Lorain City (part 63 of 77)

Forfar, Scotland, and is a son of George and Emily (Tuck) Adams, both born at that place, the father of Scotch and the mother of Scotch- English descent. In his early life George Adams was engaged in contracting, but later took up gardening, and for over forty years acted in that capacity for a number of wealthy families in Scotland. He died in that country in 1902, aged eighty-seven years, while the mother passed away in 1898, aged eighty-three years. They were the parents of three children: William Milne; Betsy, who came to the United States a number of years after her brother, married John Taylor, and resided near Youngstown, Ohio, where she died, and Rev. John C., a graduate of the College of London, England, who became a missionary to the Orkney Islands, and was found frozen to death after his failure to return from making calls, the supposition being that he had suffered an attack of heart failure.

William Milne Adams received but scant educational advantages in the public schools of his native city, but was a young man of industry and ambition, and when only sixteen years of age was foreman in a linen manufacturing factory, with over 125 girls under his superintendency. It would seem that a position of such responsibility would have satisfied a youth of his age, but he had repeatedly heard stories of the wealth to be easily gained in the United States, and in 1869, when between eighteen and nineteen years of age, he resigned his position and set sail for New York, determined to rapidly gain a fortune. When he arrived in this country, he found that the conditions pictured as so favorable had been greatly exaggerated, and he was glad to accept such honorable employment as came his way. In a factory at Ithaca, New York, he learned to make hubs and spokes, and resided in that city until about. 1871, when he went to Ilion, New York, and secured a position with the Remington Arms Company, where he assisted in the manufacture of 350,000 guns used in the Franco-Prussian war.-. Still later he went to Paterson, New Jersey, where he worked in a factory in the manufacture of machinery for the making of silk ribbons, but in 1873 left that position to come to Toledo, Ohio, where, and at Delphos, Ohio, he was engaged in making hubs and spokes. In 1884 Mr. Adams received his introduction to matters electrical when he located at Fremont, Ohio, and worked for the Central Union Telephone Company, and after four vears in that capacity entered the service of the Fremont Gas, Electric Light and Power Company, becoming one of its stockholders and remaining in that city until 1905, although he sold his stock in the concern in 1902. On April 1, 1905, he came to Elyria, where he has since been connected with the electric light and natural and artificial gas business, having since that year been representative of the Citizens Gas and Electric Company for the cities of Lorain and Elyria. He is a member of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce and the Lorain Chamber of Commeree, and has an excellent reputation in business circles of both cities. In political matters he is a republican and his first vote was cast for an old friend, with whose family he had become acquainted while a resident of Fremont, Rutherford B. Hayes, who subsequently became President of the United States. He has continued to be a stanch supporter of republican candidates and principles, although not a seeker for preferment at the hands of his party. Fraternally, Mr. Adams belongs to Brainard Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Fremont, Ohio, and Elyria Lodge No. 465, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in both of which he has numerous friends. He attends and supports St. Andrew's Episcopal Church of Elyria, of which his wife is a member.

On October 16, 1884, Mr. Adams was married at Toledo, Ohio, to Miss Catherine Elizabeth Botsford, daughter of Hiram and Eliza (Caton) Botsford, natives of New York State, who died at Toledo, where their daughter, Mrs. Adams, was born and educated. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Adams: Emily, born at Fremont, Ohio, a graduate of the Fremont High School,.who also took a business course in that city, married W. J. Derr, of Toledo, Ohio, who is engaged in the musical instrument business, and has two daughters, Mary Louise and Emily, the latter of whom was born in the same hour of the same day of the same month as her uncle, William H. Adams: and Williain Hiland, a graduate of the Elyria High School, class of 1906, who attended Gambria College, Mount Vernon, Ohio, now agent of the Logan Natural Gas and Fuel Company, at Ashland, Ohio, married Miss Fay Bankard of Mount Vernon, and has one daughter, Lois.

THomMas Ratu. For fully twenty vears Thomas Rath has heen an effective factor in the industrial hfe of Lorain. He is division manager at Lorain for the National Stove Company, a division of the American Stove Co., and has been the chief man locally responsible for the progress and direction of that enterprise almost since its establishment.

What is now a branch of a great manufacturing corporation was established in 1893 at Lorain as The National Vapor Stove & Manufacturing Company. At that time about fiftv people were employed in the plant. In 1902 the business was taken over by the Amerivan Stove Company, and since then many changes and extensions have been made. Nearly two hundred and twenty-five persons are now on the regular payroll of the plant, and the works cover a large tract of ground. The main building is 450 by 60 feet, with a wing 119 hy 45 feet. The warehouse is 80 by 150 feet: the japanning plant is 80 hy 40 feet ; the plating room and brass foundry is 70 by 40 feet: the enameling room is 180 by 60 feet; the power plant is 40 by 60 feet: and the storage room is 30 by 110 feet. The products of the works at Lorain are sent all over the world and include all classes and types of stoves and ranges.

Thomas Rath was born in Cleveland, Ohio, November 3, 1866. a son of John and Mary (Mackin) Rath. Edueated in private schools, when only fourteen years of age he became an office boy with the Hall Vapor Stove Company of Cleveland. Since then he has earned every step in his progress. He possessed natural capabilities for higher positions. and with experience and maturity has graduated from one grade of the service to another. While at Cleveland he worked his way to division manager, and in 1895 took charge of the works at Lorain. and is now the chief executive official of that extensive industry.

At the same time he has been closely identified with the civie and general business life at Lorain, and is a member and former director of the board of commerce. On September 4. 1890, he married Sarah Ann Tavlor of Cleveland. Their four children are: Raymond George. who is associated with his father in the stove works: Charlotte Frances. Thomas Joseph and Joseph Edward.

Appisoxn E. Lorp. During the past half century few men have touched at more points the business and civic community of Elyria than Addison E. Lord, who several vears ago reached that stage in his business life which enabled him to retire and enjoy a well-earned leisure, and who first became identified with Elvria soon after leaving the navy, in which he served during the Civil war. Mr. Lord was for many vears a tobacco manufacturer, was subsequently in the telephone construction business, and is also remembered for his service in the old volunteer fire department of Elyria and in the office of sheriff of Lorain County.

Warehouse Point, Connecticut, on the headwaters of the Connecticut River, October 15, 1842. His parents were Chester A. and Lucretia (Moran) Lord. When he was two years old his mother died and his father passed away in 1882. He was one of a large family, and several of thein found their way into this section of Northern Ohio. His brother Cordon O. was one of the first cigar manufacturers in Lorain County, and died at Elyria. Gilbert was also a resident for some time in this county, but finally returned to Connecticut where he died. Atkins A. spent all his hfe in the East. Three of Mr. Lord's sisters came to Lorain County in 1857, and lived here the rest of their lives. Clara M. was the wife of Lorain Wood. Martha was the wife of Samuel Hines. All these are now deceased. Cynthia Wells is still living at Elyria, the widow of Addison Wells, who died shortly after the war. Another sister was Lavina who married Stephen Clark in Connecticut and both died there. The oldest of the children was Cordon, while Addison E. was the voungest.

' The latter obtained his early education in the public schools of his native village, but gained a more substantial and practical training by actual contact with the world and with men after he was fifteen years of age. An experience such as very few residents of Lorain County can include in their careers was four years spent on a whaling vessel, and in that time as a boy employed in the hard and exciting life of whaling he saw a great deal of the world. Returning home, at the outbreak of the war he enlisted in the navy, or as the more exact term was '*shipped in the navy.'' This was in July, 1861, and his service continued until September, 1864. While much of the time he was on blockade duty, he was also in the naval engagements around the mouth of the Mississippi by which the City of New Orleans was captured by the Federal forces, and he was also at the siege of Mobile. The boat on which he served was part of the West Gulf blockading squadron.

On being discharged from the navy Mr. Lord came to Elyria in October. 1864. Since that date this has been his home. He was employed in different capacities and with his brother Cordon learned the cigariuaking trade, and in 1873 started in that business for himself in partnership with F. H. Sudro under the firm name of Lord & Sudro. Their establishment was located where the cigar and tobacco store now stands. They carried on both a retail and wholesale business, and were very successful.

On accepting the nomination for sheriff of Lorain County, an office to which he was elected, Mr. Lord sold his interests to his partner, Sudro, and began his official duties in January, 1894. For four years he made an enviable record of efficiency and faithfulness to duty in this office. Mr. Lord cast his first vote for president in the fall of 1864 after coming to Elyria, and almost as a matter of course gave his support to Abraham Lincoln. Since then he has been steadfastly aligned with the republican party. In one of the Elyria papers there recently appeared an interesting comment on the old volunteer fire force of the city, in which Mr. Lord was mentioned as one of the four survivors of the forty who composed the old hook and ladder company of 1868. The old fire organization had many associations with the social life of the city, and everyone was interested in the conventions and tournaments at which contests were staged between various fire companies. Mr. Lord in those days was frequently called to duty with the ladder company and is now one of the oldest of the surviving company. The old fire truck which was built hy John Topliff in 1869 for this company is still in good condition and is often taken to the volunteer conventions.

gaged in business as a telephone constructor. He erected plants throughout this county, at Columbia, Eaton, Grafton, LaGrange and Amherst, also installed plants at Medina and Berea. He was a member of the firm of Rawson & Company in this business. For about a year while in the telephone construction business he was at Joplin, Missouri, and while there acquired some interests in the zinc mines, but that never proved a profitable venture, and he has no very pleasant memories of the experience.

For the past eight years Mr. Lord has lived retired and usually spends about three months each summer with his son in Benzie County, Michigan. This son is a successful fruit grower, having about eighty acres devoted to apples, peaches and cherries, and during the last year he sold fourteen tons of cherries to the local canning factory. In 1902 Mr. Lord built his substantial home on West Avenue in Elyria. He is affiiated with King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Ancient, Free & Accepted Masons, with Elyria Lodge No. 103, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in the Richard Allen Post, Grand Army of the Republic. has held all the offices, being now a past commander.

Mr. Lord's domestic life has been one peculiarly happy and on January 20, 1916, he and his wife celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. They were married in Elyria at the old Methodist Episcopal parsonage. Louise L. Ward, who became his bride at that time. was born in Elyria, educated in that city, and is a daughter of James and Calista Ward, who were early settlers in Lorain County from Vermont. Her father was for many years a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Lord have two children living. Edward G. is the Michigan fruit farmer already mentioned. Pearl Louise lives at home in Elyria. Both were horn in this city and received their education here, graduating from the high school when it was under the superintendence of the late Professor Parker. Another child, Burton H., died in 1871 when a vear and a half old.

JOSEPH Martin Hourr. The Houff-McNeil Company is one of the largest flour milling concerns around the southern shore of Lake Erie. It was organized at Lorain in May, 1911. with a capital stock of #60.000. The capital stock remains the same to the present writing and the company now has all the facilities for manufacture of grain products of the ' very highest quality. The main building is 40 by 70 feet. with a capacity of eighty barrels of flour per day. The modern roller process is employed exclusively, and about sixteen people have a place on the payroll. At the organization the first officers were: J. M. Houff. president; Adam Kolbe, vice president; and Miss Ida Houff, secretary and treasurer. The present officers are: J. M. Houff, president; William B. Thompson, vice president; and Mrs. Margaret C. McNeil. secretary and treasurer.

The company has the benefit of the experience and thorough business ability of Joseph M. Houff as its president. Mr. Houff has for many vears heen engaged in the grain trade, and is one of the successful manufacturers of Lorain County. He was born at Sandusky. Erie County, Ohio. May 26, 1866. a son of Martin and Margaret (Maher) Houff. His father was a contractor. Mr. Houff as a hoy attended the public schools at Bellevue, Ohio, and at the age of fifteen learned telegraphy and became an operator. From that he got into the grain business, buying and selling grain for ten years. but since August. 1904, has been in the milling industry, and was mainly responsible for organizing the Houff-MeNeil Company and has brought the business to its present prosperous condition.

On February 2, 1892, Mr. Houff married Miss Christina Arnold, of York Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. To their marriage have been born seven children: Arnold, who is connected with the milling company at Lorain; Margaret, at home; Gordon; Gerald; Rachel; Jonathan; and Robert Hugh.

CarRL G. Fripay. One of the oldest and at the same time one of the most progressive business houses of Elyria is that now conducted under the name of Friday & Thomas, a furniture and undertaking concern that has won a firmly-established place in the business history of the city. It was founded here in 1861 by the maternal grandfather of Carl G. Friday, the senior partner, Henry Rimbach, Sr., who was succeeded by his sons, Henry and George Rimbach, who conducted the business under the style of Rimbach Brothers. When they dissolved partnership Henry Rimbach, Jr., was alone in the business for eighteen years, or until his death, when it was continued by Ernest and George Rimbach, who restored the old name of Rimbach Brothers, it being carried on as such for six years. At the time of Ernest Rimbach's death, Carl G. Friday bought his interest from Mr. Rimbach's widow, the firm name then becoming Rimbach & Friday, which continued until, one year before his death, Mr. Rimbach sold his share in the enterprise to Glade B. Thomas, Friday, October 13, 1913, the firm then becoming, as at present, Friday & Thomas, the first time in more than fifty years that the name of Rimbach had not been connected with the establishment.

Carl G. Friday, senior member of the firm of Friday & Thomas, was born at Elyria, Lorain County, Ohio, February 14, 1881, and is a son of Charles F. and Anna M. (Rimbach) Friday. His father, a native of Germany, was about four years of age when he came to the United States with his parents, who settled at Elyria. Here the youth was reared and educated, and as a young man became identified with railroading, in which he has passed his entire career, having been for twenty-nine years in the employ of the New York Central Lines, first as fireman, and later, as at present, as locomotive engineer. Mrs. Friday was born, reared, educated and married at Elyria, and like her husband survives and is living in their comfortable home. They are the parents of three children, namely: Carl G., of Elyria; E. Louise, of Cleveland, Ohio; and Clara May, residing with her parents at Elyria. All three children were born and educated at Elyria, and E. Louise was given the advantages of a business course at Oberlin.

Carl G. Friday received only meager educational advantages in his youth, as his parents were in modest circumstances at that time, and the family needed the wages which he could earn. However, he was a bright, alert lad, possessing industry that caused him to take advantage of every opportunity and a retentive mind that made him an excellent scholar, and during the time he attended the German Lutheran schools he acquired an education far in advance of many of his fellows who enjoyed greater advantages. He was only fourteen years of age when he put aside his studies to accept his first position, employment at the old candy factory of Clark & Company, on Cheapside, located on the present site of Bivins' Walk-Over Boot and Shoe Store. Later he drove a delivery and grocery wagon for Seward & Goldberg, prior to the erection of the first Elyria Block, which was destroyed by fire, and which stood on the present site of the new Elyria Block. Mr. Friday's next employer was W. H. Smith, the West Side grocer, for whom he worked for five years, then entering the employ of the National Tube Company of South Lorain, where he was employed as chemist in the chemical labratory for five years under W. B: N. Hawk, who is still chief chemist there and who remains as one of Mr. Friday's best friends.

Mr. Friday entered business on his own account at Elyria, in May, 1905, in partnership with George Rimbach, under the firm name of Rimbach & Friday, as before mentioned. At that time, in order to prepare himself for his new duties, he took a course at the Massachusetts College of Embalming, at Boston, from which he was duly graduated. He is also a graduate of the Barnes School of Anatomy, Sanitary Science and Embalming, of Chicago, Illinois, and received his state license from the Ohio State Board of Embalming Examiners in June, 1906.

In addition to carrying the largest stock of furniture at Elyria, the firm of Friday & Thomas conducts the leading undertaking business here. Mr. Friday is a thorough master of the art of embalming and has received letters from people in various parts of the United States where he has shipped bodies commending his work. The business has grown from a $10,000 per vear concern, as when Mr. Friday came, to an enterprise doing a business annually of $50,000. The chapel and morgue are located at No. 580 Broad Street, while the furniture establishment is at No. 582, next door, and occupies two floors, in addition to which there are maintained three warehouses. Mr. Friday has charge of the undertaking department, while Mr. Thomas has full control of the furniture end of the business, although both are capable men in both directions and assist each other when necessary. The firm has the finest automobile funeral equipment in the northern part of Ohio, not excepting Cleveland, and has just purchased one of the finest automobile invalid carriages in the country. This is a combination of hearse and invalid carriage, with a full limousine front and very pleasing body design, being ornamented tastefully with hand-carving to relieve the plainness. The finish is a beautiful silver gray with gold striping, and the interior of the car is veneered with genuine mahogany. An adjustable invalid bed is ineluded, one that may be taken up and down the average stairs. The chassis is the Riddle Coach & Hearse Company's, of Ravenna, Ohio, six-cylinder, 'forty-five horse-power, a motor which under severe tests has shown itself capable of traveling the worst roads in the country. ;

Mr. Friday is a member of the Ohio Funeral Directors' Association, and of various civic and social organizations at Elvria. Still a young man, he has gained such an excellent reputation in his native community that in 1915 the citizens of Elvria circulated a paper, with 200 signatures, boosting Mr. Friday for the mayoralty, and even in the face of Mr. Friday's prompt and decisive refusal tried for a long time to persuade him to be a candidate. However, he finally convinced them that it is his behef that public service and business are not congenial. Last vear Mr. Friday served as treasurer of the Democratie Club, of which he is vice president at this time. He owns his own home at No. 123 West Bridge Street, which he erected in 1912.

On November 27, 1910, at Elyria, Mr. Friday was united in marriage With Miss R. Mae Arpin. of Alpena, Michigan, who was reared and educated in the city of her birth and is now well and popularly known in social circles of Elyria.

GLADE B. Trromas. Among the business men of the younger generation at Elyria, one who has attained success through his own efforts and who occupies a substantial position and has a high reputation, is Glade B. Thomas, Junior member of the undertaking and furniture concern of Friday & Thomas. Mr. Thomas was born in Union County, Ohio, July

4, 1884, and is a son of R. F. and Nattie A. (Bailey) Thomas, who both reside at Columbus, Ohio, R. F. Thomas being a funeral director of that city. The elder Thomas has been an undertaker at different locations in Ohio since 1889 and during this more than a quarter of a century has won and held his associates' regard and esteem by reason of his integrity and straightforward dealing. Both the parents were born in Logan County, Ohio. They have had four children: Glade B., who is the only son; and Fleeta, Mona and Tempa, who were educated in the public schools of the communities in which their parents have lived and whv are now residing at home.

The public schools of Marion, Ohio, and Marion Business College furnished Glade B. Thomas with his educaticn, but some time before his graduation from the latter institution he had received his introduction to business, having learned the art of embalming largely under the preceptorship of his father. In the spring of 1898, when he completed the embalmer's course and secured a certificate, he was not quite fourteen vears of age and was the youngest certified embalmer in Ohio. He continued to be engaged with his father until 1905, when he entered the employ of the Cleveland Burial Case Company, as traveling salesman, selling undertakers' supplies. During the next six years he went over the states of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Michigan, or four separate and distinct territories. It is a significant fact that, starting in with the worst territory, he finished with the best the company had.

With the foregoing experience and preparation, in October, 1911, Mr. Thomas decided he was ready to enter upon a business career of his own, and accordingly accepted the opportunity offered of buying the interest of George Rimbach, in one of the oldest-established business enterprises of Elyria. This concern had been founded in 1861 by Henry Rimbach, Sr., who was shortly succeeded by his sons, Henry and George Rimbach, who earried on the business under the name of Rimbach Brothers. Later Henry Rimbach, Jr., conducted the business alone for eighteen years, and at his death Ernest and George Rimbach became the owners and restored the old name of Rimbach Brothers, which it kept for six years. Ernest Rimbach then died and Carl G. Friday bought his interest from the widow, the firm name then becoming Rimbach & Friday, which it continued until Mr. Thomas bought into the firm. which became Friday & Thomas, its present style. The firm now carries the largest stock of furniture at Elyria, Mr. Thomas being in charge of the furniture department, while Mr. Friday carries on the funeral directing. The business has steadily grown from modest proportions to a venture doing $50,000 worth of business annually, having * a modern chapel and morgue at No. 580 Broad Street, with the furniture store next door, at No. 582, where it occupies two floors, in addition to which the firm maintains three warehouses. The firm also has the finest funeral automobile equipment in the northern part of this state, and this does not except the City of Cleveland. In it is what is considered the most complete and up-to-date combination of hearse and invalid carriage in the country, a vehicle manufactured for this concern by the Riddle Coach and Hearse Company, of Ravenna, Ohio. Mr. Thomas is a member of the Ohio Funeral Directors' Association. He has been prominent in the business life of Elyria as a promoter of movements for the welfare of the city's commercial and industrial interests, having been a member of the industrial committee of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce for two years, and at this time being a member of the publicity committee of that body. Fraternally, he is affiliated with King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of

Elyria, and the various bodies of Masonry up to and including Al Koran Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Cleveland; and the local lodges of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Phythias. On April 11, 1911, Mr. Thomas was married to Miss Frances Zeiner, who was born and educated at Jamestown, Ohio, and they have two daughters, Una Clare and Martha Fleeta, both born at Elyria.

THEODORE Curist Gow. A practical electrician by trade, Theodore C. Gow has applied his knowledge to a capable performance while in the employ of others, and now for a number of years has been an independent business man and is head of the Parkside Auto Company at Lorain.

Born on a farm in Elyria Township of Lorain County July 13, 1871, he is a son of Henry and Hannah Gow, both of whom were born in Germany and came to the United States in 1866. Though reared on a - farm and educated in country schools, Mr. Gow has spent all his active career in the industrial centers of Lorain County. Learning the electrical trade, he was in the employ of the National Tube Company ot Lorain for eleven years, and then became one of the interested parties in the Lorain Electric and Automobile Company, of which he was president for eleven years. On selling out his interests in that concern in September, 1914, Mr. Gow organized the Parkside Auto Company, and built for it a brick and cement fireproof garage and shop at Washington and West Erie avenues in Lorain. This company now handles the ageney for the Chalmers and Dodge Bros. cars, and carries on a large business with its capitalization of $10,000. Mr. Gow is well known among automobile men, is a very popular citizen in Lorain, and fraternally is identified with the Knights of Pythias Lodge.

In September, 1896, he married Elizabeth Geist of Erie County, Ohio. They are the parents of four children: Irving Frank, Harold Paul, Lester Carl and Gladys May. Mr. Gow and family are members of the German Evangelical Church. He isa republican in politics and a member of the board of commerce.

CHARLES E. Tucker. There are few offices that furnish greater opportunities for real and substantial service to a community than that of mayor in a thriving commercial city like Elyria. While the present incumbent of that office, Mr. Tucker, has made an admirable record as a business man in this city and was also for eight vears county recorder, it is probable that his most lasting claim to local distinction will rest upon his able, conscientious, efficient and economical administration as 'mayor of Elyria.

First elected to that office in 1911, and now a candidate on an independent ticket for re-election, Mr. Tucker has been a real executive, has devoted himself without reserve to the practical needs of the city. and has performed his exact duties both in the letter and spirit regardless of political consideration.

Perhaps the soundest testimonial to his service is found in the hearty response given to his present candidacy for re-election. Recently The Elyria Democrat, in a strong editorial, explained its position in urging the re-election of Mayor Tucker instead of the regular democratic nominee. After stating the cardinal principle that party politics should have as little influence as possible in the selection of candidates to municipal offices, the editorial continued: ''The city of Elyria is in a position where everything must soon be put on the most economical basis. That means every department must be run at a maximum of effiicency. Now, does it appeal to anybody of good judgment that a good official who has worked towards that end and made good, should be turned out simply because a party candidate wants to win for his party's advantage? Mr. Tucker has made a good mayor. He has attended to the work faithfully and his appointees have been men of ability and judgment and the city has had better service through their efforts than it has enjoyed for years. Why should the voters throw him out and put in an entirely new set of men who will experiment on different lines and then in turn likely be thrown out in two years? This does not make towards an economical and intelligent administration of | city affairs. Mr. Tucker is honest, industrious and capable. Keep him in for four years if possible.''

Lorain County was Mayor Tucker's birthplace. He was born in Carlisle Township February 11, 1860, a son of the late William H. and Clarissa (Andrews) Tucker. His mother died at Elyria January 20, 1870, and his father passed away May 22, 1902. William H. Tucker was born March 21, 1826, in Windham, Portage County, Ohio, the youngest son of Jacob and Chloe Tucker. As a boy he removed with his parents to Lorain County, the family settling in the woods of what is now Eaton Township. It was a time when the public school system had not yet been fairly started, though he received advantages as liberal as most boys of that time. As the result of his hard work and close savings he afterwards completed a higher education in a select school at Ridgeville. For many years his work was as a teacher, and many of the - older men and women of Lorain County recall with gratitude his influence on their early lives. This occupation he followed for twenty-two years, in different parts of Ohio. In 1864 he was elected recorder of Lorain County, a position he held by re-election for nine consecutive years, finally retiring from the office in 1874. In the meantime he had taken up the study of law, and on retiring from the recorder's office was admitted to the bar during a session of the District Court at Cleveland. From 1864 until the close of his life, William H. Tucker was a resident of Elyria, and as a lawyer he enjoyed a substantial practice. He was also prominent in the organization. at Elyria of the Royal Arcanum and the Knights of Honor, and in, those two fraternities filled the highest positions in the State of Ohio.

Charles E. Tucker grew up in Elyria, attended the common schools, but his practical career of self-support began in 1873, when he was only thirteen years old. In 1882 he became an employe of the late John W. Hart in the lumber and planing mill industry. In 1892 Mr. Tucker and L. J. Hart, a son of John W. Hart, bought the entire plant from the latter's father, and these two men developed the business and made it one of the principal supply centers for lumber and building material in Lorain County. L. J. Hart is now a resident of New York City. Mr. Tucker was engaged in the lumber business until 1901. In 1904 he organized The Lorain County Abstract Company, and is still its secretarytreasurer. This business has its offices at 212 Middle Avenue in Elyria.

Nearly twenty years after his father had retired from the office of county recorder, Charles E. Tucker was elected to the same 'office, and served three terms, from 1902 to 1909. Fraternally he is affiliated with King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and with Elyria Lodge No. 465 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

He was born in Elyria August 10, 1885, a son of Christian W. and Olive E. Plocher. He attended the public schools of his native city, and was graduated from high school in June, 1902, at the age of seventeen. During his school years he assisted in paying his way by employment at any task which a boy of his vears could perform and in such capacities as were offered by a small town. He was always faithful and reliable in even these small duties, and his sturdy independence won him many friends among his schoolmates.

On graduating from high school he applied for and received the position of hookkeeper in the Savings Deposit Bank & Trust Company of Elyria. a position he filled to the entire satisfaction of the officers for one year. At the end of that time. in 1903, he was offered a similar place at the Lorain County Banking Company. He went with this company and has continued in its employ up to the present time, a period of twelve vears. On account of his fidelity and untiring service in behalf of the bank, he has from time to time been promoted and has held the positions of teller, assistant cashier and secretary, his connection with that institution at the present time being in the latter capacity. Mr. Plocher has a pleasant and genial way of meeting the customers of the bank and all other persons with whom he comes in contact. and this trait makes him a valuable man for any business position. From his known ability as a banker and accountant and from his popularity among the citizens of Elyria, he was elected in 1913. treasurer of the city. Of the five city candidates, he was paid the deserved compliment of an uncontested nomination. For the other four offices lively contests took place. especially for those of auditor and of solicitor. Mr. Plocher is known to practically every citizen and taxpayer of Elyria. His publie work is as creditable as that which he has long performed in the bank, and has increased the honors with which his name is associated. He is now treasurer of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce.

My. Plocher early became interested in Masonry, and is a member and past master of King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; a member of Marshall Chapter No. 47, Royal Arch Masons; Elyria Council No. 86, Royal and Select Masters; a member and treasurer of Elyria Commandery No. 6, Knights Templar; and also belongs to Al Koran Temple of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is a meinber of the First Congregational Church of Elyria.

Socially Mr. Plocher is a genial and companionable neighbor and friend, and takes an active part in all social functions which he attends. He is a growing man in the community in which he lives, and has a host of admiring friends who hold him in the highest esteem.

JOHN T. JELLEY. Since 1894 Mr. Jelley bas maintained his residence in the City of Lorain and has been a valued executive in connection with the extensive operations of one of the important industrial plants of the city. that of the National Tube Company, originally the Johnson Company, which is engaged in the manufacturing of steel products. He has held since 1897 the position of superintendent of the company's hbrick-construction department. is a skilled artisan as a brick mason, is a straightforward, energetic and reliable business man and is a progressive and loyal citizen who has won unqualified esteem in the city which has represented his home for nearly a score of years.

A scion of a sterling old family of the Keystone State, John Thomas Jelley was born at Danville, the judicial center of Montour County. Pennsylvania. and the date of his nativity was June 14, 1856. He is a son of Richard and Mary (Conebear) Jelley, who continued their residence in that state until their death, the father having been a shoemaker by trade and vocation. The public schools of Pennsylvania afforded to John T. Jelley his early educational advantages, and as a youth he served a thorough apprenticeship to the trade of brick mason. As a journeyman workman he was thereafter in the employ of the great Cambria Iron Company of Pennsylvania, and in 1881, as a young man of about twentyfive years, he went to Pueblo, Colorado, where he continued until 1887, in charge of the company's brick department. He severed this association in May, 1887, and then returned to Pennsylvania and entered the employ of the Carnegie Steel Company, at Braddock. He thus continued his activities in his native state until 1894, when he came to Lorain, Ohio, and assisted in the erection of the original plant of the Johnson Company, with which important industrial corporation he has since been identified and with which he has held since 1897 the superintendency of the brick-construction department, as previously noted.

As a loyal and broad-minded citizen Mr. Jelley has not denied his service in connection with general community affairs, as shown by the fact that for eight years he was a member of the board of education of Lorain, of which body he was president for two years of this period. He is a republican in political allegiance, and is affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons, and the chapter of Royal Arch Masons. both of Pueblo, Colorado.

On the 5th of January, 1882, Mr. Jelley wedded Miss Clara Bennett, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in which state she was reared and educated. Concerning the children of this union the following brief data are given in conclusion of this article: Mabel is the wife of Frank A. Eyman, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, her husband there holding the position of physical director in the Carnegie Institute of Technology: Eleanor Bennett Jelley is a teacher of domestic science in the public schools of the City of Cleveland; Dr. Herbert Charles Jelley is a dentist by profession and is established in successful practice at Lakewood, Cuyahoga County, Ohio; and Miss Sarah Langman Jelley remains at the parental home and is a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Lorain.

E. Cameron, M. D. The late Doctor Cameron, whose death occurred at Elyria, October 8, 1914, while serving as county coroner, possessed and exercised many qualities of mind and manhood which his community could ill afford to lose. He stood for the best things of life, was not only a successful physician, but also a deep and thorough student of medicine, and was a gentleman of the highest type and a social leader in the best sense of the term. He was identified with Lorain County for twenty years, and his work in that time deserves the recognition of a permanent memorial.

Of Canadian birth and ancestry, he was born at Albani, Prince Edward's Island, August 1, 1847. He was a graduate from the medical department of Bowdoin College in the State of Maine, took postgraduate work at Harvard University, at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, and all his life was devoted to study and research so that he never considered his education ended. For a number of years he practiced medicine in Canada, and in 1894 located in the City of Lorain, which was the center of his growing practice for a number of years. In November, 1912, he was elected on the republican ticket as coroner of Lorain County, and in order to perform the duties of that office he removed to Elyria in January, 1913. As a coroner he discharged his duties faithfully. was a most capable official, was deeply interested in

_ Doctor Cameron was one of the founders of The Lorain County Medical Society. He also belonged to The Ohio State Medical Society and The American Medical Association, and from May, 1899, had been affihated with Easton Lodge No. 7, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Eastport, Maine. He attended the First Congregational Church of Elyria and was a member of the Men's Club of that church. For a number of terms he filled the offices of president and vice president of The Lorain County Medical Society.

Doctor Cameron's first wife died at Grand Manan, Canada, in February, 1892. Three of their children died there in infancy. Doctor Cameron's only son is Dr. R. L. Cameron, who is now head surgeon at The Republican Rubber Company in Youngstown, Ohio. He also has two daughters: Mrs. R. G. Chapman, whose husband is a barrister at Winnipeg, Canada; and Mrs. R. R. J. Brown, whose husband is also a member of the bar at Winnipeg. Mr. Brown is also a major in a Canadian regiment, and is now expected to be called to the front almost any day. Doctor Cameron is also survived by seven grandchildren.

On September 16, 1908, at Elyria, Doctor Cameron married Mrs. Bena Woodruif. She is a daughter of F. F. and Marie (Martin) Kuhlow. Her parents were born and married in Germany, and in 1881 came to Lorain County and bought a homestead of fifty acres situated within the city limits of Elyria. Mrs. Cameron now owns that old homestead, and is still occupying it as her home, and it was also their home during the life of Doctor Cameron.

WILLIAM SEHER. During the past score of years Mr. Seher has been a prominent and representative figure in connection with the industrial and civic activities of the City of Lorain, and his has been a dominating force in the furtherance of enterprises that have contributed much to the commercial precedence of the city, the while he has shown the lovalty and progressive spirit that ever indicate the best ideals of citizenship. He is manager of the Lorain Brewing Company, which was organized in 1903 and which is a branch of the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Company, as agent of which he came to Lorain in 1895. The local company has a modern plant of the best equipment and facilities and with an output capacity of 50,000 barrels per annum. In connection with the operation of the plant about thirty persons are employed, and the excellence of the product has gained to the establishment a large and prosperous trade throughout Lorain and county and other counties in this section of the state. Mr. Seher continued as agent for the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Company at Lorain until the organization of the Lorain Company, as a branch of the former, since which time he has held his present position, that of general manager. He is president of the Lorain Crystal Ice Company, of which admirable Lorain institution further mention is made on other pages, in the sketch of the career of its general manager. Albert A. Plato. Mr. Seher is a member of the directorate of the National Bank of Commerce of Lorain, Ohio. one of the strongest financial institutions in Lorain County, and is one of the most active and influential members of the Lorain Board of Commerce. of which he is second vice president.

Williain Seher was born in the City of Sandusky, Erie County, Ohio. on the 24th of January, 1868, and is a son of Frederick W. and Carolena Maria (Brecher) Seher, his father heing a representative real estate broker and pension agent in the City of Sandusky. Frederick W. Seher was born and reared in Germany and came to America ahout the year 1860. He soon afterward found opportunity to signalize his intrinsic loyalty to the land of his adoption, for he tendered his service in defense of the Union and was a gallant and faithful soldier in the Civil war, in which he served two years, as a member of Company C, Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

The excellent public schools of Sandusky afforded to William Seher his early educational advantages, which were supplemented by a course in a business college in that city. He then assumed a clerical position with a Sandusky ice company, and upon the establishing of the electric street railway system in his native city he was the fifth man to be engaged as motorman for the new company, in the service of which he continued six years. One the Ist of October, 1895, Mr. Seher game to Lorain as agent for the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Company, and concerning his business activities since that time adequate mention has already been made in this article.

Mr. Seher is a popular factor in both business and social circles in Lorain and is known for his buoyant, whole-souled nature and cheery optimism. He is a charter member of the Lorain Lodge, No. 1301, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and also of the local aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, besides which he is affiliated with the Loyal Order of Moose and is a representative member of the Lorain Liedertafel.

On the 25th of September, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Seher to Miss Emma Motry of Sandusky, and they have two children - Norma and William Frank, both of whom remain at the parental home and the latter of whom is bookkeeper for the Lorain Brewing Company.

EpeuHrRAIM Keryrs CARPENTER. On other pages is published an interesting record concerning the prominent early settlers of Avon Township, as reproduced from an article written and read at the centennial anniversary of the first settlement of Avon, this celebration having been held in 1914. In this article, written by Horace J. Cahoon of Elyria, a descendant of one of the old-time families of that township, mention was made of E. K. Carpenter and wife as a pioneer couple who made their influence definitely count in this new country. Keyes Carpenter, as he was always known, was in fact a man whose industry, wholesome character, and private and public activities would comprise a valuable influence in any locality. It is only a matter of just due that some permanent record should be made of his life, especially as it affects Lorain County.

Born in Lee Township, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, December 29, 1799, Ephraim Keyes Carpenter was a son of Levi and Hannah (Keyes) Carpenter. The sources of his early training anad education are not a matter of record, but the facts of his later life show ample evidence of a wholesome development of character and a considerable knowledge of books and the world. About the time he attained his majority he set out with a boy companion, Hosea Harris, for the new country of Northern Ohio. These two young men walked practically all the way to Lerain County. The only exception was one day when they were supposed to ride on a stage, but as a matter of fact they carried stakes most of the day and helped pry the coach out of the mud. The destination of Keyes Carpenter was his uncle's home in Lorain County. It was in honor of his uncle that Mr. Carpenter was named. Arriving in Avon, he worked for his uncle and gradually paid for the fifty acres of new land which he secured as the nucleus of the old Carpenter homestead in Avon Township.

It was in 1819 that Keyes Carpenter came to Ohio. He was then not quite twenty-one, and had bought his time from his father on leaving home, and his entire capital on reaching Ohio was $20. For the fifty acres above mentioned the purchase price was $5 per acre, and it took considerable time to pay for this land. He possessed great industry, was very enterprising and successful as a farmer and he gradually increased his heldings in Avon from 50 acres to 150 acres. In 1832 he built the old frame house on the farm in Avon, and that house, now one of the oldest and most interesting landmarks of the early days, is still standing and in good repair, and is the home of John B. Dechant. who now owns a part of what was the old Carpenter farm.

After a residence in Lorain County of more than forty years E. K. Carpenter sold his farm in Avon Township to Bartel Thome. Record of the sale and deed was dated April 23, 1863. The old farm is located on Stony Ridge Road in Avon, not far from French Creek. After disposing of his property in Lorain County, Mr. Carpenter moved with his family to East Gilead in Branch County, Michigan. He bought 120 acres of good land in that picturesque and attractive section of one of Southern Michigan's finest counties. The old house on the Michigan farm had been built a number of years before, and still stands today in good condition.

Mr. Carpenter once served as township trustee in Avon Township, and for a long time was road supervisor. For a number of vears he steadily supported the whig candidates in polities, and became a republican upon the organization of that party. Outside of his work as a farmer and home maker, he was probably best known for his activities as a churchman. He was a charter member of the Avon Methodist Episcopal Church, was a class leader from its beginning for fully forty years, and was also a licensed exhorter and local preacher. He was one of the men who helped to build up churches and extend religious influences in the old Western Reserve of Ohio. In the absence of regular preachers or missionaries he frequently held meetings in his neighborhood. and the Carpenter home was often the scene of gatherings for prayer and Bible reading. After moving to Michigan he became a member and active worker in the Evangelical Church at East Gilead. He was a good man through and through. highly respected in any community where he resided, and members of the presént generation who enjoy an unexampled prosperity which the sacrifices of such pioneers made possible may well pay a tribute of gratitude to such early settlers as Keves Carpenter.

E. K. Carpenter died at East Gilead, Branch County. Michigan, February 9, 1869. In Avon Township, Lorain County, Ohio, he met and married Miss Lavina Carly Cooper, a daughter of David and Polly Cooper, all of whom were born in New York State. David Cooper. her father, died at Troy, Ashland County, Ohio, and is buried there. His wife, Polly Cooper. died in Steuben County, Indiana, and is buried at Lake Gage, Indiana. Mrs. E. K. Carpenter died September 29. 1863, shortly after the family arrived in Michigan. Both she and her husband now rest in the cemetery at East Gilead. Their chiidren were named Orin Gilmore, Julia Etta, Sarepta Cordelia, Tressa Melissa. Theodore Jasper, Luke Johnson, Charles Norton, all of whom grew to maturity. These children were ail born in the old house which is still standing on the farm in Avon Township. The four who are still living are: Tressa Melissa Warriner, of Steuben County, Indiana; Theodore Jasper Carpeuter, of East Gilead, Branch County, Michigan; Luke Johnson Carpenter, of East Gilead, Branch County, Michigan; and Charles Norton Carpenter, of Jonesville, Michigan.

Davip THomas. One of the few citizens of this immediate section of the Buckeye State who can claim as his place of nativity the rugged and picturesque district of the northwestern part of Wales, is David Thomas, who is a skilled mechanic and who hag made an admirable record in his chosen sphere of constructive industry. He is now living virtually retired in the City of Lorain, where for twenty-three years he was in the employ of the corporation at present known as the National Tube Company. He has also served as justice of the peace and is a sterling citizen to whom is accorded the fullest measure of popular confidence and good will in the community that has represented his home for the past score of years.

David Thomas was born in Carnarvonshire, Wales, on the 9th of October, 1839, and is a scion of one of the old and honored families of that section of Great Britain. In his native land Mr. Thomas gained his early education and there also he served a most thorough apprenticeship to the trade of machinist, in which he became a skilled artisan.

In Wales Mr. Thomas continued in the work of his trade until 1887, when he came with his family to the United States and established his home at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where he found profitable employment asa machinist and where he remained six years. In 1895 he removed with his family to Ohio, where he has since continued his residence in the City of Lorain, and where for nearly a quarter of a century he was retained as one of the expert and valued machinists and minor executives in the manufactory now controlled by the great corporation designated as the National Tube Company. :

As a naturalized citizen of the United States Mr. Thomas is found aligned as a staunch supporter of the principles and policies of the republican party, and his mature judgment and sterling integrity made him especially eligible for the office of justice of the peace to which he was elected in 1912, and of which he was the efficient incumbent until January 1, 1916 - an office which his administration has made to justify its name, in the conserving of justice and the preservation of peace and good will. Mr. Thomas is zealously affiliated with the time-honored Masonic fraternity, in which he has received the chivalric degrees and holds membership in Lorain Commandery, Knights Templars, besides which he is affiliated also with the Knights of the Golden Eagle. Reared in the faith of the established Church of England, Mr. Thomas and his wife are communicants: of its American counterpart, the Protestant Episcopal Church.

On the 3d of August, 1863, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Thomas to Miss Emily Hill, who likewise was born and reared in Wales and who has proved a devoted companion and helpmeet to him during the long intervening period of more than half a century. Of their children four are living - William James and David John, both of whom reside in Lorain; Arthur, who maintains his home at Elyria, the county seat; and Gwillymn Ernest, who resides at Lorain, so that the venerable parents have the satisfaction of having all of their children within close proximity, all of the sons being well established in life and all paying to their father and mother the deepest of filial solicitude.

Horace J. Canoon. Civilized man, with his institutions of home, school and church, with his implements of husbandry and industry, and with his forward looking efforts for continued improvement and better-. ment, has been established in Avon Township now for a little more than a century. Without trespassing any further the domain of this history, which has been so well told on other pages, the following paragraphs will be devoted primarily to some account of the Cahoon family, which was distinguished for making the first permanent settlement in Avon and which among other worthy and excellent citizens includes the membership of Horace J. Cahoon, who is himself one of the oldest living native sons of Avon and has been a prominent figure in the public life of Lorain County and has done much to cherish among the present generation a proper regard for the interesting associations of the past.

Horace J. Cahoon was born in Avon Township May 11, 1837, and is a son of Ora B. and Jane T. (Jameson) Cahoon and a grandson of Wilbur and Priscilla (Sweet) Cahoon.

The family was established in Avon by Wilbur Cahoon, who was born in Hancock Township, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, December 27, 1772, but for a number of years he and his wife, Priscilla, lived in Saulsbury Township of Herkimer County, New York, in which locality all their children but one were born. It was in the year 1814 that these worthy people, participating in that great westward movement which began about the close of the second war with Great Britain, left New York State for the far West. Wilbur Cahoon traded his 100 acres of land in Herkimer County for a tract of 800 acres, all covered with heavy forests in what is now Avon Township of Lorain County. Arriving here with his family after the numberless difficulties of travel in such times and circumstances, he established such rude accommodations as conditions permitted for his first home. A few years later in 1525 he erected the first frame house that was built in Avon. The tract of Jand which thus early came into the possession of the Cahoon family was in 1814 so isolated that in order to reach it Wilbur had to cut a trail for eight miles through the woods. Not until some time afterwards was a single settlement planted between the Cahoon habitation and the little hamlet at Cleveland, Ohio. What is now a great city at that time had only thirty houses. Wilbur Cahoon's distinction in the early history of Avon does not rest entirely upon his being the advance guard of the first settlers. His character and activities would have made him influential in any country. He was one of the early members of the whig party and was the first justice of the peace elected for the jurisdiction now divided among the townships of Avon, Sheffield and Dover, all of which country was at that time one township, Dover being now in the county to the east of Lorain. There were. only two justices of the peace, and the other was Isaac Burrell. Wilbur Cahoon and wife were charter members of the first Baptist Church established in Avon, and until a proper church edifice could be built meetings were frequently held at their home. Though he thus played a large and influential part iu the early life of Avon, Wilbur Cahoon had lived there only twelve years until his death on September 27, 1826. His wife, Priscilla (Sweet) Cahoon, was born in Rhode Island, and died in Avon May 2, 1855, both having been laid to rest side by side in the old township. They were the parents of eight children, and all Lut one lived beyond middle age. Susan, the oldest, who died in Florence Township, Huron County, December 16, 1880, married Harley Mason. Jesse S. died in Avon February 28, 1836. Wilbur, Jr., died in California September 9, 1852. Ora B., father of Horace J. above mentioned, died on the old homestead in Avon March 17, 1881. Orra, who died in Avon April 18, 1875, was the wife of Henry Titus. Hulda died at the age of sixteen on July 16, 1826, the same vear of her father's death. Nancy M., who was the wife of John Steel, died August 27, 1851, in Amhurst Township. All these children were born back in Herkimer County, and it was the distinction of the youngest of the family, Leonard, to be the first white child born in Avon Township. Leonard died in Avon May 3, 1890.

Ora B. Cahoon, through whom this sketch of the family relationship is continued, was born in Herkimer County, New York, May 25, 1804, and was almost seventy-seven years of age at the time of his death. As a boy of ten years he retained many recollections of the interesting jour- ney which brought himself and other members of the family from New York State to Lorain County. <A trip around the world in modern times is fraught with not half the difficulties which attended a migration from one of the eastern to one of the states of the Ohio Valley a century ago. It required the Cahoon family a month of tedious travel. The first objective point in their migration was Dover in Cuyahoga County, where Wilbur Cahoon had a brother, Joseph, who in the local history of Dover is likewise distinguished as the first settler, having located there in 1810. After a visit at Joseph's home the family came on to their chosen spot in the Northern Ohio wilderness in Avon. Ora B. Cahoon had attended school in Herkimer County and also had the limited advantages afforded by some of the first district schools in Avon. His life was spent as a farmer, and his home was a portion of his father's old estate in Avon. For a number of years his fellow citizens in that township honored him with the office of trustee. In politics until the advocation of the slavery question became acute he was a regular democrat, but his views changed about war time and as a republican he gave his support to the grand old party until his death. He and his wife were members of the Baptist Church in Avon. On December 10, 1834, Ora B. Cahoon married Miss Jane T. Jameson in Avon. She died August 29, 1890, having survived her husband several years. She was a daughter of Joseph B. and Thankful (Smith) Jameson, who came to Avon from Monroe County, New York, in 1820. In the family of Ora B. Cahoon and wife were seven children, six sons and one daughter, all of whom reached maturity. The oldest of these is Horace J. Melissa A., who died at her home in Avon March 30, 1884, was the wife of James M. Lent. Joseph B. still occupies a portion of the old Cahoon homestead in Avon. Wilbur D. died in California in March, 1912. Ora B., Jr., also died in California February 11, 1890. Burritt E. lives in Monterey County, California, and in the same county lives his brother Charles S.

The early life of Horace J. Cahoon was spent in that environment and times which represented the middle period between the, conditions of the true pioneer epoch and the great progressive age of modern years. He attended the public schools of his native township, grew up on a farm, and his practical career was that of a farmer until his fellow citizens of the county required his services elsewhere. At the fall election of 1891 he was elected county recorder and assumed the duties of that position January 1, 1892. He was twice re-elected as his own successor in office and thus served three regular terms. Owing to a change in the law making some new provisions as to the length of terms in county offices, he was appointed at the conclusion of his third term for eight months of service until the beginning of the new term under revised conditious. Thus for nine years eight months he was continuously county recorder of Lorain County. From 1907 to 1913 inclusive Mr. Cahoon was clerk of the Board of Review at Elyria. Before removing to Elyria, the county seat, he served one term as justice of the peace in Avon and for fifteen years was personal property assessor of that township and also held the offices of school director and clerk of the board.

A public record of Mr. Cahoon would not be complete without reference to his experiences as a soldier in the Civil war. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company E of the Forty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, a regiment which was distinguished by having as first colonel James A. Garfield, later President of the United States. This regiment was attached to the southwestern army, and during most of its service operated along the Mississippi River. Mr. Cahoon had a part in the strenuous eampaign leading up to the siege and capture of Vicksburg, and was present at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou when the army of Sherman was repulsed in 1863. He was also at Arkansas Post when that point was wrested from the control of the Confederates, and was soon afterward taken ill and sent to hospital at Jefferson barracks in St. Louis. He was discharged from hospital Mareh 25, 1863, and sent home after nearly eight months of life as a soldier. He then resumed the labors of peace on the old farm.

Mr. Cahoon has had his residence in Elyria since 1892. He is a member of the Richard Allen Post No. 65, Grand Army of the Republic, and was its quartermaster two years. He attends and is a supporter of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Elyria, of which his wife is a member.

On February 10, 1861, in Avon, Mr. Cahoon married Miss Elizabeth Lueas, daughter of Jonathan and Ann (Ire) Lucas. Mrs. Cahoon was born in Avon, and her parents were born and reared in England. having come to Avon in 1831. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Cahoon were born five children. Carrie L., who was born and received part of her education in Avon, also took a course in the Normal at Milton, was a popular teacher for several years in Avon. Ridgeville and Sheffield. and for nearly nineteen vears was a clerk in the county recorder's office up to 1912, and is now living at home. Ella S.. the widow of Don Johnson, lives on her farm with her family in Elyria Township. The son Fred W. also lives at home. Maud, who lives at. home. has for the past twenty-three years been a clerk in the county recorder's office. having entered that office under her father. Anna B., who died December 12, 1903, was the wife of Claud Pover. All the children were natives of Avon Township and received at least part of their education there.

On September 10, 1914, the descendants of the original settlers of Avon Township celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the first settlement and Mr. Cahoon was chosen historian of the occasion and prepared and read a historical account of Avon which appears elsewhere in this history.

Wituiim E. Canoon. Bearing a name that has many intimate relations with the early settlement of Lorain and Cuyahoga counties. William E. Cahoon was for many years actively identified with merchandising and with public affairs in Elvria, was a veteran of the Civil war, and the memory which he left behind him was that of a thoroughly capable citizen, honest and true and steadfast in any position to which duty called him, and the type of man who makes any community the better for his presence.

He was born in Elvria May 15, 1846. His parents were William O. and Melissa (Eldred) Cahoon. His maternal grandfather, Judge Eldred, settled at Ridgeville in Lorain County as early as 1812. The paternal grandfather, Joseph Cahoon, settled in Dover Township of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 1810, and was the first actual permanent settler in that township, where he lived and died on a farm. William O. Cahoon was born in the State of New York and was only two vears of age when his parents settled in Dover Township at Cuyahoga County in 13810. ile lived there until he was about seventeen years of age, then went to the southern part of the state for a vear or so, and on returning to the North located at Elyria in 1835. and made his home in that city until his death. He passed away in Elyria in 1878. In politics he was a republican and a free soiler, and in religion a Methodist. His wife died at Elyria in 1888. There were six children who lived to grow up, five sons and one daughter. The only one now living is Charles A. Cahoon, deputy sheriff of Lorain County and a resident of Elyria. The oldest son, E. A. Cahoon. was a member of Battery E, First Ohio Artillery, and served two and a half vears with that command until his honorable discharge.

The late W. E. Cahoon acquired his early education in the graded schools in Elyria, and the first business in which he regularly engaged was the stove and tinware business at Elyria. He followed that for eight years, being located on West Broad Street where the Elyria Block now stands.

In the meantime he had made a record as a soldier. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in Company K of.the One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry for the 100 days' service. His regiment was sent East and saw some campaigning in Virginia and Maryland, being stationed at Harper's Ferry, Martinsburg and Maryland Heights, and participating in the fight at John Brown's Schoolhouse. On his return home from the army Mr. Cahoon learned the trade of tinner, and followed this altogether for about twelve years. On Decoration Day, 1874,- while assisting in firing off a cannon he accidentally lost his right arm, and this interfered so much with his active work that he closed up his business in 1878.

In 1875 Mr. Cahoon was elected assessor of Elyria Township, and filled that office four consecutive years. In 1882 he was elected county recorder of Lorain County, and filled that position until January 1, 1892. After that he was engaged in business as an abstractor of titles until his death. He filled the office of county recorder three successive terms. This gave him an unusual knowledge of local titles, and he did a great deal of work in looking up abstracts for others. He was an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Royal Arcanum.

On July 30, 1874, Mr. Cahoon married Mrs. Maria P. (Bush) Tyler of Cleveland, a daughter of Rev. E. H. Bush, who was a Methodist minister at Cleveland, but is now deceased. Mrs. Cahoon, who is still living in Elyria. was born in Fremont, Ohio, a daughter of Rev. Eurotus H. and Mary (Goodsell) Bush, both of whom were born in Rochester, New York. Tn politics the late Mr. Cahoon was a stanch republican and did much to promote the interests of his party in Lorain County and was a citizen whose support could always be depended upon to forward those interests most closely in harmony with real and substantial welfare.

STANLEY Appison AULT. Among the business men of Lorain, none stands higher either in business reputation or in social character than Stanley Addison Ault, vice president and general manager of the Hoffinan Heater Company. While still in the prime of life, he has by his energy and steadfastness of purpose obtained a name in the commercial world well worthy of his labors and of which he has the strongest reasons to be proud.

Mr. Ault is a product of the farm, having been born on his father's homestead at Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio, March 2, 1870, a son of Reason and Catherine (Comer) Ault. He was educated in the public schools of his native vicinity and brought up in the atmosphere of the farm. and was engaged in agricultural pursuits until reaching the age of twenty-four years, when he decided upon a business career. At that time he heeame a solicitor for life insurance, and after working in his native place for four years came to Lorain, in 1898, where he believed he would find a better field. Mr. Ault continued to work as a life insurance salesman, representing various concerns until he entered the service of the Equitable Life Insurance Company, in which he rapidly rose to be district manager for Ohio. He left that position in 1907 to hecome manager of the Lorain and Elyria Ice and Coal Company, a capacity in which he acted for one year, and in 1908 joined the Hoffman Heater Company as traveling salesman. Mr. Ault was successful in this line, and when the company was incorporated, in 1911, he was made vice president and general manager, positions which he has since retained.

The Hoffman Heater Company, whose slogan ''We Start the Fire With Water,'' is now known all over the country, was incorporated in 1905, with a capital of $25,000, and at that time was housed in a building consisting of 4,000 square feet of floor space, employing a force of five men. Some idea of the great growth and development of the industry, during the ten years of its existence, may be gained from the facts that it is now a $100,000 corporation, with a floor space of 40.000 square feet, all on the ground floor, and employs on an average of more than ninety people. The plant is modern in structure and equipment, and includes its own brass foundry in which all the brass used in the manufacture of the product is made, and its own japanning plant for the japanning of castings; the company also owns its own land. All kinds of gas-fired water heaters are manufactured and the product of the company has gained a wide and substantial reputation. In 1915 the concern secured the contract for furnishing all heaters for the Panama-Pacifie International Exposition Company at San Francisco, where, June 11. 1915, the company was awarded the medal of honor on its entire line exhibited at the fair. The present officers of the company are: <A. H. Babcock, president; S. A. Ault, vice president and general manager: and J. M. Jones, secretary and treasurer. In addition to discharging the duties of his positions with this company, Mr. Ault is also concerned in a like manner with the Troike Muffler and Manufacturing Company, of Lorain. as vice president and general manager. He is well known in fraternal circles, being a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in Masonry is a Knight Templar and Shriner.

Mr. Ault was married March 2, 1892, to Miss Ella M. Wheeler. of Chillicothe, Ohio, and they are the parents of five children, namely: Clarence W., Harold G., Merle S.. Marguerite G. and Janice Jeanette.

WituiAm WHITNEY. There is no little significance in the motto which Mr. Whitney used during his campaign as republican nominee for sheriff of Lorain County in 1914. ''Bill Whitney always knows you'' suggests one of the qualifications most needed in political life, and in this case the reverse of the motto was also true, since practically every responsible citizen of Lorain County knows Bill Whitney. The citizens of Elyria knew him on account of his fourteen vears of capable and efficient service on the police force. and the people of the county at large are now becoming well acquainted with his admirable management of the office of sheriff. Sheriff Whitney is by no means a passive factor in the civic life of his home county. His name everywhere suggests the character of an upright citizen, and he has heen a vigorous force in behalf of clean politics, and like his father is strongly opposed to the domination of the saloon element.

William Whitney was born in Camden, Lorain County. Ohio, within seven miles of the University Town of Oberlin, May 13, 1874. His parents are Thomas and Philena (Johnson) Whitney. His father was born at Kipton in Lorain County and the mother was born at Painesville in Ashtabula County, Ohio. Grandfather William Whitney came to Ohio from England, and was one of the early day settlers of Lorain County. The maternal grandfather, Solomon Johnson. was for two terms sheriff of Fulton County, Ohio. Thomas Whitney and wife are now living on a small farm which they bought for their declining years south of the Village of Kipton. At one time Thomas owned 800 acres of land in Lorain County, including the site of the present Village of Kipton. During the Civil war he served from the beginning to the end of hostilities, as a private in the Forty-third Ohio Regiment. He is a man of exemplary personal habits, never drinks and never has. and has proved a decided influence in his community in behalf of permanent restrictions upon the liquor traffic. He attends the Disciples Church of which he is a regular member. In the family were six children, two of whom died in infancy, and there are two daughters and two sons still living: Anna, Mrs. Claud Jenkins of Berlin Heights, Ohio; Wilham; Hattie, wife of B. A. Perkins of Elyria; and George, who is a farmer and has eighty acres adjoining his father's place near the Village of Kipton. All the children were born in Lorain County, and attended the public schools of Camden.

Sheriff Whitney's vigorous personality and. ability are reflections from his rugged and thorough experience and training as a young man. He lived at home on the farm, worked in the fields and attended school until the age of twenty, and after his marriage moved to Oberlin, where for a little more than a year he was foreman in the lumber yards of George Persons. He then came to Elyria and found work under the superintendent of streets. At the same time he put in an application for a place on the Elyria police force. It was the custom then for the members of the city council to vote upon such applications, and a majority was required for the employment of any applicant. When Mr. Whitney was taken on to the force he received a unanimous verdict from the councilmen and thereafter continued a member of the police force of Elyria fourteen years, and throughout that time, at each recurring spring election, when the council formally voted upon the police force, he received an endorsement from every member of the council. That is a record of confidence which is well deserved and of which Sheriff Whitney is properly proud. For three years he was a patrolman, and three years a police detective, and was then made captain and chief. He continued chief of police until 1911, when a change in administration occurred, the democratic mayor removing most of the republicans from the municipal offices and substituting democrats in their stead. In the meantime Mr. Whitney had already determined to become a candidate for the office of county sheriff, and as his plans were already well under way he left the position of chief of police without regret.

During the primaries Mr. Whitney was one of thirteen candidates for the nomination for sheriff, and gained the nomination by about 1,300 votes more than his nearest opponent. In the election he was chosen by over 3,800 votes in majority of those received by the democratprogressive candidate. He was regularly installed in the office of sheriff on January 4, 1915, for a term of two years.

While Mr. Whitney is new in the office of sheriff he has already shown a vigor of administration which has proved gratifying to his many supporters and is an earnest of a strong and sufficient force for law and order in Lorain County. He Had been in office about four months when he discovered nine automobiles that had been stolen by a clique of Cleveland automobile thieves operating in Lorain and other counties. At the present writing an automobile case is being tried before the local courts of the circuit and is attracting wide attention not only in Ohio but in other states. Several convictions have been pronounced upon the members of the gang and they were sentenced to prison. This is an organization which has worked with a great deal of cleverness in stealing and disposing of automobiles. They have made a practice of stealing cars in first class condition, hurrying them to a plant in Cleveland, where the cars are made over and so completely changed in all ordinary identification marks that the original owners from whom they were stolen could by no possibility establish proofs fitting their original machines. The remade cars are sold and the profits divided among those interested in the steal.

Sheriff Whitney is a man thoroughly honest and competent in his official duties, and is moreover a gentleman and has hosts of friends. He is affiliated with Harlan P. Chapman Post of the Sons of Veterans at. Elyria, with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He also belongs to the Elyria Chamber of Commerce and in polities is a republican.

Last but not least there should be mentioned another important factor in the career of Sheriff Whitney. This was his marriage to Miss Mary Dunkle of Wellington, Lorain County. They were married at Elyria. Her father, Frank Dunkle, was a soldier in the Civil war on the Union side, and lived for many years at Wellington, where he died in 1913. Mrs. Whitney was only seven years of age when she lost her mother. Mrs. Whitney was born in Pennsylvania, was educated at Lattisburg,. Wayne county, Ohio, where her parents lived during her girlhood, and since her marriage has proved herself an excellent homemaker and a devoted mother to their only daughter, Reva Mae Whitney, who was born in Elyria, received her education in that city, was married July 22, 1915, to Hugh McCray, of Oberlin, Ohio.

PuHitir BruNK. The career of Philip Brunk well illustrates what may be accomplished by the following out of an honorable purpose with firm determination and self-reliance. His only resource when he began active life was natural ability, but he possessed also will-power and was able to make the most of his opportunities. He learned early the value of self-help and the virtues of industry, frugality and fidelity, set himself a high ideal, and in a practical common-sense way has directed his every effort toward its attainment, with the result that now, still in the strength and vigor of manhood, he has achieved a most gratifying success.

Philip Brunk, secretary and treasurer of the Brunk Machine and Forging Company, Incorporated. of Lorain, Ohio, was born in Germany, December 22, 1858, and is a son of Philip and Dorothy Brunk. He was educated in the public schools of his native land and as a youth learned the blacksmith's and still later. the machinist's trades. He found his opportunities limited in the Fatherland, and as a young man came to the decision that America offered a more advantageous field for the display of his abilities. Accordingly, in 1884, he emigrated to this country. settling at Lorain. where he secured employment in the shops of the C. L. & W. Railroad, which is now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio System. After seven years with this road. during which he gained promotion through industry and faithful performance of duty, and carefully saved his earnings, he established himself in business as the proprietor of a machine shop. From small beginnings, this venture was developed into an industry of pretentious size, and in 1903 was incorporated under-the stvle of the Brunk Machine and Forging Company, with a capital of $35,000. its present officials being: W. M. Dabney, president; C. Krentz. vice president : and Philip Brunk, secretary and treasurer. The company employs twenty skilled mechanics, and its products meet with a ready sale in the large markets of the state. shipping to all points. The plant consists of two buildings. both two stories in height and of modern construction and equipment. a machine shop 50 hy 100 feet, and a garage. 132 hy 30 feet. the latter erected in 1915. The life of this firm has been typical of the life of the city itself. for its foundation and resources were principally the sound judgment and accurate foresight of its founders, and as the vity stands prominent for its rapid development. so of the firm. for its founders builded better than they knew, and from a small beginning the amount of business transacted has grown to large proportions.

Mr, Brunk was married in 1884, shortly after coming to Lorain, to Miss Emma Heyer, and to this union there have been born three children, namely: Lena, who is the wife of Arthur Eppley, a foreman in the plant of the National Tube Company, of Lorain; Eda, who is now Mrs. Edward Merthe, wife of a machinist of this city; and Laura, who is the wife of Gilbert Irish, connected with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Lorain.

Mr. Brunk is a popular member of the local lodges of the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of the Maccabees. He is a member of the Immanuel Evangelical Church. In polities his work for his party's interests is as a citizen and a voter rather than in active participation in political affairs. In Mr. Brunk's life are found all the habits, methods and qualifications which have rapidly brought the American nation to the forefront, as compared with the older countries, in all that pertains to the growth, prosperity and development of the national spirit and life.

JOHN F. Haseropt. <A life which strongly impressed its influence on the commercial and civic affairs of Elyria for many years was that of John Haserodt, who died in his home in Elyria in the fullness of years on April 26, 1910. He had spent practically his life in this part of Northern Ohio, and had lived in Elyria for thirty years. He was an excellent business man, always industrious and a master of his own circumstances and as he went through the world he did much good for others.

His birth occurred on the old homestead farm in Liverpool Township, Medina County, Ohio, July 8, 1836. His parents, Henry C. and Margaret (Berdz) Haserodt, were both born in Prussia, the former in 1799 and the latter in 1807. They were long lived people, and were splendid home makers in the New World. In 1834, after their marriage, they came to the United States and soon afterwards settled in the Western Reserve of Ohio. Their location was a farm in Medina County and during their many years residence there they gained success and independence. The last years of their worthy lives were spent in Elyria, where Henry C. Haserodt died in 1887 at the age of eighty-eight, and his wife in 1891, also past fourscore. Both were devout members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

The common schools such as were found in the middle pioneer epoch in this part of the Union supplied John F. Haserodt with the rudiments of his education. At the age of seventeen he came to the City of Cleveland and served a thorough apprenticeship at the trade of harnessmaking. In a few years he was known for his skillful workmanship in this craft, and in 1857 moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and followed a trade there until 1861. His sympathies being with the Union he then returned to the North at the outbreak of the war and resumed his residence in the City of Cleveland. There he became foreman in a large harnessmaking establishment, and continued that relation until 1867. Returning to the old home farm in Medina County, he was identified with its work and management until 1880, in which year he gave up agriculture for his old business as a harness maker. This time his location was in Flvria and his shop soon gained a reputation for its superior product of light harness. In this line and in general harnessmaking he had a large and profitable trade not only in Lorain but in adjoining counties and actively prosecuted the business until 1904. He then sold his establishment and lived retired until his death.

His interest was always keen in movements for the upbuilding and advancement of his home city. At one time he was quite prominent in local affairs, serving three full terms in the city council as representative Yol, 1I - t1 from the Fourth Ward, and made himself valuable to the city while in that office. He was a stanch republican, and both he and his wife active members of Grace Evangelical Church in-which he was an elder.

In 1861 Mr. Haserodt was married in Cleveland to Miss Johanna M. Meyer. She was born in Germany, and is now living at Elyria at the age of seventy-one. The marriage ties which united herself and husband were unbroken for almost half a century. The honest work of their own lives is continued and amplified through their large family of children. George F., the oldest, is a salesman in the Heldmyer Hardware Company of Elyria; Rev. Henry H. is a minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Sacramento, California; Lillie C. is a professional nurse and lives with her mother in Elyria; Edmund B., now a resident of Cleveland, is serving as county clerk of Cuyahoga County; William L. is a mail carrier living at Lakewood; Otto E. was a prominent and widely known member of the family in Elyria, where he died October 2, 1912, and separate mention of him is found on other pages; Osear P., also mentioned elsewhere, is president and treasurer of the Haserodt Brothers Company, jewelers and opticians, at Elyria; Paul M. is connected with The Widlar Company of Cleveland; Violet L. is now the wife of Wilbur Smith of Lima, Ohio; Emanuel is now with the Enamel Pipe Works of Elyria; Elmer, who pursued his studies in the Concordia Theological Seminary at St. Louis, is now pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chicago.

Orro E. Hastropt. Lorain County never had a more popular citizen whose public services and private character commended themselves more highly to the esteem of a host of friends and more deserving of memory than the late Otto E. Haserodt, who for many years capably filled the post of county auditor and died while still in office October 9. 1912.

At the time of his death he was not yet forty years of age. yet in the sum of human service and accomplishment he lived intensively. and cultivated with extraordinary energy the abundant opportunities that were presented to him. He was born at Liverpool in Medina County, Ohio, December 24, 1873. His grandparents were Henry C. and Margaret (Berdz) Haserodt, who were born in Prussia, the former in 1799 and the latter in 1807. They came to the United States in 1834, locating on a farm in Medina County, and after acquiring a fair share of the world's goods they spent their last years in Elyria, where Henry C. Haserodt died in 1887 and his wife in 1891. The late Otto E. Haserodt was a son of John F. and Johanna M. (Meyer) Haserodt. His mother is still living in Elyria while his father, who died there April 26. 1910, is individually mentioned on other pages of this publication.

Otto E. Haserodt when seven years of age came with his parents to Elyria, and attended the public schools of that city up to the age of fourteen. At that early date he became identified with self-supporting activities and laid the foundation of a business career by work as clerk in a grocery store and in other capacities. At the age of twenty-two he became bookkeeper for the Elyria Lumber Company. In September, 1898, he was made deputy auditor of Lorain County, and in October, 1905, the county commissioners appointed him county auditor to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry J. Barrows. who died before taking up his duties as auditor after election to that office. In 1906 Mr. Haserodt was elected without opposition as county auditor. and in 1908 was again chosen, and in that election received the largest vote given to any candidate in Lorain County, either on the county or state ticket. After that, so capably did he continue to administer his duty and make the most of the functions of the office, that his incumbeney was a matter of his own choice, practically without opposition so far as local politics was concerned. It has been frequently remarked since his death that the affairs of the county auditor's office were never in better hands than while administered by Mr. Haserodt.