Rutland, Vermont, in 1818, and died in 1882. His wife was born in Columbus. New York, April 5, 1825, and «ied March 10, 1916, at the age of ninety vears, eleven months and five days.

Mark and Cordelia Whitney were married in Pittsfield Township April 27, 1848. He had come to Lorain County when eighteen years of age and was a man above the average in education and reading and one of the leading farmers of the township. Though with little capital to start on he acquired a good estate, and built a fine brick residence which at the time was one of the best in Pittsfield Township. He spent his last vears in Oberlin.

Mark A. Whitney was the fifth in a family of six children. He acquired his early education in the schools of Oberlin, also took a business course there, and made farming the first object of his effective endeavors. He prosecuted his industry in that line until 1905, when he moved to Oberlin, having sold his farm, and has since enjoyed the comforts of a good home in the college city. For two years he was in the carriage and implement business with O. E. Peabody. Since April, 1911. he has been associated with Mr. C. W. Ward in the grain business and they have one of the principal establishments in that line in this part of Lorain County.

In October. 1893, Mr. Whitney married Miss Lula Avery, daughter of William Avery. a well known Lorain County citizen who was born 'in Pittsfield Township where his father, Carlos Avery, was one of the first settlers. Mr. and Mrs. Whitney have one adopted child, Alice Mills. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge, the Royal Arch Chapter and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. As a republican he served for a number of vears as clerk of his home township.

WiLLiim ANDREW Hiscox. To his present duties as county superintendent of Lorain County's schools, Mr. Hiscox has brought a broad range of experience as a capable educator, and from the time he taught his first country school near Lisbon, Ohio, has lived in almost constant association with his duties as a school man.

Born at Lisbon, Ohio, he is the son of Joseph and Rose Anna (Fife) Hiscox. both of whom are now deceased. His father was born at Bradford-on-the-Avon in England, the son of John Hiscox, who brought the family to America and settled at Lisbon, Ohio, when Joseph was three vears of age. Grandfather Hiscox died at Lisbon, and his wife at Hicksville. Ohio. Grandfather Hiscox was a weaver in England, but after coming to Ohio settled on a farm, did a great deal of the pioneer work of clearing and lived there the rest of his days. Mr. Hiscox's mother was born at Lisbon, her parents having come from Germany when young and married in Ohio and spent most of their lives around Lisbon. Joseph Hiscox likewise spent his active career as a farmer at Lisbon, and died there March 12, 1906, being survived by his wife until April 6, 1915.

W. A. Hiscox spent his early life on a farm, learned its duties and shared in its toils, and laid the foundation of his education in the common schools of Lisbon. His higher education was acquired in the Northeastern Ohio Normal, from which he was graduated Bachelor of Science in the class of 1892, and in 1910 he was given the degree Master of Science by Baldwin University. His first work as a teacher was done in Center Township near Lisbon, where he taught about four years. Of his more important service in administrative positions, Mr. Hiscox was superintendent of schools at Washingtonville, Ohio, six years; at Grafton, Ohio, six years; at LaGrange, Ohio, two years; at Waterford, Pennsylvania, four years; and at New Cumberland, West Virginia, two years. He also taught in the Wooster University Summer School for nine summers.

schools in Lorain County, and on June 1, 1915, was re-elected for a term of two years. He is a hard working and enthusiastic educator, and has done much to increase the efficiency of both the personnel and of the organization of the local schools under his supervision.

While not a farmer in the practical sense, Mr. Hiscox owns a place of fifty acres near Lisbon in Columbiana County. He is a republican, and fraternally is affiliated with the lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Washingtonville, in which he is a past grand, aiid is a member of Lodge No. 399, Free & Accepted Masons, at LaGrange, Ohio. At Elyria he belongs to The Elyria Chamber of Commerce and is active in the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church of that city. '

At his old home Town of Lisbon November 24, 1892, Mr. Hiscox married Miss Ella S. Lindesmith, daughter of Jacob and Nancy Lindesmith, who were old settlers of Columbiana County. Her father died there in August, 1892, and her mother now lives at Malvern. Ohio. Mrs. Hiscox was educated in the rural schools of Columbiana County. To their marriage have been born three children: Ethel May Hiscox was graduated from the New Cumberland High School in West Virginia in 1915, taught the following year in the fourth grade at Weirton, West Virginia, and then entered Oberlin College, where she completed her freshman year in 1915. Harold W. Hiscox, the second child, is now a junior in the Elyria High School, while Norman L., the voungest, is in the seventh grade of the public schools. The daughter was born at Washingtonville, Ohio, while the sons are natives of Grafton, Ohio.

EvisHa M. Pierce. One of the men most prominent in making Lorain an industrial center is Elisha M. Pierce, whose influence can be traced through the principal financial, manufacturing and other business concerns that have their headquarters in that city. He is president of the Lorain Casting Company and is treasurer of the Thew Automatic Shovel Company, these being perhaps the two largest plants at Lorain. except the National Tube Works. Some facts regarding the Thew Automatic Shovel Company will be found on other pages. The Lorain Casting Company was organized in November, 1906, with a capital of $100,000. Its first officers were: Elisha M. Pierce, president; Richard Thew, vice president; F. A. Smythe, secretary. During the first vear about fifteen men were employed in the firm, while now the average payroll includes about fifty. The present officers are Mr. Pierce, president and treasurer ; and Richard Thew vice president and secretary. The company has an average output of about 175 tons of castings each month. The main building plant is 110x130 feet; pattern house, 40x90: feet : storage house 20x24 feet; and the office building a two story structure 25x25 feet.

Elisha M. Pierce was born at York, Medina County. Ohio, June 26, 1845. His parents were Thompson and Harriet (Little) Pierce, both of whom were born at Peru, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Grandfather Levi Pierce brought his family to the Western Reserve of Ohio in 1836, locating in Medina County. The maternal grandfather was Samuel Little, who came to Medina County about the same time.

Educated in the schools of Medina County and at Oberlin College, Elisha M. Pierce began his career as a telegraph operator at his native town of York. He next became station agent for the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling Railroad Company at Uhrichsville, but in the spring of 1880 came to Lorain to take charge of the Tuscarawas Valley Coal Company. In 1882, resuming railroad work, he took charge of the terminals of the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling. and only resigned that important responsibility in 1907.

institutions in Lorain. He assisted in organizing the Lorain Savings & Banking Company, of which he was president until 1905, when it was succeeded by the Lorain Banking Company, of which he was secretary and treasurer. In 1908 he became secretary and treasurer of the Thew Automatic Shovel Company. He helped promote the Black River Telephone Company and became president of the company on its organization and still holds that office. From 1887 he was agent for the trustee of the Black River Land Company. On the organization of the Lorain Chamber of Commerce, now known as the Board of Commerce, he became its president, and has also served as president of the Lorain Library Association, as president of the Young Men's Christian Association, was for six years president of the Lorain School Board and for eight years a member of the city council and also president of that body for a time. Considering these various activities and relationships, there is no question that his public spirited influence has been one of the large factors in making the town. By his marriage to Almira Penfield, who died in 1887, he has two daughters: Marian F. is the wife of Thomas M. Duncan, postmaster of Bridgeport, Belmont County, Ohio, and they have one child, Mary Margaret. Inez J., at home, is a graduate of Lake Erie College and has for the past eight years been connected with the work of the Cleveland Day Nursery and Free Kindergarten Association. The second wife of Mr. Pierce was Mary Penfield, a sister of Almira. She died January 7, 1916. Both were daughters of Samuel Penfield, who was born in New York State and came as a boy to Lorain County, the Penfields having been the first settlers in Penfield Township, Lorain County, the town taking its name from that family. A local publication in writing of the death of Mrs. Pierce paid the following tribute:

''Mrs. Mary Penfield Pierce, wife of E. M. Pierce, secretary and treasurer of the Thew Automatic Shovel Co., and one of Lorain's best known women, died at 2 o'clock this afternoon at her home, 103 Arkansas Avenue.

''Death came after an illness of a few days. She was seized with an attack of pneumonia Saturday. Weakened heart action aided the disease in ending her earthly existence.

, ''Probably no other woman in Lorain carried on greater work of a charitable nature than Mrs. Pierce. Her charity to a large extent was accomplished quietly and without the knowledge of even her most intimate acquaintances. In addition she was prominently identified with the Lorain Associated Charities and its work.

'* As a member of the First Congregational church Mrs. Pierce participated prominently in the religious life of the city. She was first vice president of the Congregational Women's Association, taught a class in the Sunday school for many years and was otherwise identified with the work of the church.

"Tn club life of the city Mrs. Pierce was equally as prominent. She was a charter member of the Wimodaughsis club. On the 20th anniversary of the club to be celebrated next April she was the scheduled hostess. Her club affiliations also included the Round Table and Colonial clubs.

''Mrs. Pierce was a native of Lorain county, having been born in Oberlin 67 years ago. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Penfield, were pioneers of the county. Early in her womanhood she taught school in the southern part of the county. In 1889 she was united in marriage to Mr. Pierce. She had been a resident of Lorain since 1880.

''The surviving members of the family include her husband. E. M. Pierce, two daughters, Mrs. T. M. Duncan, of Bridgeport, O., and Miss Inez J. Pierce, of Lorain, a sister, Mrs. M. W. Smith, of Shelby, Mich., and a granddaughter, Miss Duncan, of Bridgeport.''

James B. SEwarp, What The Savings Deposit Bank & Trust Company of Elyria represents as one of the chief financial organizations of Lorain County is made a matter of comment for other pages. Its officers and directors probably constitute the most influential group of business men in the entire county, and among those that could be singled out for individual personal mention is the cashier. James B. Seward, who has been identified with the institution nearly fifteen vears, and is now its trusted and eflicient cashier.

Born at Elyria December 23, 1869, Mr. Seward is a son of Thomas and Esther (Colgan) Seward, who, as old settlers of Elyria, are further mentioned on other pages of this publication in the biography of D. W. Seward. James B. Seward grew up at Elyria, attended the parochial and public schools, and after considerable experience and training in various commercial lines established his first independent venture in the grocery and provision trade under the name of Seward & Goldberg. This firm was located on West Broad Street for about seven years. On March 19, 1901. Mr. Seward entered The Savings Deposit Bank & Trust Company. and soon made his ability appreciated and recognized in that institution. On January 1, 1914. he was made cashier, and now has a very important share in handling the large business of that bank.

Politically Mr. Seward is a democrat, is a member of The Elyria Chamber of Commerce, is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, and his church home is St. Mary's Cathole. On October 2, 1900, at Elyria, he married Miss Mary Helen Farrell. daughter of the late M. J. Farrell, who was a pioneer hotel man at Elyria. Mrs. Seward is an accomplished musician. and is well known both in musical and social circles in Elyria. They are the parents of four children, Mary, Frank, Edward J. and Catherine Seward.

Tuomas JAMES Hume. Among the followers of any of the leading trades, no better recommendation may be secured than employment by a reliable firm and the possession of the trust and confidence of their employers. Since May. 1914. Thomas James Hume has been identified with the well known contracting firm of L. A. Burgett & Company, at Lorain. where through ability and fidelity he has won standing for himself as a master workman and as a young man of ability and enterprise who will accomplish much in the line of his chosen calling.

Mr. Hume was born at Cuylerville, Livingston County, New York, April 26. 1886. and is a son of James and Bridget (MeKinnon) Hume. His parents, lifelong residents of that county. were farming people and Thomas -J. was reared in an agricultural atmosphere, his education being secured in the publie schools. As a vouth he displayed a mechanical bent. preferring work with tools to the tilling of the soil, and accordingly he was placed with a carpenter to learn the trade, which he mastered thoroughly and in a due length of time began to work as a journeyman carpenter. Subsequently he spent some years in the East. but in May, 1914. came to Lorain, Ohio, where he secured a position with the firm of L. A. Burgett & Company. one of the leading contracting concerns in this part of Ohio. During his connection with this company, Mr. Hume has been engaged in work on some of the leading structures erected at Lorain. particularly school buildings, in the erection of which the firm specializes. In this connection he was one of the force which built the new Lorain High Sehool, in 1915, a $275,000 edifice which is one of the finest of its kind in the state. Mr. Hume is a voung man of energy and industry. of pleasing address and courteous manner. and since his arrival at Lorain has succeeded in attracting to himself a large nunhber of friends,

My. Hume was married first to Miss Florence Burroughs, who died leaving one child - Elmer Thomas, who was born April 8, 1912. On June 2, 1915, Mr. Hume was again married, being united with Miss Blondena U. Burgett, of Lorain, daughter of L. A. and Josephine B. (Miller) Burgett. Mr. Burgett is one of the leading contractors and builders of Lorain County, and president of the firm of L. A. Burgett & ey Mr. and Mrs. Hume are members of Saint Mary's Catholic

C. W. Warp. Of the business firms now in active service at Oberlin, one of the best known is that of Ward & Whitney, grain merchants and elevator men. The senior member of this firm, C. W. Ward, was originally a farmer, comes of one of the old families of Pittsfield Township, but for the past ten years has been very prosperously engaged in the grain business and is one of the leading citizens of Oberlin.

He was born in Pittsfield Township of Lorain County June 28, 1866, a son- of William F. and Susan M. (Graves) Ward. The Ward family was established in Lorain County more than eighty years ago when Grandfather James R. Ward, a native of Vermont, moved to Ohio and bought a farm in Pittsfield Township, on which he spent the rest of his days. He was a real pioneer, had the virtues of the typical New Englander, and was one of the men who helped to develop Lorain County during its formative period. Mr. Ward's maternal grandfather, Lynam Graves, a native of New York State, moved in pioneer times to Bath, Ohio, later to Royalton, and finally to LaGrange in Lorain County, where he died. -William F. Ward was born in Rutland, Vermont, April 15, 1828, and was still a lad when he was brought to Ohio. He grew up and received his education in Pittsfield Township, and spent all his active career as a farmer until about twenty years before his death, after which he lived somewhat retired in Oberlin. His death occurred August 14, 1911. In 1861 at Sullivan, Ohio, he married Miss Graves, who was born at Bath, Ohio, October 11, 1836, and died February 25, 1905. William F. Ward was a democrat in politics and was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his wife are the parents of five children: Frank D., a dealer of horses at Goshen, New York: C. W. Ward; Edith M., wife of Albert Chadwick, of Watertown, New York: Mary E., wife of George Winnie, a machinist at Rochester, New York; and Flora M., wife of Herbert B. Hineline, a machinist at Toledo.

Mr. C. W. Ward spent his early days on a farm in Pittsfield Township. and acquired a common school education. When he started out in life it was with practically no capital and he worked at farm labor and in other ways until he could get a start. He remained a practical farmer in Lorain County until 1905, in which year he established himself in the grain trade at Oberlin. He now handles a large business in grain, hay and feed and is associated with Mr. M. A. Whitney under the firm stvle of Ward & Whitney.

' On January 14, 1903, Mr. Ward married Frances Whitney, daughter of Silas Whitney. and a member of one of the oldest families of Lorain County. Her father was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and. was brought to Pittsfield Township in Lorain County in 1834. _The father of Silas Whitney acquired a tract of 1,600 acres of land in Pittsfield Township, all in one body, and of this he gave 100 acres to Thomas Wait for assisting him in making the settlement and clearing the land. Grandfather Whitney was one of the first settlers in Pittsfield Township. and both he and his son, Silas, spent the rest of their days there. Silas Whitney was the owner of a farm of 201 acres and was quite prominent during his lifetime, both as a farmer and as a public spirited citizen. For years he held the office of justice of the peace, was township - trustee, and used his means and encouraged wherever possible substantial improvements. '

Mr. and Mrs. Ward are members of the Pittsfield Congregational Church, and he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In polities he is a democrat.

SaMuEL B. Rawson. Judged by the fruits of his career, the late Samuel Bela Rawson of Elyria was one of the prominent constructive Americans of the past century, and his reputation in business affairs was by no means confined to one locality, though his home from birth to death was in Lorain County. By exercise of his native qualities of unusual activity and earnest endeavor, he rose unaided to a foremost place in the telephone business of the United States.

Born in Elyria October 19, 1848, almost sixty years later he died at his home in the same city April 9, 1908. His earliest American ancestor was one of the grantees of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and served as second town clerk and registrar of Boston. Bela Rawson and Harriet Nichols, the parents of the late Samuel B. Rawson, were born within eight miles of each other near Watertown, New York, but first formed their acquaintance in Lorain County. Bela Rawson was a successful farmer-for many years in Pittsfield Township, and of his seven children the late Samuel B., the second in age, was the first to die. The oldest son, Arthur B., died at Elyria in December, 1909. The other children were: Bird, Ora, Mrs. Frankie Bath, Mrs. Alice Root. and Mrs. Ella Gleason.

About 1854 the Rawson family moved to Pittsfield Township, and Samuel B. Rawson, who was then six years of age, grew up in a rural environment. At the age of fourteen he left the public schools to begin the study of medicine. The death of his preceptor changed his plans, and fortunately for him, since his inclinations and talents were for practical and mechanical affairs. He learned the tinner's trade. and almost by nature could be considered an inventor. He combined the genius of the inventor with the care and expertness of the trained mechanic, and also with the broad judgment and executive ability of one who developed important enterprises. At the age of nineteen he returned to Elyria, and lived in that city more than forty years. For a time he was a nickler in the Garford works, and at one time conducted a large laundry.

However, it was in the telephone field that he chiefly distinguished himself. He made some improvements of a practical nature on the telephone apparatus, took out patents and, securing capital, organized the Rawson Manufacturing Company, which started in a small way to manufacture telephones that represented the Rawson patent and ideas. In order to secure a market for his goods Mr. Rawson branched out in the organization of independent telephone companies, and that subsequently became his chief scope of activities. Out of the original business which he established at Elyria grew the Dean Electric Company of Elyria, which took its name from W. W. Dean, a prominent capitalist ef Chicago, but in which Mr. Rawson was president. He was also president of the Rawson Electric Company, the American Construction & Trading Company of Elyria and the Independent Union Telephone Company, which a few years ago transferred its business from Elyria to Albany, New York. Mr. Rawson was also a director in a number of independent telephone companies in New York State, including the following: Niagara County Home Telephone Company: Interstate

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Telephone Company of Little Falls; Seneca County Home Telephone Company ; Schenectady Home Telephone Company; Albany: Home Telephone Company; Cohoes-Waterford Home Telephone Company at Cohoes; Watervliet-Green Island Home Telephone Company of Watervliet, New York; West Shore Home Telephone Company at Catskill; and Citizens Standard Telephone Company at Kingston.

The memory with which Mr. Rawson's name will always be cherished in Elyria was due not only to his large business accomplishment but also to his spirit of public enterprise and his work and support in the foundation of worthy charity. He took a very deep interest in the establishment of the Memorial Hospital at Elyria, was one of the projectors of the institution, and selected the splendid site which the hospital occupies. He was one of the incorporators and was chairman of its building committee at the time of his death. He contributed liberally to churches and other local institutions, belonged to the Men's Club of the Congregational Church and was active in fraternal affairs. He was affiliated with King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons; was a charter member of Elyria Commandery No. 60, Knights Templar; was a charter member of Elyria Lodge No. 456, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and a past exalted ruler; and also a member of Elyria Chapter No. 165, Order of Eastern Star.

In 1870 Mr. Rawson married Miss Mary A. Roe, daughter of William Roe of Elyria. Her death occured a few months after their marriage. In June, 1872, he married Miss Faustina Biggers. Mrs. Rawson, who for a number of years has been one of the social leaders of Elyria, was born at Fairview, Pennsylvania, daughter of William and Helen M. (Payson) Biggers, and a granddaughter of Samuel and Betsey (Colt) Biggers. Mrs. Rawson has one daughter, Helen Doris, who on December 23, 1914, married Mr. Paul H. White of Cleveland.

During the life of her husband Mrs. Rawson made her home a center for the cultured hospitality of Elyria. In recent years she has given her attention to many charitable and -social organizations, and has a breadth of sympathy as large as the world itself. She was one of the seven incorporators of the Old Ladies' Home at Elyria, and for several years a trustee. She has-been a member of the auxiliary board of the Memorial Hospital since its organization, and a few years ago furnished a room at the hospital in memory of Mr. Rawson. She is a member of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. Perhaps she is best known over the country at large for her work in women's organizations of a fraternal nature. In the Eastern Star she was secretary three years, worthy matron three years, Electa two years of the Elyria chapter, was Grand Martha of the Grand Chapter of the State of Ohio in 1904, and represented the State of Wyoming until 1912 and prior to that had represented the State of Minnesota. She has been identified with the Woman's Relief Corps many years, has been president of the Twelfth District of that organization three years, and in 1915 was the national delegate representing that district of four counties in Northern Ohio at the general convention in Washington. She was also national delegate at Cincinnati in 1899. At the present time Mrs. Rawson is the oldest member in point of years of association in the Daughters of Rebekah, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in Lorain County. She is also a member of Palestine Shrine No. 2, the White Shrine of Jerusalem, at Cleveland, an organization affiliated with the Eastern Star. She has attained some of the highest posts in the Ladies of the Maccabees of the World, and at the fourth biennial review of that organization, held at Port Huron, Michigan, July 16-19, 1901, she was one of the five representatives selected in the State of Ohio and was appointed and sent as supreme representative of the Supreme Hive, chosen in place of Mrs. Emma $8. Olds, the great commander, who had only recently left the hospital after a serious illness and was unable to perform her official duties. Thus many honors have been bestowed upon this Elyria woman, and they have always come unsolicited. Mrs. Rawson has well been characterized as a woman of sweet dignity and broad charity, and enjoys the love and esteem of an entire community.

E. E. Sperry. One of the most progressive citizens of Oberlin, where for the past fifteen years he has handled a large amount of the local grocery trade, Mr. Sperry has been a strenuous worker since early youth, having started out on his own account without capital and relying upon industry and efficiency to advance him in the world, and as a result of his efforts in the past he is now able to take life somewhat leisurely. -

Born in Chautauqua County, New York, April 29, 1861, he is a son of Roland and Mary (Cowles) Sperry. Both parents were natives of New York State, and the grandfather, Merritt Sperry. was an early settler in Herkimer County, New York, and a well-to-do farmer there. His parents came from Connecticut to New York and practically all the Sperrys in America are descended from one or other of three brothers who came from England to the United States early in 1600. Mr. Sperry's maternal grandfather, Darius Cowles, spent all his life in New York State as a farmer. Roland Sperry was born in 1833 and died in 1910. and in 1858 married Miss Cowles, who was born in 1837 and is still living. Roland Sperry was an active farmer, spent most of his career in New York, but in 1901 moved to Oberlin and lived retired until his death. E. E. Sperry has one brother, Merritt D., who is also in the erocery business at Oberlin. Their mother is a member of the Baptist Church and their father was an active prohibitionist.

E. E. Sperry received his early education in Chautauqua County. attended the high school at Panama, New York, where he was graduated in 1879, and soon afterwards took up telegraphy as a profession and for fully twenty years was an operator, largely in the western states. In 1886 he moved out to the vicinity of Kansas City and followed his work with several different lines of railway and in several western states. On coming to Oberlin in 1901 he established himself in the erocery business. and has since had an ample share in the rewards paid to local merchants. During the last session of the State Senate of Ohio Mr. Sperry served as postmaster.

In 1890 he married Miss Martha Hilbert. who was born in Eastern Pennsylvania. Their three children are: Walter, now a junior in Oberlin College: Mary. in the freshman year at Oberlin; and Charles. attending the grade schools. Mrs. Sperry is a member of the Baptist Chureh. He is a republican in politics. has served as a member of the hoard of elections. as clerk of the school hoard. and never fails to take a progressive part in all local affairs. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order and with the lodge of Elks at Elyria.

CLemMon H. Snow. Through practically all his life Mr. Snow has heen a resident of Lorain County. His record shows that he has heen a citizen of varied usefulness, and altogether a vigorous and independent man though working with and for the best interests of community life. He has had the courage of his convictions, and has had the rare fortune to keep an unbiased mind and judgment while effectively identifying himself with those departments of life which require co-operation

His birth occurred September 22, 1848, in the southeastern corner of 'Avon Township of Lorain County. His birthplace was a log house on the east side of what is now known as the Snow Road. His parents were Edwin Snow and Julia Lewis. This is one of the oldest families in Northeastern Ohio, and the immediate ancestry is also directly related with some of the earliest American settlers. The Snows came to America from England prior to 1640, settling in Massachusetts. Franklin Snow, father of Edwin, emigrated from Beckett in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, to Portage County, Ohio, about 1806 or 1807. That was several years before the second war with Great Britain, and only a few years after Ohio became a state. Edwin Snow was born in Ohio in 1809. His wife, Julia Lewis, was born near Warsaw in Wyoming County, New York, April 7, 1818, and died April 5, 1905, at a very venerable age. The Lewis ancestors came to America in the year 1632. The famous explorer Lewis of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, which was sent out by President Jefferson to explore the upper valleys of the Missouri River in the Louisiana Purchase, was a near relative to Julia Lewis' ancestors. She was one of a family of ten children, and all of them reached advanced years.

The earliest recollections of Clemon H. Snow are identified with that splendid agricultural and civic community known as Avon Township. He attended both the common and high schools of that township, spent two terms in the Elyria public schools, and for about six terms was a student in Oberlin College. However, he did not pursue his college course to graduation. He early showed a proficiency in mathematics and in the exact sciences, and in 1872, when a young man of twentyfour, secured a position as assistant to J. M. Ackley, who was then county surveyor of Cuyahoga County. He continued with him during the seasons of 1872 and 1874. Then followed a period of about ten years during which his chief vocation was farming, though he was employed frequently making surveys and in general civil engineering work.

Mr. Snow's chief public service, by which he will be best remembered in Lorain County, was his long record as county surveyor and city engineer of Elyria. In June, 1886, he was appointed county surveyor to fill the vacancy caused by 'the resignation of E. C. Kinney, and in November of the same year he was elected to the office for a three-year term beginning in January, 1887. -In November, 1889, he was re-elected to the same office, to which he gave six years and six months. While serving as county surveyor he was appointed in 1887 city engineer of Elyria, and for a number of years carried on both offices. In January, 1893, his last term as county surveyor terminated, though he continued in the service of the county for about a year longer. During the next ten years he was kept in the office of city engineer, and his service in that position covered a period of sixteen years. Practically all the important improvements in Elyria up to the year 1903 were planned and carried out by Mr. Snow. In addition to his long-continued service in these two offices he also served as a member of the Board of Education of Elyria.

"It is noteworthy that throughout his entire career Mr. Snow has been an independent in politics, and held that attitude at a time when party loyalty and regularity were much more strongly insisted upon than at present. He has at the same time affiliated with the republican party, but has not considered himself bound to its policies, and has never been in sympathy with its tariff principles. In 1912 he gave his vote to Woodrow Wilson for president. Mr. Snow is essentially a "'peace'' man and not only in recent years but has always shown an implacable hatred of anything and everything pertaining to war. He belongs to no secret society, but is a member of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, and for forty years has been identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church.

In his native locality of Avon Township on May 24, 1880, he married Miss Mary M. Sweet. Her father was Calvin Sweet, whose father in turn was one of the first settlers in Avon, having located there in the year 1817. As the history of that community shows, most of the prominent early pioneers came just about that time, and the permanence of the Sweet family is indicated by the fact that some of the land which the pioneer acquired nearly a century ago is still in the possession of his descendants. To Mr. and Mrs. Snow were born two children: Franklin Chadwick Snow, born December 26, 1882, has for the past seven years been professor of civil engineering in the Montana State College, and in December, 1906, married Lorena Gilbert. Bricena A. Snow, the only daughter, was born March 16, 1891, is a graduate of the Elyria High School, and is an accomplished musician; she is still living with her parents at their home in Elyria.

Frep J. PENNEY. For many years the name Penney has been familiarly known in business circles at Lorain, and has been chiefly identified with the coal and builders' supply trade. Fred J. Penny now has extensive yards and a large amount of capital invested in coal and other necessary commodities, with plant and yards at 1463 Broadway. IIe is one of the younger and very enterprising business men of Lorain County.

Born at Port Huron, Michigan, June 23, 1875, he is a son of Daniel J. and Catherine (McDonald) Penney, who moved from Michigan to Lorain. Ohio, in the fall of 1891. Daniel Penney was for many vears engaged in the coal and building supply business at Lorain and his son Fred grew up in the business, and is now sole proprietor, the concern having been conducted under his individual name as F. J. Penney since July, 1915, he having then bought out the interests of R. J. Mills. He was formerly a member of the firm of Penney & Smith, a coal and supply company, and operated in that line for several years.

Mr. Penney is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Fraternal Order of Eagles and is a member of Pioneer Tent No. 1072. Knights of the Maccabees. On April 30, 1915, he married Miss Martha Wenger of Lorain.

DanieL West HyLanp. Not many men now past seventy in Lorain County have filled their years with more activities than Daniel W. Hyland. who has earned the right to retire and enjoy life at leisure. During his active career his name was chiefly identified with the coal and ice trade in Elyria. Outside of his honorable business and civie record, he is especially distinguished by his service in the Civil war, where he fought in a seore of the battles familiar to every schoolboy and did more arduous duty than many who came out with officer's straps upon their shoulders,

While his home has been in the United States as long as he can remember. he was born in England, at a place about sixty miles below London, on October 18, 1842. His parents, Thomas and Martha (West) Hylaid, about six months after his birth, set out for the new world, and on a sailing vessel that was six weeks between ports arrived in Canada in April, 1543. From Quebec they went to Port Stanley, and after six years in Canada came to Lorain County. The father bought a farm of 120 acres in Carlisle Township, but had not long to cultivate it or enjoy its fruits. He bought in April and died the following September 29,

1849. His widow subsequently married John Lees, another farmer in Carlisle, and she survived him many years, passing away at the home of her youngest daughter in Eaton on November 11, 1906, aged ninety-four years six days. There were eight children in the Hyland family, two sons and six daughters. Two died in infancy in England, five came to the United States, and one died in Canada. Only the two youngest are now living, Daniel W. and his sister Sarah, the wife of Jacob Jonas, who lives on the farm in Eaton Township. The little family party that emigrated from England to Canada also included the grandfather and grandmother Hyland, and they also came to Lorain County. The grandfather died in an old brick house which stood where the Second Congregational Church is now in Elyria. The grandmother died just after Daniel Hyland went away to the army. The grandfather's name was also Thomas.

Daniel W. Hyland was about old enough to attend school when he came to Lorain County, and his education came from the district schools of Carlisle and Amherst. Up to the age of sixteen his working experience was with farming, but he then learned the trade of harness making and carriage trimming in Amherst, and earned his living at it three vears before going to the war.

It was a full three years' service that he gave to the Union in the dark days of the Civil war. August 6, 1862, he enlisted at Amherst, and was mustered in as private at Camp Mitchell, Kentucky, in Company F of the One Hundred and Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry under Capt. P. C. Hayes and Col. J. S. Casement. The regiment was attached to the Second Brigade, Third Division, Twenty-third Army Corps. His record of service included the following engagements and campaigns: Monticello, Kentucky, May 1, 1863; Carter's Depot, Tennessee, September 20-21, 1863; Jonesboro, September 21; siege of Knoxville, November 17 to December 5, 1863; Dandridge, January 6 to 17, 1864; Dalton, Georgia. May 8 to 13, 1864; Resaca, in May; promoted to corporal May 4th; at Cartersville, Georgia, May 20th; battles about Dallas, New Church and Altoona Pass, May 25 to June 5, 1864; near Marietta, June 1 to 19; Kenesaw Mountain, June 10 to July 2; Lookout Mountain, June 15 to 17; Muddy Creek, June 17; Noyes Creek, June 19; Kenesaw Mountain, June 27; Nickajack Creek, July 2 to 5; Chattahoochee River, July 5 to 17, and his was the first regiment to cross; Decatur, July 18- 19; siege of Atlanta, July 22 to September 2; Lovejoy Station, September 26; Columbia Ridge, November 24-27; Franklin, Tennessee, November 30; Nashville, December 15-16; Sugar Loaf Battery, North Carolina, February 11, 1865; Fort Anderson, February 18-19; Wilmington, February 22; Johnston's surrender, April 26, 1865. Thus he was in practically all the campaigns which drove the Confederate forces out of Kentucky and Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas. On June 12, 1865, he received his honorable discharge at Raleigh, North Carolina.

Onee more at home a private citizen, he worked two years in a harness shop at South Amherst, and for four years was engaged in farming in Ionia County, Michigan. On his return in 1872 he was with the grocery department of the Starr Brothers establishment in Elyria until March, 1873, when the Heman Ely Block burned. The site of that old building is now covered by the Commercial Block. For a time, including the vear made notable by the women's crusade, he and Orin Dole were in the soft drink business under the name of Dole & Hyland, but on selling his interest Mr. Hyland spent a year and a half in Cleveland with the wholesale drygoods house of Alcott & Horton. The next year he conducted the grain elevator at Elyria for Clark & Sampsell, and from that graduated into the coal and ice business, which, together with the handling of general supplies, formed his chief commercial interests for the next thirty years or more. With Mr. Dole he organized what was known as the Elyria Coal & Ice Company. After three years Mr. Dole sold out, and D. M. Clark came into the organization for three years, at the end of which time Mr. Hyland sold to Clark and then became connected with the City Fuel & Ice Company along with Ed Carter. A number of years later he bought out Carter and sold a half interest to John Murbach. With Mr. Murbach he was associated for the long period of seventeen years in conducting the Elyria Coal & Ice Company.

Mr. Hyland has a most successful record in business affairs at Elyria. For the last ten years he has been retired from more active responsibilities, though he employs his capital in the buying and selling of farms and city property, and has handled no small amount of real estate in his time. His own substantial home on Sixth Street he built about twenty-seven years ago. He is also vice president of the Hygienie Ice Company, and is one of the original stockholders in the Lorain County Banking Company.

He has always maintained kindly and helpful associations with old army comrades, and in the Elijah Hayden Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Elyria, is now post commander and has filled that office several times before. While a republican, he has never sought an office. Besides owning city property in Elyria, he has some interests in lands in Ionia County, Michigan. His name has been on the rolls of membership in the Elyria Chamber of Commerce since it was organized.

On May 7, 1866, a few months after his return from the army he married Miss Sade Shephard of Elyria. Her death occurred in May, 1867. On December 28, 1872, he married Miss Lena E. Howe at Grand Rapids, Michigan, which was her home. After more than forty years of wedded companionship. she passed away February 20, 1913.

FRANK A. SANFORD. For more than a score of vears Frank Allen Sanford has maintained his residence in the City of Lorain and as a vigorous, alert and progressive business man of the younger generation in Lorain County he has proved effectually his administrative and constructive power, especially through his active association with the syndieate that succeeded to the ownership and control of much of the valuable property and business of the Sheffield Land & Improvement Company when the affairs of this important corporation were placed in the hands of a receiver. Through his connection with the extensive activities initiated by this company Mr. Sanford has become very prominently identified with the civic and material advancement and development of Lorain, and is to be designated as one of the representative men of affairs in this city.

The Sheffield Land & Improvement Company was organized in 1894 and was incorporated with the gigantic capital of $1.000.000. The company purchased 4,400 acres of land in Lorain County. and initiated the development and upbuilding of South Lorain, as a virtual extension of the City of Lorain. It platted a large district into city lots. improved streets and established proper water and sewer systems. as well as installing effective street car service. The company erected in this section of the county 800 houses and loaned money for the construction of 200 additional houses. The best type of street paving and sidewalks marked the development of the new district, and the company achieved a splendid work in furthering the material and industrial progress of Lorain, though its affairs finally became involved and necessitated a receivership.

Mr. Sanford associated himself with the real estate department of the Sheffield Land & Improvement Company in 1900, in the capacity of salesman, and when the business of the corporation was placed in the hands of a receiver Mr. Sanford became an interested principal in a syndicate that purchased a large part of the company's property, so that the new organization practically succeeded to the control of the property and business of the original company, and Mr. Sanford is one of the representative factors in the handling of the extensive affairs of the syndicate, his association with which has brought to him large success and distinctive precedence in connection with broader business activities in his home city and county, where he has secure place in popular confidence and good will.

Frank Sanford was born in Lewis County, West Virginia, on the 23d of June, 1875, and is a son of Rev. James L. and Lillie (Simpson) Sanford, his father being a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church and having also achieved success as a merchant in Lorain, Ohio, where he established his residence in 1895 and where he and his wife still maintain their home.

To the public schools of West Virginia and Ohio Frank A. Sanford is indebted for his early education, which was effectively supplemented by a course of high study in the Ohio Wesleyan University, in the City of Delaware. He left this institution in his senior year and then became associated with his father in the mercantile business at Lorain, where he soon made an excellent record as a reliable and progressive young business man. In 1900 he identified himself with the Sheffield Land & Improvement Company, as previously noted, and this context has already given adequate record concerning his activities since that time.

Mr. Sanford is distinctively popular in business and social cireles in Lorain County, is a member of the Elyria Country Club. at the county seat, and is affiliated with the Lorain lodges of the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

On November 9, 1912, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Sanford to Miss Bess Whitmore, of Lorain, she being a daughter of Frederick C. Whitmore, who is now manager for a machine company in the city of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Sanford have one child, Betty Jean.

JOHN JOSEPH SMYTHE. One of the youngest members of the Lorain County bar, Mr. Smythe is a lawyer with a promising practice, and has already obtained some distinctions which furnish indications of a useful and honored career. He is a member of the firm of Baird & Smythe, with offices both in Elyria and Amherst.

John Joseph Smythe was born at Dennison, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, December 12, 1889, a son of Joseph Weaver and Elizabeth Smythe. His 'father, who is of English descent, is a railroad engineer in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The mother is of French-Canadian birth and parentage, and when a child came from (Juebec to Pennsylvania.

John J. Smythe graduated from the Dennison public schools in 1908. His parents were not wealthy people, and while they contributed all they could to further the ambitions of the young man, he early became dependent upon his own resources and by his own work paid practically all his way through college. In the year of his graduation from the public schools he entered the Ohio State University in the College of Arts, and in the following year entered the College of Law, from which he was graduated LL. B. in 1912. While in university he was much interested in athletics and was captain of the university baseball team

After graduating from law school Mr. Smythe worked with William Herbert on Page's Ohio Digest until January, 1915. He then located in Elyria and opened a law office with D. A. Baird under the name Baird & Smythe. In April of the same year he established and took charge of the branch office of the firm at Amherst. This firm represents several corporations, including the Amherst German Bank and the Ambherst Home Telephone Company.

One month after settling in Amherst Mr. Smythe was appointed city solicitor of the village by the village council, and after being a resident there only six months, on account of his prominence in municipal affairs, was nominated on a non-partisan ticket for mayor and in November, 1913, at the age of twenty-three, was elected to the office. At that time he was reported as being the youngest mayor Ohio had ever known. He is a democrat, and in November, 1914, was candidate for clerk of courts of Lorain County, being defeated by the republican nominee of Lorain, William H. Oldham. Mr. Smythe is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Knights and Ladies of Security.

GEORGE Louis BUELL. It is a man's first duty to provide for his family while he lives and to see that suitable provision is made for those dependent upon him after he has passed away. One of the most effective methods of providing for future contingencies due to death is by means of insurance - a fact so generally recognized nowadays that the insurance business has grown to be one of the largest and most important in the country. One of its leading representatives in this section is George L. Buell, of Lorain, who was born in Summit County, Ohio, November 10. 1861. His parents, Ichabod and Mary (Robinson) Buell. were farming people. He was educated in the public schools and in the normal school at Medina, Ohio, and at the age of twenty years began industrial life as a telegraph operator. After being thus occupied for about four years, he came in 1885 to Lorain and for three years subsequently was here engaged in the same line of work. Then, in company with James Reid, he established himself in the insurance business. Subsequently the firm became Buell and Cozad, its present style, real estate being added to the interests of the concern, which, | since its establishment has steadily advanced in prosperity. Mr. Buell organized The Black River Telephone Company, of which he was also manager for some time. One of Lorain's leading citizens, he has served for the last fifteen years as a justice of the peace. In polities he is aligned with the republican party, while his fraternal affiliations are with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In 1890 Mr. Buell married Miss Anna Reid, daughter of James Reid of Lorain.

Wituiim MitNE Apams. Of the class of men who owe their success in business life solely to their own efforts and abilities, William Milne Adams, of Elyria, is an excellent example. Induced to come to this country in his vouth by stories of the wonderful opportunities awaiting ambitious voung men here, he found that in America, as elsewhere, the only road to prosperity and position was over the highway of hard and persistent work. This road he has traveled perseveringly, and at length has reached the goal of success. occupying an honorable position among Elvria's business men as the Elyria and Lorain representative of the Citizens Gas and Electric Company.