Lorain City (part 64 of 77)

It is important to make some record of his career both as an official and as a private citizen. As a man he was loved by all, and there were many expressions of this sincere esteem when he was compelled to give up his life in the midst of a useful career. He was implicitly trusted by the people, who felt honored in having him in one of the most important offices in the county. Thus proof of his efficiency as an official is found in the fact that he retained that office for eight consecutive years, and administered its affairs with a degree of intelligence and ability that brought him into prominence not only in his home locality but throughout the state. While county auditor he was called upon to pass upon many important questions. He was absolutely familiar with all legal questions that came to his attention. He was assiduous in placing upon the tax duplicates at their true value both corporations and. individuals who endeavored to hide their assets. In the Nichols case alone he compelled the heirs to pay into the county treasury nearly $100,000 that would not otherwise have been collected. The efficiency of his office was also highly complimented after examination by the state bureau of accounting. He was a man who had a methodical mind, was a master of detail, and kept every account with a scrupulous nicety that was only a reflection of the workings of his individual mind. Mr. Haserodt had first entered the auditor's office as a clerk under the city administration of George H. Lewis, and in that capacity proved a degree of trustworthiness which made his appointment at the death of Auditor-elect H. J. Barrows both logical and wise. For three successive terms he was regularly elected and practically died at his post.

The late Mr. Haserodt was a republican in politics, belonged to the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, was a stockholder and directer in the Lorain County Banking Company and had various business interests. He never affiliated with secret societies, but was an active member of the Grace Evangelical Church. On October 8, 1901, Mr. Haserodt married Miss Anna G. Baldinger. Her father was John Baldinger, a former resident of Massillon, Stark County. Mr. Haserodt is survived by his widow and two daughters, Catherine and Virginia.

Oscar Psatun Hasrtropt. Among the children of the late John F. Haserodt, whose career has been sketched on other pages of this Lorain County History, Oscar Paul has distinguished himself as one of the leading business builders at Elyria, and is now sole proprietor of the largest jewelry establishment in that city, operating not only a general jewelry store but also a plant and business as manufacturing opticians. Mr. Haserodt served as president of The Haserodt Brothers Company from its incorporation in 1911 until he recently acquired the entire stock of the business. This is a business that is readily recognized as a landmark in the Elyria shopping district, having been established as early as 1859.

Born in the home of his parents at Liverpool, Medina County, Ohio, February 15, 1876, Oscar Paul Haserodt came to Elyria with his father and mother when about four years of age, and in 1890 graduated from the German Lutheran School. His energetic disposition found employment first as delivery boy for the dry goods firm of Biggs, Bowen & Company, the predecessors of the present house of D. Lewis & Company, and after six months with that concern his next position really pointed out his permanent destiny as a business man. He secured work with E. H. Fisher, the jeweler who had established many years before a concern which is now The Haserodt Brothers Company, otherwise known as

''The Quality Store,'' and it is conducted now at the same site where Mr. Fisher had his little shop more than half a century ago. Under Mr. Fisher the boy quickly learned the jeweler's trade, and remained with that old time jeweler for about eight years. He worked at the bench in repairing watches, did engraving, and specialized particularly in the optical branch of the business. Thus in time he acquired a thorough knowledge of all branches of the business, and for three years fitted glasses before passing the regular examination as an optician in 1897, after the death of Mr. E. H. Fisher. He attended the Spencer Optical Institute in New York City, and after receiving his diploma as a graduate continued working in the institute for a short time. He returned to Elyria and assumed the chief responsibilities of the business for Mrs. Fisher for about three years, endeavoring to give special attention to the optical department, though he also worked as an engraver and waited on the trade. Subsequently Mrs. Fisher married Mr. E. E. Critz, and Mr. Haserodt went on working for them for eight years, and then went into partnership with Mr. Critz. This partnership relation was formed in 1907, and the store which had long been known simply as Fisher's jewelry store then went under a new title as The Critz-Haserodt Company. Four years later Mr. Critz retired, and the Haserodt Brothers Company was then organized and incorporated, with Oscar P. Haserodt as president and Emanuel H. Haserodt, his brother, as secretary. In March, 1915, his brother gave up his relations with the business, leaving Oscar as sole proprietor.

As already stated, this is the largest jewelry store at Elyria. It carries a splendid stock of jewelry, and is particularly headquarters for optical goods. Besides the supplies usually found in a first class optical store, Mr. Haserodt has introduced all the apparatus and the eruipment necessary for manufacturing, and grinds all the lenses for his trade. Since its organization in 1909 Mr. Haserodt has also had a husiness interest in the Strong, Kennard & Nutt Company, wholesale opticians in the Sehofield Building at Cleveland. This company has enjoyed much prosperity and has a large trade among optical dealers throughout Northern Ohio.

My. Haserodt is a member of the National Retail Jewelers Association, the National Optical Association, is a republican in politics, a member of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, and worships in the English Lutheran Church at Elyria.

On October 1, 1901, at Rochester, New York, he married Miss Julia Bell, who was born at Webster, a suburb of Rochester, New York, but was eduvated in the Elyria public schools. She came to Elyria when a small girl and was adopted into the family of the late John. Hert. Mr. and Mrs. Haserodt have two children: Edward John and Josephine Estelle. both born in Elyria. Mr. Haserodt is essentially a business man, though thoroughly public spirited in his citizenship, and such time as he is able to take from business affairs he devotes to such wholesome recreation as automobiling, fishing and other outdoor sports.

ARTHUR PIERRE LiGron. Of the professional men of Lorain County who haye turned their attention to other pursuits, with benefit to themselves and to the advancement of the community welfare, one of the best known is Arthur Pierre Lagron, of Lorain. His early training was along the line of civil engineering, a vocation in which he spent many profitable vears and in which he gained a substantial reputation, but in recent years he has devoted his abilities to business affairs, and at the present time is president of the Lagron Coal and Supply Company, one of the leading industries of the city.

Missouri, February 11, 1871, and is a son of Arthur and Mary (Breton) Lagron. Arthur Lagron, the father of Arthur P. Lagron, is a son of Pierre Lagron, who was a native of France and came to America at an early date. He descended from the family of that name who settled in Missouri on the original Louisiana Purchase. Arthur Lagron came to the United States from France about the close of the Civil war and settled in Montgomery County at Rhineland, Missouri. He had followed civil engineering in his native land and was a captain of a civil engineering corps in France, having graduated from a French polytechnic institute. He remained in Missouri until about 1896, when he located in Peoria, Illinois, where he has since remained. He followed railroad construction work for many years. To him and his wife were born seven children as follows: Margaret, who married a Mr. Bussman and resides on the old homestead in Missouri; Naomi, single; Gustavus A., of Elyria, Ohio; Gabrielle, in Missouri, single; Bertha, who died single; Edward, who lives at Peoria, Illinois; and Arthur P., of this review.

The early education of Arthur Pierre Lagron was secured in the public schools, following which he became a student of civil engineering, and at the age of twenty years entered upon the practice of his chosen calling. Coming to Lorain County in 1892 he secured employment with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, and subsequently was with the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad. When he left the latter company he engaged in private practice and built up a substantial business, becoming known as one of the skilled and reliable civil engineers of this part of Ohio and engaging in much important work. For a time he acted in the capacity of city engineer of Lorain, but resigned from that position. Mr. Lagron gave up his practice in 1905, when he founded the Lagron Coal and Supply Company, Incorporated, to the development of which he hag since devoted his activities. From a modest beginning it has grown to large proportions and is now accounted one of the firmly established commercial adjuncts of Lorain. Mr. Lagron is a member of the Masons and the Knights of Pythias and is popular in fraternal circles. He is a public-spirited and stirring citizen and gives his support to all movements which make for civic betterment and advancement.

' In February, 1899, Mr. Lagron was married to Miss Josephine Amelia Billings, of Elyria, Ohio, daughter of Henry M. Billings, a merchant of that city. They have one daughter, Mary Margaret.

CLAaupE B. Brivin. The City of Elyria - ''The 100% City'' - can boast of no more enthusiastic and helpful promoter and supporter of its varied industries and interests than Claude B. Bivin, secretary of the Elyria Park Amusement Company. Now in a substantial position among the business men of his adopted community, Mr. Bivin's career is typical of those of many of Ohio's foremost citizens. He entered upon life's struggles without advantages, worked his own way and learned as he worked, pushed himself forward by sheer energy and indomitable grit, and all the time kept his eyes upon a higher goal. Still a young man, his accomplishments have been many and his life story is an interesting and instructive one.

Mr. Bivin was born on a farm in Owen County, Indiana, near the Village of Spencer, September 18, 1877, and is a son of William B. and Verlinda (Dickerson) Bivin, natives of Kentucky, the former born in Bourbon County and the latter in Clark County. They were married at Mount Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky, and after their marriage left the old home in the Blue Grass State and migrated to Owen County, Indiana, where William B. Bivin, who had been born on a farm and had been a farmer all his life, purchased a tract of 196 acres, near Spencer. On this he continued operations until 1383, although the farm was not sold until 1907. The parents are now living at Lexington, Kentucky, where William B. Bivin is engaged in the express business, owning his own equipment. There were six sons and two daughters in the family, three of the children being deceased: Thomas Owen, named after Owen County, Indiana, now a resident of Lexington, Kentucky; Frank W., also of Lexington; Hattie, who is the wife of J. S. Daugherty of that city; Claude B.; James T., who died in 1903, aged twenty-eight years, at Lexington; Walker, who died in infancy; Lull, who is now Mrs. Moses Baker, of Oakley, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio; and John, who died in infancy. All were born in Owen County, Indiana, except the last-named, whose birth occurred in Kentucky, and Claude B. and Mrs. Baker are the only residents of Ohio.

The education of Claude B. Bivin came from the public schools of Kentucky, .and when he was still a small lad he displayed his industry and ambition by carrying newspapers on the streets of Lexington, being engaged as a newsboy for some fourteen years. He then entered a livery business as clerk, remaining two years, and for a year followed the vocation of drayman, but was not satisfied with the outlook and devoted himself to learning the trade of telephone lineman. In that capacity he removed to Toledo, Ohio, and after a short time went to Maumee, where he was put in charge of work of this nature and retained that position nine months. Thus he also received his introduction to the City of Lorain, where for three years he continued work as a lineman and for seven months worked in the shipyards engaged in wiring boats for electric lights, ete. In 1905 he embarked in the grocery business at Lorain, at the corner of First and Reed streets, but after one year and ten months sold out to become a traveling salesman for the A. R. Champney Company, of Elyria, wholesale liquor dealers, continuing on the road for that concern for six years.

In November, 1910, Mr. Bivin was elected sheriff of Lorain County, taking office January 2, 1911, and his term was so satisfactory to the people that in 1913 he was re-elected, by the largest majority of any official in the county. He has always taken a keen interest in democratic politics, and is accounted a leader of his party in Lorain County. On Saint Patrick's Day, 1914, Mr. Bivin bought out the business of the Walk Over Shoe Company, at No. 138 Cheapside, from Fred C. Wolf. This business he purchased merely as a speculation, and while he still owns it has no active participation in its management, as he prefers employment which keeps him out of doors. However, he has placed it under the capable management of Mr. M. B. Faulhaber, an old-time citizen and shoe merchant of Elyria, under whose supervision the husiness 1S proving an excellent investment.

On July 1, 1914, Mr. Bivin founded the Elyria Park Amusement Company, an enterprise located on the Elyria Fair Grounds, of which he has since been secretary, and at the present time is acting manager. Here are conducted various kinds of amusements during the summer months, including automobile races, carnivals and picnic parties, and first-class entertainments of all kinds are offered the public. The grounds are finely situated, everything is conducted in an orderly and strictly respectable manner, and Mr. Bivin is meeting with the splendid success which he deserves. He is also interested as a stock holder and director in the Elyria Cedar Post and Lumber Company. He is a working member of the Chamber of Commerce, and in local parlance is a live wire. a hustler and a good mixer with his fellow men. Fraternally he is widely and popularly known, being a member of the Knights of Pythias; King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons. Marshall Chapter No. 57, Royal Arch Masons and Elyria Council No. 86,

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Royal and Select Masters; Elyria Lodge No. 465, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Elyria Lodge No. 431, Fraternal Order of Eagles; and Elyria Lodge No. 778, Loyal Order of Moose.

Mr. Bivin was married December 1, 1902, to Miss Edna M. Hinish, of Maumee, Ohio, who was born, reared and educated there, a daughter of Thomas and Ella M. (Reed) "Hinish. Her father, who died in 1900, was a well known citizen of Maumee and for more than twenty- five years proprietor of the Maumee Paper Mills, and her mother still resides at that place. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bivin: Thomas Hinish, born at Lorain, Ohio, April 9, 1905, and now attending the graded schools ; and Harry v erome, born at the county jail at Elyria, while his father was serving as sheriff, October 12, 1912, who is considered by his parents ''An 100% Boy.

Tuomas B. ALLison. By hard and successful work as a farmer, by good citizenship, by an influence steadily directed toward the betterment of his own family and the community in which he lives, Thomas B. Allison has played a worthy part in Lorain County, where he has conducted a large farm for many years.

A native of Ohio, he was born in Ashland County, November 5, 1864, a son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Provines) Allison. The Allisons were among the early settlers of Ashland County. Alexander Allison was

.born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1806 and died in 1889. He went to Ashland County when young, and was twice married, Thomas B. Allison being the child of his second wife. There were twelve chil-

* dren altogether, six by each marriage. Besides Thomas B. there are two daughters living, one by the first and one by the second union; Rachel, who lives at West Salem, Ohio, is by the first union, and Anna, who lives with her brother Thomas, is by the second union.

Alexander Allison was a man of more than ordinary influence and prominence. He was active in the Presbyterian.Church, and held some office in that denomination for many years. Politically he was a republican, and filled various township offices. A man of good education and of the strictest integrity, he was frequently honored with trusts, particularly in administering estates. In Ashland County he had cleared up a large tract of land, and made a success of farming.

Thomas B. Allison spent his boyhood days in Ashland County, attending the public schools there, and he also had other courses in higher schools at Cleveland. His first regular vocation was school teaching, and from that he went to a farm. His father was incapacitated for regular work at the age of fifty-four, and it was Thomas who took charge of affairs and kept the estate together in his declining years. Later he bought the old homestead, buying the interests of the other heirs, and managed it for several years. He then took a business course and spent nine months in Toledo as a bookkeeper and six months at Akron. On first coming to Lorain County Mr. Allison was on the road for two years selling goods, and then was in the office of the railway at Wellington for some months.

On December 22, 1897, he married Mary Elizabeth White, daughter of Samuel White, a farmer and cheese maker. Mrs. Allison was born in Lorain County. She was a successful teacher for four years. They have six children. Forest Alexander, born February 22, 1900; Ruth Marion. born May 17, 1901; Grace Eliza, born November 11, 1903; Howard Raymond, born March 9, 1905; Truman Bennett, born July 4, 1908 ; and Dorothy Elizabeth, born December 1891912. Mrs. Allison is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

years, and was secretary for eight years. Politically he is a republican. For eleven years he filled the office of township trustee and every public duty has been thoroughly discharged by him.

It was in 1900 that they bought their present farm of 257 acres, now known as ''Riverby,'' and in the past fifteen years have been constantly working for its improvement and development. Among other things he has tiled a large part of the land, and has erected several substantial buildings. His enterprise is largely general farming and he also keeps a herd of nine thoroughbred Holstein cattle and graded Holstein stock.

WILLIAM RayMOND Comincs. Not every well-meaning man, although leading in a community's citizenship perhaps, is able to realize the present need of a wider and deeper service that the public schools should give. Radical changing conditions in economic and social lite, call for new and better methods and it is encouraging to learn of the remarkable and gratifying results that have been obtained in some sections by the arousing of intelligent public opinion by progressive educationalists. To illustrate, the public schools of Elyria, Ohio, with their enrollment of 2,934 pupils, very largely through the earnest. faithful, wise and farseeing efforts of Supt. William Raymond Comings, have been given unusual advantages. There are an adequate number of buildings with complete equipment for the most approved modern methods of instruction and for health and comfort. fire-proof aud amply safe guarded. There are play grounds and play rooms: there is a corps of teachers with professional training; there is a high school that fits students for college, and there is vocational work in hoth high and grade schools. The bringing about of such changes within the short space of fourteen years, makes an interesting chapter in the educational history of Lorain County and centers attention upon the educator mainly responsible.

Wiliam Raymond Comings was born February 16, 1851. at East Berkshire, Franklin County, Vermont, and is a son of Andrew and Amanda Comings. His father was a farmer in Franklin County. all his immediate ancestors being tillers of the soil. On the paternal side the family is of English extraction and may be traced as far hack as the reign of Henry VIII. Like many other ancient families the orthography of the name has changed, but the Comines, the Comyns, the Cummings and the Comings all came from the same sturdy stock.

Of studious bent and inquiring mind, young Comings soon absorbed the instruction offered in the country schools in his boyhood. and, as agricultural effort did not appeal to him, he prepared for higher educational opportunity and entered Oberlin College. from which institution he subsequently received the honorary degree of A. M. He further pursued his studies in other institutions. studying at the normal school at Kirksville, Missouri, and at Chicago, and while a resident of Chicago he served as mercantile collector for one year.

After completing his proposed courses of study, Mr. Comings aecepted the position of superintendent of schools at Medina, Ohio. where he remained for eight vears, going then in the same capacity to Norwalk, Ohio, for nine years, and from there to Ironton, where he remained two years, in each city leaving a marked impress on the public school system. Mr. Comings then displayed his versatility by snecessfully engaging in newspaper work at Springfield, Missouri, for five vears. and for two years at Lorain, Ohio. On retiring from the journalistic field he aceepted the superintendeney of the Elyria public schools and to their uphuilding and welfare he has devoted fifteen vears of fruitful endeavor.

During this period the school enrollment at Elvria has increased from 1,400 to nearly 3,000. To care for the increase during this time there have been erected twelve entire or parts of school buildings, including the new manual training building on Sixth Street. Under Mr. Comings' Supervision many new departments have been installed, these including the kindergarten, physical training in all grades, with physical examination of all pupils, manual training and domestic science and arts in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades and high school, special schools for ungraded children and a vocational school for boys who are not eligible for regular high school work. All these departments are in fine running order and that this progressiveness appeals to many young people outside the city is attested by the fact that each year many paying pupils enter the Elyria High School from the different townships in the county eager to enjoy the advantages here afforded.

In accepting a re-election in 1915, Mr. Comings issued a letter in which he said, in part, as follows: ''If I see aright there are still larger and perhaps more vital problems coming in the next ten years than those of the past ten, and they will call for the efforts of expert and farseeing supervision. The old-time educational shell has been broken, but what the new life is to be will depend upon the wisdom and sagacity of a new generation of men who are rapidly coming to the front, men trained in the great schools of investigation that have been fathered by some of the large universities with their corps of pedagogical experts. It is time for old men and for men who hark back to the old conditions to retire.''

At Medina, Ohio, August 1, 1878, Mr. Comings was united in marriage with Miss Loretta Kennedy, who is a daughter of William and Elizabeth Kennedy, and a descendant in direct line. from Alexander Hamilton. Mr. and Mrs. Comings have two daughters: Josephine, who is the wife of J. A. Egbert, of Indianapolis, Indiana; and Marian E., who resides with her parents. The family attend the Congregational Church.

Ever concerned in the public welfare, Mr. Comings has long been an aroused student of political history and is affiliated with the republican party. Seldom has he found time to serve in public office but for a quarter of a century he performed the duties of county school examiner in Medina, Huron and Lorain counties. Widely known in educational circles, Mr. Comings is a member of various educational bodies and is chairman of the executive committee of the Ohio State Teachers' Association. Genial by nature, sympathetic and tactful, he is welcomed in every social circle and values his membership in several such bodies at Elyria and in other cities. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Young Men's and the Young Women's Christian associations and of the board of managers of the Memorial Hospital, all at Elyria.

Measured by high standards, Mr. Comings as superintendent of the schools has been a pronounced success and whether he remains at Elyria beyond his present term or not, the avenues of usefulness he has opened and the illumination he has thrown through his rare personality and his progressive methods, along many paths, will show the great and lasting service he has performed for this city. All that he has done has heen so useful and so admirable that approval cannot be witheld by those who have either education, industrial efficiency or child welfare at heart.

Hon. WituiAm B. THompson. 'The recent appointment of William B. Thompson as judge of the new Court of Common Pleas in Lorain County has brought a new distinction to the career of one of the oldest and most prominent lawyers and business men in this section of Ohio. Judge Thompson has been identified with the profession of law for more than twenty-six years, though he is perhaps best known through his extensive relations with public and business affairs.

In the fall of 1914 Judge Thompson was republican candidate for the office of judge of the Court of Common Pleas, his rival for that office being H. G. Redington. The election being contested, the Circuit Court ordered a recount, which showed the vote to have been a tie. The case then went to the Supreme Court, which in the spring of 1915 affirmed the decision of the Cireuit Court of Appeal, and declared that Mr. Redington, who had already been seated on the bench by appointment from Governor Cox would continue in office until the next election. <A new turn was given to the matter when the Lorain County Bar Association petitioned the Legislature to create another judgeship on the ground that there was too much work for one judge. The Legislature then passed the necessary legislation, and on May 20, 1915, Governor Willis selected Mr. Thompson for the newly created position.

The family to which Judge Thompson belongs is one of the oldest in Lorain County. He is himself a native of Columbia Township of this county, where he was born September 6, 1863, a son of Samuel B. and Emular L. (Osborn) Thompson. His paternal grandfather, John V. Thompson, was a Connecticut man and one of the earliest to settle in Columbia Township. The maternal grandfather, William B. Osborn, was born in Columbia Township, where his father, A. P. Osborn, had located as early as 1810, having also come from Connecticut. Samuel B. Thompson, who is still living in Columbia Township nearly eighty years of age, was born there in 1836, and spent all his active life as a farmer. His wife, who was born in the same township in 1837, died in July. 1899. Judge Thompson's only brother, John B. Thompson, is a stock farmer and dealer in Columbia Township.

When Judge Thompson was eleven years of age his parents left the old farm in order to give their son the better educational advantages found at Berea. William B. Thompson completed the high school course there, and in 1885 was graduated bachelor of philosophy from Baldwin University. Following his college career came a year as a farmer and school teacher, but in 1886 he entered the law office of Judge G. M. Barber, at Cleveland, and a vear later went into the office of Judge A. R. Webber, of Elvria. When Judge Thompson qualified as the judge of the new Court of Common Pleas he took the oath of office before Judge Webber, who is also a notary public.

Admitted to the bar in 1888, Judge Thompson has had a long and successful career as a lawyer. For many years his home has been in the City of Lorain. and he is the first citizen of that city to reach the dignity of judicial office. He still retains his residence there, and goes back and forth to attend court in Elyria.

Few practical business men in Lorain County have had larger and more influential relations with financial and industrial affairs than this well known attorney. He was one of the three organizers of the old Penfield Avenue Savings Bank of Lorain, was its president for twenty vears after organization, and when the bank was reorganized under the new name the Central Bank Company he continued as president, an office which he still holds. Judge Thompson is also president of the Home Building Company of Lorain, and was president of the Barrows Milling Company until it was succeeded by the Houff-McNeil Company, in which he is vice president and a director. He is a director of the Cleveland, Columbus & Southwestern Railway Company, a director of the Black River Telephone Company and is vice president of the Amherst Furniture Company of Amherst. He is also president of the Tri-County Realty Company. On taking his seat as judge he gave up, as the law requires, a long standing relation with the Lake Erie and Pittshurg Railway Company. He organized this company, was its vice president and director while it was being constructed, managed its legal affairs, and the main office of the road was in Mr. Thompson's office at Lorain. In his work as a lawyer Judge Thompson has had few partnership relations. In 1899 George L. Glitsch became a member of the firm of Thompson & Glitsch, and later A. W. Cinniger joined them under the title of Thompson, Glitsch & Cinniger.

For a number of years Judge Thompson was a trustee of Baldwin University, his alma mater, until the recent consolidation of that insti- _tution. He organized and incorporated the Lorain Chamber of Commerce at Lorain, and was its first president. In July, 1913, Judge Thompson completed twenty-six years of service as attorney "for the Citizens Home and Savings Association Company of Lorain. The most important political office he held prior to his appointment as judge was as mayor of Lorain, to which he was elected in April, 1890, and again in 1892. J udge Thompson is an active Mason; is affiliated with Lorain Lodge No. 552, Free and Accepted Masons; Mystic Chapter No. 176, Royal Arch Masons; the Council and also the Lorain Commandery of the Knights Templar. He belongs to Black River Lodge No. 682, Independent. Order of Odd Fellows, to Lake Shore Encampment No. 242. He and his wife are members of the First Methodist Church at Lorain.

On December 17, 1890, Judge Thompson married Lulu Sanford, daughter of the late Rev. James L. Sanford, of Delaware, Ohio, who spent his last days in Lorain. There are two children: Helen Marie, the older, is a graduate of Gunston Hall at Washington, D. C., and also spent a year in the Boston Conservatory of Music at Boston. The son, Robert William, is now attending high school at Lorain. Judge Thompson is a member of the Elyria Country Club.

Mas.-Gen. Quincy A. GILLMoRE. The nation owes a lasting debt of gratitude to the services of a notable group of men from the Western Reserve of Ohio who as soldiers or statesmen gained individual renown and made themselves invaluable to the Union during the dark period of the Civil war. Every school boy could recall some of these names, notably James A. Garfield and William McKinley, but in his special field as a military strategist one of the ablest was Quincy A. Gillmore, who was born in the Black River community, now the City of Lorain, February 25, 1825, and during the war earned an international reputation as an organizer of siege operations and a revolutionizer of naval gunnery.

A member of the well known Gillmore family of Lorain County and a son of Quartus Gillmore and wife, mentioned elsewhere, Quincy Adams Gillmore as a boy attended the Norwalk Academy and the Elyria High School. He began to study medicine and wrote for publication. There was a vacancy at West Point and the boys appointed failed to pass. Finally, in attempting to find a suitable person, Gillmore was recommended because of his integrity and scholarship. He was not in the neighborhood at the time and so missed seeing the gentleman who was looking for him. Hearing of it later, he mounted his horse and rode to an adjoining town, where he overtook him just in time to secure the appointment, which was going to another. He acquitted himself with credit as a cadet, graduating in 1849 at the head of his class and entered the service.

General Gillmore's fame as an artillery officer was established during the siege and capture of Fort Pulaski, Georgia, in 1862. At this siege and bombardment he planted his batteries at distances which previous to this time were thought to be suicidal, but in less than two days he reduced the fortress which had been pronounced by eminent engineers as impregnable.

of Fort Pulaski revolutionized the naval gunnery of the world and extended his fame throughout Europe as well as America. For this service he received the brevet of leutenaut-colonel and was made brigadier-general of volunteers April 28, 1562. His next notable success was with the noted ''Swamp Angel,'' a gun used in the siege of Charleston. The gun was apparently planted in the edge of the sea, but really in the shallow marsh between Morris and James Island. There a firm foundation was laid, a low breastworks put up in a circle around the guus, and 100-pound shells were *'dropped'' into Charleston. But it was only fired thirty-six times, exploding at the last discharge. , Other guns soon after did as effective work, but the ''Swainp Angel"' is remembered because it first proved the practicability of the method.

Later, with the Tenth Corps, he took part in the final operations of the Army of the James River. He was breveted four times tor meritorious conduct, the last time as major-general United States Army '*for gallant and meritorious conduct in capturing Forts Wagner and Gregg and for the demolishing of Fort Sumter.'' He resigned his volunteer commission as major-general in December, 1865,

After the war General Gillmore was engaged upon important engineering work, and his name is most intimately associated with the improvements of the harbor at Charleston and Savannah and with other like works along the Atlantic Coast, and, as president of the Mississippi River Commission, with the great works which have been projected for the rectification of that important waterway. His treatise on roadmaking and paving is regarded as the highest authority. Not long after the war General Gillmore bought back the old farm on Black River. converted it into a vineyard and occasionally visited it. He died at Brooklyn, New York, April 11, 1888.

Epmtunp Gitumore, Few families antedated the Gillimores in settlement in Lorain County, and in the agricultural, commercial and ship building communities around the mouth of Black River at what is now the City of Lorain none were more prominent in the early days. For more than a century the name has been one of the most effective In the entire county.

Before taking up briefly the life of the late Edmund Gillmore it will be appropriate to say something of his parents and grandparents. The Gillmores were of English and Scotch ancestry. Edmund and Elizabeth (Stuart) Gillmore, paternal grandparents of the late Edmund Gillmore, were born in Massachusetts, and from that state came out to what was then known as the Connecticut Western Reserve in 1811. settling in what is now Lorain County, where Mr. Gillmore secured wild land, became a farmer, cleared and improved a large acreage and in its cultivation passed the rest of his days. There is record for the years 1843-44 of his owning land both in Amherst and the Black River Township. Edmund and Elizabeth Gillmore were the parents of ten children, nine sons and one daughter, briefly referred to as follows: Quartus, born July 1, 1790; Aretus, who was born in Massachusetts. September 7, 1792, and died in Lorain County; Orrin, who was born in Massachusetts, September 27, 1794, and died in Cuyahoga County. Ohio; Simon, born in Massachusetts, August 19, 1796. and died at Detroit. Michigan in 1833, having been a ship carpenter by trade: Truman, born October 25, 1798, and died in Lorain County in 1881: Linas. born January 12, 1801, and died in Lorain County in 1881: Roxana. horn February 9, 1803, was married in Lorain County to Robert Wright. and died in the State of Oregon: Alanson, born April 12, 1805, and died in Lorain; Edmund, born March 19, 1808, and died in Minnesota; and James Madison, born July 1, 1811, and died at Lorain.

Quartus Gillmore, the eldest of the children above mentioned, was born in Massachusetts in 1790, being a native of Chester, Hampden, County. When twenty years of age he came to Western Reserve in 1810, but lived here only temporarily and was soon back East. He again came to the West in 1812 and at that time located on land about a mile west of Black River, now the City of Lorain. He made the long journey from Massachusetts with wagons and teams. He married Eliza- _beth Reid, who died in 1876, having survived her husband seven years, his death taking place in April, 1869. Quartus Gillmore was an active whig in politics, and became a republican when that party was organized. For many years he served as a magistrate and about 1837 was appointed the first trustee of Black River Township in Lorain County. For several vears after settling in Lorain County he followed farming, and in the early °30s joined with others in platting a tract of ground around the mouth of Black River and incorporating the Village of Charleston, now the City of Lorain, where he spent the rest of his days. Quartus Gillmore and wife had four sons: Gen. Quincy A., one of Lorain County's eminent soldiers in the Civil war, whose career is sketched elsewhere; Edmund, Cornelius R. and Quartus, Jr., and four daughters, Elizabeth, Sophia, Alice and Roxana.

The late Edmund Gillmore was born in Black River Township of Lorain County, February 10, 1833, and died at the City of Lorain on Thanksgiving Day in 1902. He was educated in the public schools of his native township, and at the age of fifteen became an employe on one of the lake boats, making trips to Oswego, Chicago and all the lake ports. He was a sailor for ten years, and was also employed in the ship yards around Lake Erie, working as a ship caulker. While thus engaged on one occasion he received a severe injury which made him an invalid the rest of his life, and for forty-two years he never walked a step. However, he was able to attend to business and filled various local offices, such as justice of the peace, treasurer of the school board, assessor, township clerk for fifteen years, and for more than twenty years as notary public. He was first elected justice of the peace in 1863, and served in that capacity thirty-nine years. For ten months he was with his brother, General Gillmore, in New York City acting as shipping agent and assistant draughtsman. He was an active republican and a man of the highest character.

In 1857 Edmund Gillmore married Miss Adelaide E. Gillmore, a daughter of Alanson and Evelyn (Jones) Gillmore. Her father came out of Massachusetts about the same time as the other members of that family, and was identified with the early shipbuilding interests at the mouth of Black River. He was later a farmer, and in 1880 removed to Lorain, where he died when about ninety years of age. Mrs. Edmund Gillmore was born November 22, 1833, on Washington Street in Lorain. She spent practically the entire eighty-two years of her life in one community, and saw a village of 300 inhabitants grow and develop to a city of more than 30,000 people. She was the devoted companion of her husband for nearly half a century, and many tributes were paid to her as a pioneer woman of Lorain County at the time of her death in July, 1915. She was one of the early members of and for many years an active worker in the First Congregational Church at the corner of Washington Avenue and Fourth Street. She was also one of the members of the Old Friends Circle, which was organized in 1888, and until her death she never failed to attend each annual meeting of that organization. For forty-four years Mrs. Gillmore occupied the old homestead on Washington Avenue opposite the City Park. Mrs. Gillmore's only surviving sister is Mrs. Fannie Wilford of Lorain. The only son and child

Quincy A. GILLMORE. Named in honor of his distinguished uncle, the late Maj.-Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, one of the greatest soldiers and engineers produced by Lorain County, and whose career is_ briefly sketched on other pages, the subject of this brief article has for more than thirty years enjoyed high standing and esteem as a lawyer and citizen at Elyria.

A son of the late Edmund Gillmore, whose career has been presented in these pages, Quiney A. Gillmore was born in the City of Lorain, then called Black River, May 12, 1859. His youth was one of inspiring associations and excellent advantages. He attended the common schools up to 1872, following which he was for four years in the Elyria High School, was a student for one year in Oberlin College and one year in Western Reserve College and in 1881 graduated A. B. from the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware. He had already determined upon the law as his profession and after two years in the Cincinnati Law School was graduated LL. B. in 1883. Admitted to the Ohio bar, he began practice at Elyria in the fall of 1884 and is now one of the senior members of the local bar. He has found within the strict limits of his profession a pleasant employment for all his time and energies, has for years enjoyed a large and profitable practice, and so far as his regular business is concerned is first and last a lawyer. His many friends also speak of him as a whole souled gentleman, a charming companion and though his qualities are rather positive than negative he has acquired firm and lasting friendships, and has made his influence count for much in behalf of the movements for local welfare undertaken during the last thirty years in Elyria. His law offices are in the Elyria Block.

Only once was Mr. Gillmore drawn into the political arena. In 1894 he was candidate for prosecuting attorney of Lorain County and lost the election by just one vote. Both before that and since he has been active as a republican, a worker for party success, and in these modern times acknowledging his position as a stand patter. Mr. Gillmore is a member of the Lorain County Bar Association, of the Elyria Country Club, of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, and has affiliations with the various branches of Masonry and with the Knights of Pythias. He is a member of King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons; of Marshall Chapter No. 47, Royal Arch Masons; of the Seottish Rite Consistory at Cleveland and the Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland.

On November 27, 1884, at Delaware. Ohio, Mr. Gillmore married Miss Frankie G. Brown, who was born in Delaware. a daughter of Jacob A. and Nancy A. (Graham) Brown, both now deceased. They have one son, Seott E., who was born in Elyria August 23, 1890. This son was graduated from the University School at Cleveland in 1910, spent one year in the Case School of Applied Science at Cleveland. and then entered Yale University, where he pursued a course of mechanical engineering and was graduated Bachelor of Philosophy in June, 1914. He is now employed by the Warner-Swasey Company of Cleveland.

CHARLES F. Apams, lawyer and present prosecuting attorney of Lorain County, has had his home in the City of Lorain for the past eighteen years. No attorney in Lorain County stands higher in the estimation of his fellow lawyers than Charles F. Adams, and it is noteworthy that while he has conducted his office with utmost fearlessness and with fidelitv to duty, his popularity has suffered nothing in consequence of his official acts.

He represents a very old family in Northern Ohio. He was born at Olmsted Falls in Cuyahoga County, September 9, 1872, a son of L. B. and Hulda B. (Carpenter) Adams. His grandfather, Ransom Adams, was a native of Connecticut, where the family had lived for a number of generations. Ransom Adams when a young man left his home in Waterbury, Connecticut, and going west settled at Olmsted Falls in Cuyahoga County; Ohio. He was a useful factor in that early community, and followed his trade of wood turner until advanced years came upon him. He was also a licensed preacher, and in the early days he filled many pulpits as a supply Methodist minister. Ransom Adams married Phoebe Underhill, descended from an old New England family. These two people met some years after Ransom had come to Ohio. They had four children: Lorenzo, Cynthia, Wilbur and James. The two youngest sons were drowned while boys in Rocky River. The daughter married Asel Osborn.

Lorenzo B. Adams, father of the Lorain lawyer, was born in Olmsted Falls, Ohio, in 1833. During his youth he learned the trade of tinsmith, and he followed that until his death, when still in the prime of life, at the age of fifty-three. Along with his work as a tinsmith he conducted a small hardware store at Olmsted Falls and the management of this store devolved upon his widow after his death. Mr. Adams enlisted in 1861 in Company B, First Ohio Light Artillery. Upon the expiration of his first enlistment he enlisted in the Highty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, serving until the close of the war. He was avery public spirited man and did much to help any worthy cause. He served eleven years as mayor of Olmsted Falls. Mrs. Adams showed much capacity in conducting the business for about fourteen years, being assisted in the meantime by her son, Lorenzo B., Jr., and also. during vacation terms by her son, Charles. Mrs. L. B. Adams before her marriage was Hulda B. Carpenter, a daughter of Caleb and Susan (Haynes) Carpenter. Lorenzo B. Adams, Jr., who is now engaged in the real estate and brokerage business on Long Island, New York, married Eva Haight. After the death of her first husband Mrs. Hulda Adams married, in 1900, George Avery, who is now deceased. In religious belief the Adams family has always adhered to the doctrines of the Congregational Church.

There was just enough of hardship and privation in the early life of Charles F. Adams to keep his energy and ambition at a high tension. As a boy he attended the public schools of Olmsted Falls, and he also continued his literary education at Baldwin University at Berea and in the Ohio Northern University at Ada. He was still a boy when he set his ambition for the law, and he had done much reading along that line before he entered law school.

In 1892 Mr. Adams entered the law department of the University of Michigan, where he was graduated LL. B. in 1894. His first field of practice was at Niles, Ohio, where he remained a year and a half. It is interesting to recall the fact that his first office was in the building where the late President William McKinley was born. From Niles he removed to Cleveland, where he continued practice in the office of George Foster, and had some experience that proved very valuable to him during the two years he spent at Cleveland in association with Mr. Foster.

In 1898 Mr. Adams established his office and residence at Lorain, and since that time his reputation as an able lawyer and high minded citizen has spread over all the townships of Lorain County. He has handled a number of very important cases tried in the district courts. During 1905-06 he served as city solicitor of Lorain. In November, 1912, Mr. Adams was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney of Lorain County, beginning his official duties January 1, 1913. He was re-elected in 1914, and is a candidate for re-election in 1916. During his administration he has shown great executive ability and it is well understood that never before in the history of the county has the office of prosecuting attorney exhibited a cleaner record than that made by Mr. Adams. ;

He takes much interest in fraternal affairs, and is affiliated with the Patriotic Order Sons of America at Lorain, the Woodland Lodge, Knights ot Pythias at Lorain, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Lorain, and other fraternal bodies.

In 1895 Mr. Adams married Miss Florence Terrell, who was born at North Ridgeville, Ohio, a daughter of Clayton and Cyrene Terrell, both members of old Lorain County families. Mrs. Adams' great-grandmother was a sister of General Halleck of the Revolutionary army. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have two children. Thelma is now a student in the New England Conservatory of Music at Boston. The son, L. Burton, is still in the public schools at Lorain.

S. JESSE GEORGE, during the past five years, has been associated with very many of the largest and most important real estate transactions at Elyria. That he has attained unusual prominence and demonstrated marked ability in this direction is seemingly a refutation of the adage that "'the shoemaker should stick to his last."' for his inclinations as a youth led him to a widely different channel of usefulness, and his career as an engineering accountant of railroads, covering a period of fifteen years, was no less successful than has been his management of his present business.

Mr. George was born at Bairdstown, Pennsylvania, April 21, 1864, and is a son of Mathew and Rachel (Lowry) George. His father. a native of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, was in his earlier years a merchant and kept the Canal Supply Store, a general store during the prosperous years of the canal, but later turned his attention to land surveying and passed his entire life in Westmoreland County, where he died, at the age of sixty-three years. He was one of his community's prominent and influential men, and was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. George, who was born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, died at Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, at the age of ninetyseven years. There were five sons and one daughter in the family, all of whom grew to maturity, and all of whom are now hying except the daughter: William, of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Daniel Lowry. a resident of Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania; Lewis, of Blairsville, that state; Nettie, who died at Irwin, Pennsylvania, as the wife of Tobias Crock; Robert M., of Blairsville; and 8. Jesse.

S. Jesse George received his education at Blairsville Academy and preparatory schools, and at Curry Institute, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After leaving school he followed civil engineering for two vears. and then, his earlier instincts influencing him, he entered upon a career as an engineering accountant of railroads that covered fifteen vears. He was with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Chicago & Northwestern and the Baltimore & Ohio railroads at different times and various places. being located at Norwalk, Painsville and Cleveland while with the first named road; material agent for the Chicago & Northwestern in the construction work of double-tracking the road through Towa, and stationed at Ames, Iowa, during that time; and while with the Baltimore & Ohio was chief clerk of engineering of the Cleveland Division, with headquarters at Cleveland. After that for several vears he was variously employed, and in 1903 came to Elyria, where he became construction clerk in the employ of the National Tube Company. After participating in the erection of the numerous mills that were built at Lorain at that time, Mr. George became secretary to the chief engineer of the National Tube Company, and held that position until 1910.

Having in his long and extensive' railroading experience witnessed the possibilities of the great Middle West in the way of real estate transactions, he resigned his position at that time and embarked in the realty and insuralce business at Elyria. Since that time his services have been in very general demand. His attention is devoted to the buying and selling of real estate, the renting, care and management of property, the paying of taxes for non-residents, acting as notary public, and dealing in life, fire, accident, tornado, plate glass and automobile insurance and surety bonds. His offices are maintained at Nos. 206-8 Masonic Temple. His great capability and thorough knowledge of values, coupled with many years of business association with men of affairs, render him a valued medium for the successful carrying through of deals of importance, aud his business slogan, ''Let George do it,'' is widely known not only at Elyria, but all over the surrounding county. Mr. George is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce.

On June 4, 1890, Mr. George was married to Miss Mabel C. Beard, of Carnegie, Pennsylvania, and to this union there have been born two daughters: Alice and Alma both graduates of the Elyria High School. Mr. George is a leading republican. Fraternally, he is a member of King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons, past commander of Elyria Commandery, past high priest of Marshall Chapter, and secretary of Marshall Chapter and present recorder of Elyria Council and Elyria Commandery. Mr. George's manner and bearing are those of the brainy, successful man of business, and he thus possesses peculiar advantages for his chosen vocation. His friends are as numerous as his acquaintances, and his career in the real estate business at Elyria is undoubtedly destined to be a brilliant and successful one.

CHarLes H. Savace. It seldom happens that an earnest purpose, a mature experience and full mastery of details, and industry and close application, do not overcome all the traditions which are supposed to militate against success. An apt case in point is that of the well known Elyria jeweler and silversmith, Charles H. Savage, whose establishment at 401 Broad Street is the best known shop in the trading district. Mr. Savage is not superstitious, and has effectively refuted some popular notions by starting his independent business career on Friday the 13th of November, 1901. That was the beginning of his career as a jeweler independently, and the continued success and growth of his enterprise is at least one strong evidence that prosperity is not subject to lucky auspices of beginning. :

Throughout practically all his life Charles H. Savage has lived in Elyria, where he was born February 8, 1867, a son of John and Harriet (Hobill) Savage. His father was born in England, came to the United States with his parents when a boy, grew up on the old home farm in Avon Township of Lorain County, and subsequently moved to Elyria, where for many years he conducted a meat market on Cheapside where the Wilder Cigar Store is now located. He died in Elyria, March 18, 1895. Politically he was a republican, but after one experience as a city councilman in Elyria for a term had a sufficiency of practical politics, and cared for no other active participation in that line. He was one of the honored business men and left his family the heritage of a good name. His wife, who was born in Massachusetts, came with her parents when a girl to Elyria, and she died in that city in 1908. Their two sons and one daughter are still living, Charles H. being the oldest, George W. being a conductor of the Green line of electric transportation, while the daughter, Annie E., is now Mrs. B. A. Francis, the wife of a grocer in Elyria. All the children were born and educated in Elyria.

The early education of Charles H. Savage was gained in the public schools of his native city and he also attended high school and a business college. Up to the age of eighteen he had some experience in working with his father in the meat market, but then started to learn the technical side of the business in which he is now engaged. He became an apprentice in the establishment of John Murbach, the veteran jeweler and silversmith who is still in business at Elyria and remained with that employer for eighteen years, learning not only the trade but also the details of the business from the selling standpoint. He also attended for some time the technical school conducted by John L. Finn,-the old jeweler and watchmaker, who had a small school for instructing boys in the trade. Mr. Finn is still living in Elyria, though now retired from business. After all these years of apprenticeship and experience in the employ of others, Mr. Savage finally started at the time mentioned in a business of his own, and now has a splendid establishment centrally located in the shopping district.

Besides his successful business record he has shown himself a public spirited citizen in supporting many movements for the good of the community. Mr. Savage is a director in the Savings Deposit Bank and Trust Company of Elyria, a stockholder in the Elyria Savings & Banking Company, president and a director of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, and holds stock in several other local enterprises. He is well known socially, being a member of the Elyria Country Club, the Elyria Automobile Association, is identified with the First Congregational Church, and takes much part in Masonic affairs. He is affiliated with King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons: Marshall Chapter No. 47, Royal Arch Masons; Elyria Council No. 86, Royal and Select Masters, of which he is now past thrice illustrious master; Elyria Commandery No. 60, Knights Templar, also Thirty-second Degree Seottish Rite and Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland.

On October 15, 1890, early in his business career, Mr. Savage married Miss Anna E. Ernne, who has been his capable companion and homemaker for twenty-five years. Mrs. Savage was born in Elyria, is a graduate of the high school, and in 1914 was honored with the office of president of the local alumni association. Her parents were Mathias and Elizabeth (Walters) Ernne, both of whom were born in Switzerland. Her father died at Elyria, January 17, 1906, and her mother is still living.

J. C. Hitt. Few banking institutions in Northern Ohio have a more notable record than the Savings Deposit Bank & Trust Company of Elyria, with which Mr. Hill has been identified since its beginning as a private bank years ago, and of which he is now president. It has been a conservatively managed institution, and emphasis has always been placed upon strength rather than mere size. However, the company now stands in the front rank of banks as to its tangible assets, and at the close of business in 1914 its total resources aggregated more than $2,000,000. A report of the condition of the company at that time showed capital stock of $211,900, surplus of $100,000, undivided profits of over $23,000, and deposits of approximately $1,740,000. Its banking house at one of the principal corners in the business district of Elvria, has been a landmark in the financial life of that city for many vears. The names of the principal officers are: J. C. Hill, president; C. M. Braman, and C. E. Blanchard, vice presidents; James B. Seward. cashier, and F. R. Eckler, assistant cashier. The list of directors includes other men of the highest financial standing in Lorain County.

fifty years ago he was a practicing lawyer at Elyria and gave up the law for business and has long been a forceful figure not only in local finance but in civic enterprise. A native of Erie County, Ohio, he was the son of E. P. and Sarah Hill, both natives of Connecticut, from which state father and grandfather came as pioneers in the little community of Berlin Heights in Erie County. E. P. Hill served as a member of the Ohio State Senate from Erie County in 1852-53.

J. C. Hill finished his public education in the high school at Berlin Heights, and subsequently attended Antioch College at Yellow Springs, Greene County, where he was under the instruction of the great educator, Horace Mann. He graduated A. B. from Antioch in 1860 and studied law at Cleveland, where he was graduated from law school LL. B. in June, 1861. He then came to Elyria with a young lawyer whose acquaintance he had formed in Cleveland, Judge J. C. Hale, who was for a number of years identified with the Lorain County bar and is now living retired in Cleveland, and is mentioned elsewhere in this publication. These two young lawyers came together to Elyria and practiced as partners one year, Mr. Hill then being in practice by himself for the same length of time, after which he resumed partnership with Judge Hale and so continued until 1864.

In 1864 Mr. Hill largely gave up the law and formed a co-partnership in the live stock business with the late W. A. Braman, whose personal record will be found on other pages. For three years they were together in business, and this was a period of financial profit to both members, and for several years following that Mr. Hill was engaged in the nursery business, and had an extensive trade both wholesale and retail.

On November 1, 1872, Mr. Hill with the late T. L. Nelson, organized and opened the doors of a private banking house, with unlimited liability of stockholders. At the end of the second year there were twelve members of the company, and their aggregate resources at the command of the bank amounted to $500,000. It was largely the character of the men behind the institution which insured its early success and gave it the unbounded confidence of the public. As a result the bank was soon able to double its capital from its own earnings, and at the same time paid regular dividends to stockholders. In the early days it was known as the Savings Deposit Bank of Elyria, and without doubt was one of the most flourishing and safest institutions of the kind in the state. The reorganization and incorporation as a regular stock bank under the title The Savings Deposit Bank Company were effected in 1890. Its paid up capital at that time was $200,000, besides a surplus of $12,000. In March, 1893, the bank carried loans to the extent of over $1,000,000 and had deposit accounts aggregating $950,000. Mr. Hill was the first cashier and manager of the company, and on the death of Mr. T. L. Nelson, the president, in 1890, was elected his successor, and in connection with the chief executive office has since had the practical management of the company. Mr. Charles M. Braman, who is vice president and a director now shares the responsibility of management with Mr. Hill. A sketch of Mr. Braman will be found elsewhere.

On January 2, 1861, at the outset of his career as a lawyer, Mr. Hill married Miss Etta M. Wilson, of Elizabeth, New Jersey. They first became acquainted while schoolmates under Horace Mann at Antioch College. Mrs. Hill lacked one year of graduating from Antioch. To their long and happy union were born five children, of whom two are still living. Frank, the oldest, graduated from Oberlin College with the class of 1883 and died in Denver, Colorado. Ralph W., was reared and educated in Elyria where he is still living. Arthur E. also died in Colorado. Edith L., who was born at Elyria, was graduated from the high school and pursued a higher education at the National Park Seminary in Washington, District of Columbia, is now the wife of Ernest Motimer, a manufacturer of ladies corsets at Derby. Connecticut. The youngest child, Harry, was accidentally shot at Elyria hy a companion some years ago.

In politics Mr. Hill is a republican, but his work has been more notable in the broad fields of citizenship than as a partisan. For many years he was a member of the board of education of Elyria and its president from 1888 to 1908. He is now the oldest living member of King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, is a past master of the lodge, and also a Knight Templar Mason. He belongs to the Elvria Chamber of Commerce, and is a stockholder but not now a member of the Elyria Country Club. Mr. Hill is a man of broad views. of extended experience with men and affairs, has a keen quick perception, and at the basis of his unusual success as a financier is the sterling integrity of his character, the quality which has secured him the unlimited confidence of the people with whom he has come in contact. As an executor he has settled several large estates in addition to his duties as a banker, and these duties he has discharged with characteristic fidelity. Mr. Hill is also president of the Citizens Building Company of Elyria: president of the Home Land Company of Elyria: president of the Hill Realty Company: and treasurer of the Lorain Realty Company.

FRANKLIN PELTON Crosse. The present Lorain County surveyor is a civil engineer of more than fifteen years' practical experience in his profession, in which he has made a record of constant advancement. In 1899 Mr. Crosse was a rodman in the employ of the Sheffield Land and Improvement Company of Lorain. In 1901 he became connected with the United States Geological Survey as an assistant. and in 1903 was made engineer with the Ohio Engineering Company.

In 1905 Mr. Crosse was appointed assistant and deputy to the county survevor. In 1914 he was elected county surveyor for the term heginning September 6, 1915, and on February 15, 1916, was appointed survevor by the county commissioners for the unexpired term of T. L. (Gibson, deceased. In politics Mr. Crosse is affiliated with the republican party.

Franklin Pelton Crosse represents some old and honored family lines both in Ohio and in New England. He was born at North Amherst, Ohio, February 20, 1880, a son of Dr. Asahael Allen and Ella G. (Pelton) Crosse. The paternal grandfather was Rev. A. A. Crosse of Cincinnatus, New York. At Cincinnatus Dr. A. A. Crosse was born, and leaving home at the age of thirteen took up the struggle of life for himself. Later he paid his way through a medical schoo] at Willoughby. Ohio, an institution now absorbed in the Western Reserve University. He began practicing medicine at the age of eighteen, and after his marriage located at Amherst, where he continued his work as a physician and surgeon until his death. He had a large practice, covering a wide scope of country, and was also a good business man, and at one time owned 640 acres of land in Amherst and Brownhelm Township. He sold some of this land but at his death owned 312 acres. He and his wife were married at Vermillion, Ohio, where Miss Pelton was born, and after a residence of a number of yvears at Amherst he moved to his farm and tried to retire from his heavy practice. It was almost impossible, since his patients were insistent upon his tried service, and he was the trusted medical adviser in many a household until his death. He was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and held the offices of township clerk and justice of the peace of Amherst

Township and was the first mayor of the incorporated Village of North Amherst, and during the term of President Johnson was postmaster of that village. He died on his farm west of North Amherst, September 13, 1882. His widow is now living in Elyria, and Franklin P. Crosse was the only one of their children to reach maturity.

Mr. Crosse comes of a notable maternal ancestry. His maternal grandfather was Franklin Pelton of Vermillion, Ohio, and a descendant -of John Pelton. John Pelton was born in England about 1616 and belonged to the Essex branch of Peltons or Poltons. He came to Boston between 1630 and 1633, as is proved by the appearance of his name and a description of his property in the ''Book of Possessions'' the oldest land record of Boston. In Boston his possessions were described as one house and household lot bounded with Owen Roe west; the street north; the cove south; and the marsh on the east. The land comprised lots 104 to 108 on the south side of the Essex Street from Washington Street eastward. About 1635 he moved to Dorchester, then a few miles up the Boston Peninsula, but now a part of the City of Boston. Dorchester had been settled a few months earlier in that year. Either in 1635 or 1636 he became by grant or purchase a joint owner of the Dorchester Patent, and received his share as did also his heirs in its many divisions. He was one of the forty-seven owners of the ''Great Lots.'' That he was admitted among the very select company at Dorchester is sufficient proof that his character and religious opinion were considered correct. The only item of information concerning his wife is found in his will, which gives her Christian name as Susanna. They were probably married about 1643. He was a young man when he came to Boston, and some additional light is thrown on his occupation by the words of the will which shows that he was engaged in the fisheries, then as now an important industry. He died in Dorchester, January 23, 1681. He had three sons, John, Samuel and Robert, and a daughter Mary. His widow probably lived until May 7, 1706, and various circumstances indicate that she was the ''old Mother Pelton'' who was buried . May 10, 1706. Mention is made of her burial in Clapp's History of Dorchester (page 281) compiled from the records of the oldest church there, and as it was an unusual record she must have been a very well known person.

From John and Susanna Pelton the line of descent runs as follows: Samuel Pelton, second son of John, was born at Dorchester, Massachusetts, about 1647 and died about 1713-14. John Pelton, second son of Samuel, born at Dorchester January 9, 1682, died July 15, 1735. Josiah Pelton, the fifth son of John, probably born in Haddam, Connecticut, in 1714, died February 2, 1792. Josiah Pelton, Jr., fourth son of Josiah, was born at Chatham, now Portland, Connecticut, March 5, 1772, and died July 9, 1834. He had an eventful career. He went to sea as a cabin boy, became a sailor before the mast, and later captain and owner of a vessel. He was engaged in trade with the West Indies and also the Spanish Main, touched at many ports in both North and South America, and did much business in Brazil and Guiana. In 1811, during the Mexican insurrection under Hidalgo, he was captured while in command of a vessel owned by himself and his brother Moses. The vessel and $30,000 in specie were confiscated and he was held as a captive for three years. On being released he found that his vessel had been sold and owing to the destruction of his papers was unable to recover any of the property. After this disaster he abandoned the sea, and in June, 1815, gathered up his family and with a wagon drawn by an ox team started for Ohio. In August he arrived at Euclid, near Cleveland, where in the previous year his cousin Jonathan Pelton, a son of Joseph Pelton, had settled. In 1819 he bought land a portion of which had been cleared, and with it a log house, from John Sherrart, in Vermillion, Huron (now Erie) County, and removed to the new farm. It was in the midst of the wilderness, and his home was close to the haunts of wolves, deer, bear, and wild turkey, and even the Indians still roamed the woods. Though he had applied himself vigorously to the new life of farmer, he could not forget the old vocation, and living close to the Lake Erie shore he built a small vessel, which he named Franklin in honor of his youngest son. He died at Vermillion in 1834. Franklin Pelton, the fifth son of Josiah, Jr., was born at Portland, Connecticut, November 13, 1814, and died February 27, 1897, in Vermillion, Ohio. Among his eleven children Ella Gertrude, who became the wife of Dr. A. A. Crosse, was the eighth. She was born April 2, 1855, and is still living at Elyria.

Franklin P. Crosse secured his education in the Elyria public schools and the Ohio Northern University at Ada. From that he entered his practical career as a civil engineer at the age of nineteen, and has been steadily engaged in some department of his profession to the present time. Mr. Crosse has taken both the Scottish and York Rite degrees in Masonry. He belongs to all the Masonic bodies from Blue Lodge to Knight Templar at Elyria, including Elyria Commandery, and _ the Consistory bodies at Cleveland, including Lake Erie Consistory of the thirty-second degree and also Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He attends the Congregational Church of Elyria.

At Wooster, Ohio, December 22, 1906, Mr. Crosse married MAliss Gertrude Elizabeth Marnin, daughter of William and Mary (Herwick) Marnin. Her father was a miner and coal mine superintendent through the Ohio fields, and died in 1910 at Doylestown, Ohio, where his widow is now living. Mrs. Crosse was born near Doylestown at Silver Creek, and is a graduate of the Doylestown High School. She received her musical education, both instrumental and vocal, at the Academy of Our Lady of Lourdes, Cleveland, Ohio. She is a member of the Eastern Star. They have one son, Franklin Pelton Crosse IT.

Oscar G. Dunn. For a young man who only recently passed his thirtieth birthday, Osear G. Dunn has proved an exceedingly live member of the Elyria business community, and has identified himself in so many wavs with local affairs that he was recently chosen to the important office of county commissioner. He began to be self supporting when only a boy, and consequently his practical career has heen longer than his years would indicate.

He was born in Bellwood, Pennsylvania, April 29, 1884, and is a son of William Henry and Mattie K. (Godard) Dunn. His parents were married in Mapleton, Pennsylvania, where the mother was born, while the father was a native of Bellwood. Wilham H. Dunn was a contractor in the tinning, plumbing and hardware supply business at Mapleton and later at Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Owing to the disastrous flood at Johnstown in 1889 he moved to Lorain in Lorain County and became assistant superintendent in the tinning department for the Johnson Steel Company. This company it will be recalled was later merged with the National Tube Company. On account of health the father finally returned to Johnstown, where he died in 1899. The mother is still living at South Lorain. The father was a very active member of the Baptist Chureh in Johnstown, served as superintendent of the Sunday school, but had formed no active chureh connections in Lorain. The mother is now equally diligent in her attention to church duties as a member of the Presbyterian Church at South Lorain. In the family were eight children, three sons and five daughters, seven of them reaching maturity. In order of age they are: Mrs. Charles Drusendahl of

Elyria; Mrs. Harry Kirtley of Johnstown, Pennsylvania; Oscar G.; Mrs. Anna Barclay who lives along Rural Route No. 2 out of Lorain; Mrs. R. Glasser of Spokane, Washington; Stewart Dunn, who lives with her mother in South Lorain; Hershel, who is a wireless operator, and as his whereabouts have been unknown to his family for the past two years it is not known whether he is living or not. All the children were born in Mapleton and Bellwood, Pennsylvania, with the exception of "Stewart, who was born in Johnstown and is a twin sister of the one who died at the age of two years.

Oscar G. Dunn for his education attended the public schools of Johnstown, and when nine years of age came with an aunt from Johnstown to Lorain, and after that had practically no schooling, since he became a boy worker with the Johnson Steel Company of Lorain. After four years in that industry he was a clerk in the South Lorain Savings Bank, now known as the City Bank of Lorain, remaining in that service four years. There were no prospects of advancement and his salary was low, consequently he resigned, and was soon engaged in learning a trade with the National Tube Company of Lorain in the electrical department. That might have constituted for him a permanent business, since he was connected with the company for seven years, until a serious injury caused him to leave his work, to which he has never returned. His next work was with the Pennsylvania lines in the ticket office at Pittsburgh for two years, but by that time having considerable experience and with confidence in his own ability he left the railroad and engaged in business for himself at Elyria, opening a real estate and insurance office. Mr. Dunn has been a permanent resident of Elyria since 1906 and none of the young business men of the city has a better standing in the community. In November, 1914, he established the Amherst News, a weekly paper that has served its purpose well. Mr. Dunn was its principal owner and manager, but a few weeks after the business was incorporated in 1915, retired from the enterprise in order to have more time for his duties as county commissioner, and while he has sold his real estate and insurance business to enable him to devote his undivided time and attention to the office of county commissioner, he still retains some valuable investments in real estate in Elyria and vicinity.

He has the distinction of having been the youngest man ever elected to the Elyria City Council, on which he served two terms or four years. In November, 1914, he was elected one of the county commissioners of Lorain County, for the term of two years beginning in September, 1915. In polities he is a republican and very active, having been a voter and worker in the party interests since he reached his majority.

Mr. Dunn is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of the Maccabees. His name is also found among the members of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, and he belongs to Harlan P. Chapman Camp of the Sons of Veterans at Elyria. His eligibility to that order is based on the fact that his maternal grandfather George Godard was a gallant soldier in the Civil war.

Mrs. Dunn before her marriage was Miss Clara E. Dreitzler, daughter of B. F. and Martha (Schwartz) Dreitzler of Lorain, Ohio. She was born, reared and educated in Lorain and since her happy marriage on January 15, 1908, they have lived in Elyria. Their one son, Ronald Oscar, was born at Elyria, September 19, 1910.

Henry W. INcERSoLL. The family to which this prominent and old established attorney of Elyria belongs is one of the very oldest in Lorain County, where it was founded almost a century ago by his greatgrandfather, Maj. William Ingersoll, who came from Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and was the first of the name to penetrate the wilderness which then prevailed over Grafton Township, with whose history and development the subsequent generations of the Ingersoll family have been so closely identified. Mr. Ingersoll still owns part of the ancestral domain in Grafton Township, a place that had been developed and owned for many years by his grandfather, William Ingersoll, and which was the birthplace of his father, George M. Ingersoll, as well as his own place of birth. Of these well known characters of successive periods in the history of Grafton Township, further information is supplhed on other pages of this work.

Born on the old Ingersoll farm, a son of George M. and "Mary (Preston) Ingersoll, Henry W. Ingersoll had a rural environment for his youth, attended the public schools of Elyria, and received his higher education in the University of Michigan, partly in the hterary department and in the full course of the law school, from which latter he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1885. Mr. Ingersoll has been engaged in practice at Elyria since 1886, his first partner having been Lester McLean, who in 1891 left Elyria and removed to Denver, Colorado. In July, 1903, Mr. Ingersoll formed a partnership with Frank A. Stetson, who is now assistant prosecuiing attorney of Lorain County, and their relations were continued until September 1, 1910. In October, 1912, Mr. Ingersoll became associated with R. F. Vandemark, under the firm name of Ingersoll & Vandemark, and this firm continued until October 1, 1915. since which time Mr. Ingersoll has maintained his practice of law alone, with offices in the Masonic Temple.

Mr. Ingersoll has taken an active part in Masonry, being aftiliated with King Solomon Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, Marshall Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Elyria Council, Royal and Select Masters. and Elyria Commandery, Knights Templar. and was the local citizen who procured the site for the Masonic Temple Building and was first president of the Masonic Temple Company. He belongs also to the Elvria Chamber of Commerce, the Elyria Automobile Club, the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and the Tippecanoe Club, of Cleveland.

In the course of his long practice as a lawyer, Mr. Ingersoll has acquired varied and important interests and is first vice president of The Elyria Savings and Banking Company, secretary and director of The Machine Parts Company, chairman of the board of directors of The Elyria Enameled Products Company, a director of The Lorain County Savings and Loan Company, the Fay Stocking Company, The Elyria Knitting Company, the Home Land Company and the Citizens Building Company, secretary and director of The Parts Realty Company, and president of the Cadillac Veneer Company, of Cadillac, Michigan. and is officially identified with a number of other corporations. For many years he has been treasurer and one of the trustees of the Elyria Library and for more than thirty vears has been active in the First Congregational Church, having held several of the church offices and also serving as superintendent of the Sunday School.

Mrs. Ingersoll before her marriage was May Belle Hamilton. a native of Berea, Ohio, and a daughter of Leonard G. and Cassandra M. Hamilton. Their children are: Mary Cassandra, who graduated from Elyria High School in 1909, spent one vear at Maryland College for Women, Lutherville, Marvland, and graduated from Oberlin Kindergarten Training School in 1912, and now lives with her parents; and Henry Walter, who is now attending the public schools of Elyria.

THomas LoTHRop NELSON. Few men did more to impress their strength and individuality upon the business and civic life of Elyria than the late Thomas Lothrop Nelson, who was continuously identified with that locality for over forty years preceding his death, which oceurred February 21, 1891, and during that time rose to a first rank among the county's leaders and philanthropists.

His. was a career in which character was the all dominating factor. Of New England birth and ancestry, he possessed the rugged «ualities which have long been familiarly associated with that people. With an indefatigable vigor and extraordinary capacity for taking pains he combined an incorruptible honesty which allowed him to aspire only to that kind of success which is accomplished with truth and righteousness.

Mr. Nelson was born at Lyme, Grafton County, New Hampshire, January 11, 1823, a son of Asa and Sarah (Gilbert) Nelson. His mother's father, Maj. Thomas Lothrop Gilbert, in whose honor he was_ named was long a prominent citizen of Lyme, New Hampshire. The Gilbert family had emigrated to Lyme from Hebron, Connecticut, and at the time of the birth of the late Mr. Nelson his ancestors had lived in that one locality for at least 180 years, and the old Gilbert homestead, in which he was born, is still occupied by one of the family's relatives. Asa Nelson, his father, was a merchant at Lyme, but died when his children were still small, leaving his widow without means. She possessed a strong heart, and made a courageous battle with adverse circumstances in rearing her small children. The conditions of his childhood were such that Thomas L. Nelson had to face the serious aspects of life at an early age. He spent much of his boyhood in the family of his grandfather Gilbert. Early manifesting a practical and studious nature he made the best use of the few educational advantages which the locality afforded. For a time he attended Thetford Academy, a noted institution in Vermont not far from his old home. All his life Mr. Nelson was a close student and careful reader, and wisely mingled the knowledge gained from books with his observation of men and affairs. On leaving school he spent about two years as clerk in a dry goods store in his native town, and this was his preliminary training for a business career. On attaining his majority, he started for the great West with its golden opportunities. He reached Oberlin, Ohio, where he spent some time in the home of Deacon Porter Turner, who had married an aunt of young Nelson. His ambition at that time was to acquire an education in Oberlin College but conditions were such that he went through a long and successful career without a collegiate degree. On arriving at. Oberlin his possessions consisted of $1 in money and a small bundle which he carried in his hand. Out of his early struggles Mr. Nelson gained a sympathy for aspiring youth which never left him, and which in fact led him to extend a helping hand on many occasions to boys whose lot seemed similar to his own. He soon left Oberlin, walked all the way to Mansfield in Richland County, and after many attempts and failures to find employment secured a position as clerk in a dry goods store. That clerkship he held about six months.

A kind Providence directed his steps toward Elyria, where he entered the store of Baldwin, Starr & Company. In their employ he quickly showed the stuff of which he was made. At the end of five years of industry, strict economy and self-denial he was promoted to a partnership, and the business was reorganized under the name Starr & Company. In 1857 the firm of Baldwin, Laundon & Nelson was formed, and Mr. Nelson: became known throughout Lorain County as an honest, upright and successful merchant. His house conducted the largest business enjoyed by any mercantile establishment in Lorain County, and there were very few families who did not have more or less regular dealings with the establishment. The firm also conducted a large store at Wellington in this county. In 1872, having retired from merchandising, Mr. Nelson became associated with J. C. Hill in organizing the old Savings Deposit Bank of Elyria, became its chief stockholder, and was the honored president of that institution until the date of his death.

His business success constituted only a part of his attainments as a citizen and factor in local prosperity. He was one of the most valuable men of the community and was regarded as a tower of strength in any movement or meeting for the consideration of business, civic or religious or moral problems. Perhaps as a result of his own early struggles to secure an education, he showed particular interest in broadening those facilities which would make schools and their advantages free to all. For thirty-one years he served as a member of the board of education in Elyria, and for eighteen years was president on the board. For nearly twenty years he was a trustee of Oberlin College. The only other public office which he held was as mayor of Elyria for one year, and he steadfastly declined all other political honors urged upon him. As to politics Mr. Nelson east his first vote for a whig candidate, and afterwards was a member of the liberty and republican parties as they successively came into existence.

The Congregational Church of Elyria will always honor his name and memory, since for thirty-seven years he was one of its most constant attendants and one of the most ready to bear the burdens of its maintenance. He was a regular worker in its Sunday school. It is said that when a young man Mr. Nelson laid down certain rules for the governing of his life, among which were emphasized the principles of honor, strict business integrity and Christian charity.

The late Mr. Nelson was three times married. July 24, 1851, he married Miss Lueretia Churchill, daughter of Judge Churchill of Lyme, New Hampshire. Her death occurred January 18, 1853, and her only daughter, Lucretia, became the wife of Rev. E. P. Butler of Sunderland, Massachusetts. August 21, 1856, Mr. Nelson married Miss Mary L. Moody of Chicopee, Massachusetts, who died February 13, 1863. The three daughters of this marriage are: Mary L., now the wife of Mr. A. L. Garford. a prominent manufacturer of Elyria, whose interesting career is found on other pages of this work; Lizzie Gilbert, who died in childhood; and Sarah M., the widow of Robert Frey, now living in Pasadena, California. Ten years after the death of his second wife Mr. Nelson married, February 19, 1873, Miss Frances H. Sanford of Elyria. Mrs. Nelson died November 16, 1915. She was the daughter of Frederick Burr and Eveline (Nichols) Sanford.

Jounx Lerscu. The work by which John Lersch has most distinguished himself among his fellows has been as a merchant. His active career, dated from his mercantile apprenticeship, covers more than six decades, during which time he has sold goods to a widening circle of patronage in Lorain County and for many years has been at the head of the John Lersch & Company, operating the largest dry goods store hetween Cleveland and Toledo. Probably every resident of Lorain County knows this Elyria emporium, which occupies more floor space, has a larger pay roll of employes, and probably sells more goods than any other two stores in Lorain County. A merchant who for so many years is identified with one community necessarily possesses the best qualities of the business man - integrity, a settled policy of square dealing, and the ability to win and keep the confidence of his customers. Many of the patrons of the John Lersch & Company knew that place of business when they were children. The ''good will'' of such an

This veteran merchant of Lorain County was born in. Duerkheim in the Bavarian Palatinate, Germany, on July 25, 1841. His parents, Karl and Louise (Schweitzer) Loersch, always spelled their name in that way, but John Lersch subsequently simplified the spelling by dropping the ''o.'' In 1851 the family emigrated to America, embarking on a sailing vessel at Havre, France, July 25th of that year, and landing in New York September 4th, being forty days in crossing the Atlantic. They went directly to Cleveland, thence to Mansfield, from there to North Dover, Cuyahoga County, where the father bought a forty-acre farm about thirteen miles east of Elyria. Later in life the parents moved to Elyria, making their home with their son John. His mother died February 21, 1878, aged seventy-eight years, and his father on March 1, 1887, aged eighty-two years.

On April 13, 1854, when our subject was twelve years of age, he entered the store of H. E. Mussey and Company on a thirty-day trial. The month of probation was marked by a strict application to business on his part and constant punctuality so that at the end of the prescribed time indentures were signed for three years. The compensation he received for the first year was $40 and his board; for the second year $50; for the third year $75, and for the fourth year $175 and board, his salary being advanced in proportion to his promotion in the store.

In 1858 8. W. Baldwin, T. W. Laundon and T. L. Nelson bought out the firm of H. E. Mussey & Company, and John Lersch remained with them until they retired from business in 1872. They then sold the dry goods department of the business to D. C. Baldwin & Company, of which John Lersch was the junior partner. He was already a master merchant, and by hard training was ready for every fresh responsibility. He soon built up one of the largest retail stores in the state, and in the meantime he had expanded his knowledge as a practical salesman and store manager to an equal expertness in the buying of goods. The D. C. Baldwin & Company was continued until 1880, when the name was changed to Baldwin, Lersch & Company, although at that time Mr. Baldwin had partially retired and Mr. Lersch was carrying the chief responsibilities of active management. :