Sandusky Township (part 47 of 57)

On November 8, 1903, Doctor Allen married iliss Nellie Kilgore, who was born January 5, 1878, also in Venango County, Pennsylvania. She was partl.y reared there and partl.v in Bowling Green, and is a graduate of the Bowling Green High School. Her parents, Andrew J. and Susan (Baker) Kilgore, were born in fiercer County, Pennsylvania, of Scotch and German stock. Andrew Kilgore's father was Hon. John J. Kilgore, a noted character in local politics in Western Pennsylvania, and elected several terms to the State Legislature on the democratic ticket. He spent his life in Mercer Count.v, where he died at the age of eighty-eiglit. Mrs. Allen's parents are still living at Bowling Green. Her father was born in August, 1840, and her mother in July, 184.5. Both are active memliers of the Presbyterian Church and Mr. Kilgore has been an elder for two score years or more. Politically he is a republican. Doctor and ]\Irs. Allen have three children : Mary, boru July 19, 1905, and now in the junior class of the local high school; John Jackson, boru November 7, 1907, in the fourth grade of the public schools; and Susan, boru January 22, 1912. Doctor^Allen and wife are members of the Presbytei-mn Church, in which he is serving as a trustee and formerly as an elder. In politics he is a republican.

W. H. C. Monroe of Elida, is a veteran lumberman both as a dealer and manufacturer, and is active head of the ilouroe Screen, Blind and Partition Company, manufacturing chiefly devices of his own invention. The main office of this firm is at Lima, and the factory is at Berkley, Virginia.

Mr. ilonroe was born September 4, 1864, in Logan County, Ohio, a son of John W. and ilariau (Beeson) Monroe. His father was born in Marian County, Virginia, and the mdtlirr ill ^b)ntgomery County, Ohio. John A\'. AliiiiiMJc was brought to Shelby County, Ohio, iiy his parents when he was ten years of age. Grandfather Monroe was a farmer and one of the early settlers of Shelby County, where he lived until his death at the age of seventy-five. John W. Monroe was a very active citizen in Shelby County, served as township trustee for many years, and was a very devout and active member of the Baptist Church. He died in 1902 and his wife passed away in 1912. Their family of four sons and three daughters are all still ]iviii<;-.

The oldest of the family, AV. II. ('. .AI(.iiim(% grew up on a farm, attended the imlilic s.-lmols of Shelby County and for several years was a teacher in his home locality. His first experience in the lumber business was at Sidney, Ohio, where he continued until 1890, when he removed to Lima. The ]\[onroe Screen. Blind and Partition Company was first established as a lumber mill at Berkley, Virginia, in 1882. In 1895 the business was reorganized when Mr. ]\Ionroe formed a partnership with his brother, which lasted for three years, at the end of which time he bought out the interests of his brother and then continued alone for four years. Air. Monroe has had his home in Elida since 1910, though he divides his time between the factory at Bei-kley, A^'irginia, and the offices in Lima.

The Monroe Screen, Blind and Partition Company manufactures as a specialty the Alonroe AVood Rolling Partitions. Air. Alonroe is the inventor and patentee of the inside sliding blind and the sliding window screen, articles which are turned out in large quantities by the factory, and for which there is a steadily increasing demand.

Air. Monroe is a Knight Templar Alason, and was a charter member of the Babi Commandery of Ohio at the time of the National (:V)uncil" at AVashington, D. C, in 1884.' He w as also a charter member of Ben Hur Lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church and in politics is a democrat. For eight consecutive yeai-s he served as a member of the city council of Sidney, Ohio. He is now judge of elections of German Township and Elida A^illage. Air. Alonroe has been twice married. He has one daughter by his first wife and five children by his second union.

Rev. Francis L. Hultgen, for many years pastor of St. Joseph's Catholic Church at Tiifin, is a man of many interesting talents and attainments, and has manifested a great deal of zeal in the cause of local history. He is president of the Seneca County Board of A'"isitors and also chairman of the local Exemption Board of Seneca County. He is now serving as president of the Seneca Coiuity Historical and Archaeological Society at Tiiifin and is the advisory and contributing editor for Seneca County to the present "History df Xortliwi-st Ohio." Two years ago he wa> appoiiitcd a Dean of the Dineese of Toledo and sim-e its inception in 1911 he has served as a Consultor to his Right Reverend Bishop.

Father Hultgen was born in Lorraine, France, April 3, 1864. His father, John Hultgen, who died in 1886, was a member of the bodyguard of Napoleon III. Father Hultgen studied the classics in the gymnasium at Aletz and philosophy at Luxemburg.

Coming to America in 1885, he entered St. Alary 's Theological Seminai-y at Cleveland, pursuing also the philosophical course there, and was ordained by Bishop Gilmour on December 19, 1889. His first pastorate was St. AIarv''s Church at Kirby in AVyandot County. He entered upon his duties with gi-eat energy and soon had plans perfected for a new church, the cornerstone of which was laid in June, 1890, and the church wab dedicated November 17, 1891. He was pastor at Kirby for thirteen yeare and three months, and throughout that time he displayed many other qualities that made him conspicuous as a leader and organizer and a forceful member of the community irrespective of church affiliations.

Father Hultgen became pastor of St. Joseph's Church iu Tiffin on March 17, 1903, and his labors here during fourteen years have been followed with a great revival and expansion of church growth and welfare. Father Hultgen is a thoi-ough scholar and as a linguist he speaks and writes French and German as fluently as English and also kuows the Italian. His knowledge of music has been an invaluable aid to him in his work, and has been constantly employed in the services and ceremonies of his church.

John Burns Duff. Since learning his trade as a plumber and tinner in a shop at Brooklyn, New York, John Burns Duff lias had a varied and versatile experience in many different localities, but chiefly in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. From a journeyman worker he gradually developed interests until he acquired a business of his own and is now proprietor of the J. B. Duft' plumbing establislunent at 525 South ^lain Street in the City of Findlay.

Mr. Duff, who is of Scdt.-li-lrish stock, was born in 1856 at Penfield, Monroe County. New York, near tlif Citv of Rocliester. He is a son of William and Eliza (Burns) Duff. His father was lioth a farmer and .surveyor, and after scttliii'.: in Indiana he served eight years as coiiiitv surveyor of LaGrange County. The early rliililliood of John B. Duff was .spent chiefly in Wyoming County, New York, at East Gainsville, Castile and Ferry Center. He attended country schools in those localities. When he was about eight years of age tlip family moved out to Lima in LaGrange County, Indiana, where his education was completed in the LaGrange Normal School.

When quite young Mr. Duff went to Brooklyn, New York, and served an apprenticeship in the shop of his uncle. Edward Burns, at 557 ]\Iyrtle Avenue, who eondncted a .stove and tin shop in that city. His apprenticeship lasted four years and at the end of that time he was well qualified for master workmanship in the trade. In 1S76 he returned to Lima, Indiana, haviiie- iluriiie- his residence at Brooklyn attended a ui^ht s-hool and received a certificate of iziaduation in the commercial course. After going back to Indiana he worked on his father's farm a time and then re-entered LaGrange Normal School, where he remained until he was given a diploma as teacher.

Mr. Duff never followed teaching, but took up active work at his trade in Sturgis, Michigan, with A. W. Wright, hardware merchants, plumbers and tinners. He remained M-ith Mr. Wright 21/0 years and then formed a similar connection with George H. Schriver of St. Louis, Jlichigan. He had charge of the plumbing and heating establishment of that firm for twelve yeai's. In 1891 Mr. Duff came to Findlay, Ohio, and after two years with Coates Bi'others, plumbing and heating, he acquired a quarter interest and became associated with John Decker in the same business for one year. He then opened up a shop of liis own, and that business has been continued, with various changes necessitated by the increase of his trade, until he came to his present address.

Mr. Duft' was married to Etta Martin, daughter of Solomon Martin of Palmyra, Ohio. They have two talented children: Howard IMartiu Duff and Helen Frances Duff. Howard M. Duff has developed his talents as a cartoonist and commercial artist and is now located in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Duff' in politics votes the republican national ticket and for the best man in local affairs. He is aiifiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America.

Chables William Green, of Toledo, has had an experience that well qualifies him for the responsibilities of his position as sales agent for The Long-Bell Lumber Company. He gained his fii-st knowledge of lumbering in his native Province of Ontario, Canada. He has facts and figures and a practical acquaintance with the lumber regions both east and west, north and south, gained by years of active association with the business in all its phases.

Mr. Green was born in Ontario, Canada, January 25, 1866, a son of George and Sarah Ann Green. Both parents are now deceased. They had seven children, four still living, and Mr. Green was the third in order of birth. As a boy he grew up at Brampton, Ontario, and attended the public and high schools there, and also the Ontario Agricidtural College at Guelph, Ontario.

When the time came for him to choose an occupation of his own, he found woi-k with an uncle, William R. Thistle, a lumber merchant and manufacturer in Canada, and spent three years with him. During that time he laid the foundation of his thorough knowledge of lumbering. His next location was at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where for three years he was in mercantile agency work in the employ of R. G. Dun & Company. Going out to the Pacific Coast, he resumed his associations with the lumber business, but in 1897 went to the uutraveled regions of Alaska. He was attracted by the discovery of gold ill the Klondike and probably has as much first hand information concerning that country as any other resident of Toledo. As a mining prospector he walked and. followed dog trains over thousands of miles of Alaska scenery and visited every promising gold field in that country.

After three years of that arduous northern life Mr. Green returned to the United States, spent a short time at Seattle, Washington, then returned east.

In 1901 Mr. Green came to Toledo and has been a resident of that city for the past fifteen years. Upon the organization of The Belcher- Stine Lumber Company he became their traveling salesman and sold their lumber over a large territory for three years. In 1910 Mr. Green became identified with The Long-Bell Lumber Company. The Long-Bell Lumber Company has its business headquarters at Kansas City, Missouri, owns large numbers of mills and Vast tracts of pine and hardwood all over the Southwest, and is one of the largest lumber corporations in the United States today. Mr. Green was on the road for this company three years and in 1913 was given his present responsible position as sales agent for the Toledo territory, with offices in the Spitzer Building. He has the general oversight of the distribution of The Long-Bell Lumber Company's products over the greater portion of Northwestern Ohio, Eastern Michigan, and Western Ontario, the sales in this territory being supervised from the Toledo office.

Mr. Green is an interested member of the Toledo Commerce Club, Fellows Craft Club of Detroit, ^Michigan, and belongs to the Union Association of Lumber and Sash and Door Salesmen, and the Michigan Association of Traveling Lumber and Sash and Door Salesmen. The family are members of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Toledo. Ohio.

]\rr. Green married Miss Beatrice Robertson, of Kansas City, Missouri, and they are the parents of two children, ]Mary B. E. and Charles W., Jr.

Walter F. Shaw, who has been identified with educational work at Bowling Green for many years, is one of the best known school men in Ohio, since his work in connection with the Department of Public Instruction calls him into service as an inspector of high schools over a large part of the state.

About half of each year Mr. Shaw spends as a regular instructor in the State Normal at Bowling Green, and from September to February travels over the state as a school inspector. In 1905 Mr. Shaw became principal of the Bowling Green High School and in 1911 was elected superintendent of the city schools. He held that position until 1914, when he was appointed to his present relationship with the State Normal.

Mr. Shaw is a native of Morrow County, Ohio, and a member of one of the oldest and best known families in and around Cardington. He was born February 29, 1884, and grew up at Cardington, graduating from high school in 1900. He soon afterward entered the Ohio Wesleyan University, where he received his A. B. degree in 1905. He has been a constant .student during his school work and in 1910 was awarded the Master of Arts degree by the Ohio Wesleyan and has since taken post-graduate work in the University of Chicago.

Mr. Shaw is a son of Frank Shaw, who was born near Cardington, Ohio, and grew up in a district where the Shaw family located in pioneer times. Frank Shaw, whose full name is Lewis Francis Shaw, is a son of Henry John and Caroline (Lewis) Shaw, a grandson of John and Pamelia (Messenger) Shaw, and a great-grandson of John and Elizabeth (Brown) Shaw. The Shaw family is of Scotch descent and for many generations were identi- 'fied with the Quaker Church.

The Shaws were identified with the very early settlement of Morrow County. John Shaw, Sr., great-gi-eat-grandfather of Professor Shaw, came from Chester County, Penns.ylvania. He bought 400 acres of military land in the extreme north side of what is now Westfield Township in Morrow County and abutting on the Greenville Treaty line. With his wife and family, consisting of four sons and four daughters, he started in the spring of 1804 to locate. They arrived at a settlement on the Whetstone, the first settlement made in Delaware County, and there learned that his land was twenty miles farther north. He remained in Delaware Coiinty for four years. In the spring of 1808 he proposed to his son Jonathan to give him his choice of 100 of the 400 acres if he would at once settle there. Jonathan selected the northern part of the tract, a beautiful siluntimi on a small stream since known as SIkiw ('r.i'lc. A space was cleared, and a cabin niriiil :iliout sixteen feet square, with puncluMJii dour and puncheon floor. In the fall of 1808 John Shaw, Sr., accompanied by his other sons, Joseph, Benjamin T. and John, Jr., with his four daughters and son-in-law, Isaac Welch, occupied the rest of the 400 acres. Since that time for more than a eentuiy the Shaws have been identified with Morrow County.

]\Ir. Frank Shaw for many years has been a pharmacist and conducts a store at Cardington. He is also one of the extensive growers of ginseng and yellow root in Ohio. He has about ten acres under cultivation, and has developed a large business in that line. Frank Shaw married for his first wife Jeanette Welch, of another well known family of Morrow Countj^ She was a daughter of Enos and i\Iary (Curl) Welch, and a granddaughter of George and Maria (Himrod) Welch. George Welch came from New York State with liis parents when he was three months old in 1803, locating in Ohio about a year after it became a state. George Welch's wife was of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. Mrs. Jeanette (Welch) Shaw died at Cardington when in middle life, Walter F. being her only child. Since then Mr. Frank Shaw has married Gillian Lloyd White, of an old Virginia family. Her great-grandfather, George E. Lloyd, Sr., was a native of Virginia and at the age of seventeen enlisted for service in the Revolutionary war as a member of Captain Barry's Company, Eighth Virginia Line, commanded by Col. Peter iluhlenlmrg. In the White lineage she is descended from an ancestor who came to America about 1622, living for a time at Salisbury, Connecticut, and later moving to Dutchess County, New York. Her grandfather, William White, was a soldier of the War of 1812 and in 1830 located in Lincoln Township of IMorrow County.

Mr. Frank Shaw has been prominent in local republican politics and was a delegate to the Chicago 5sational Convention which nominated Charles E. Hughes. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias Order.

Walter F. Shaw married at Delaware, Ohio, , in 1907, Miss Mary Shultz. She was born in Richwood, Union County, Ohio, a daughter of Rev. James W. and Emma J. (Flesher) Shultz. Rev. Mr. Shultz was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. After the death of the father the family removed to Delaware, Ohio, where Mrs. Shaw was educated in Ohio Wesleyan and for several years before her marriage taught school. They have one daughter, Marjorie Helen, born January 29, 1910. ilr. and ^Irs. Shaw are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Bowling Green and he is affiliated with the Masonic order, being a member of Wood County Lodge No. 112, Free and Accepted Masons, Crystal Chapter No. 157, Royal Arch Masons, of Bowling Green, and Fostoria Chapter No. 90, Royal and Select Masters. He is a member also of Kenneth Lodge No. 158, Knights of Pythias, of Bowling Green. He belongs to the Phi Delta Theta college society and in polities is a republican.

JoHx V. Newtox is a Toledo man whose record reveals man_y reasons for his substantial and influential positions in the city. Toledo has been his home for neai-ly forty years.

ilr. Newton was born October 19, 1850, in Hastings County, Ontario. Canada, a son of Richard and Mary Elizabeth (Van Tassel) Newton. He was born neither in wealth nor in poverty and had difficulties to overcome even in securing adeciuate preparation for his career. He spent a number of winter terms attending district schools, working on the farm in the summer, was a student in a commercial school two winters, then graduating, and later he entered Toronto University and spent one year as a student of medicine. At that point he gave up the idea of becoming a phj'sician and determined iipon the study of veterinary surgery. ~Slr. Newton is a graduate of the Ontario Veterinary College.

In the meantime, at the age of twenty-one, he had left home and for four years was connected with a manufacturing business. When he came to Toledo in 1878 he was an absolute stranger to the community but rapidly acquired recognition in his profession. As a veterinary he has long ranked as a leader, and a number of years ago established the Newton Horse and Dog Hospital at 619 Walnut Street. Tliis institution was supplied with eveiy appliance which science has devised for the comfort and care of in.iured and diseased horses and dogs. Doctor Newton is still at the head of the establishment, though Dr. Reuben Hilton has active charge, with Dr. Charles Pettej-s as assistant.

When the Ohio Veterinary ^ledical Association was organized, a third of a century ago, its members bestowed upon Doctor Newton an appropriate honor in electing him their first president. For many years Doctor Newton owned a fine stock farm at West Toledo, known as the Newton Home. He was the first man who had the enterprise to bring high class horses into the county as a means of raising the standard of stock. In this di- reetiou lie aecomplisbed a great deal, for which he is entitled to high praise. For many years he had some of the finest stock that eonid be found over a wide territory, but has since disposed of his interests and is not novr the owner of a single horse. To his profession Doctor Newton has devoted himself with a singularity and concentration of purpose and energy that accounts for the high rank he has enjoyed. He has always been a student, has kept abreast of the times, and in saying that it should not be forgotten that he is almost equally well informed on the aifairs of the day. As a matter of fact Doctor Newton's career is associated with Toledo in many ways. He has been a director of the Toledo Humane Society since its organization more than thirty years ago, and for a long time was a director in the Lucas County Fair Association and active in its management.

Many citizens of Lucas County know him best through his public record. In 1894 he was elected county commissioner and he held that ofSee during the erection of the new courthouse and county jail. In 1899 he was chosen county sheriff, being re-elected in 1901, and was the first sheriff to occupy the new jail. In 1912 Doctor Newton became treasurer of Lucas County, filling that office one term. Doctor Newton served on the jury commission of Lucas County for the year 1916, together with James C. Staunton, and many compliments were received for the way in which their duties were performed. Very few citizens of Toledo or Lucas County have had the honor of being elected to four different county offices, and it all goes to prove the esteem in which he is held by his fellow citizens.

While Doctor Newton has always been a republican, he followed Roosevelt into the progressive movement and was elected county treasurer on that ticket. Politics and public affairs in general have always drawn heavily upon his time and interests.

In a business way Doctor Newton is also president of the Wyman Mining Company, a .$1,000,000 corporation, located at San Javier in Sonora, ilexico. This is the only mining company that has continued operations during all the revolutionary troubles in the i-epublie. It was organized by the late Ben F. Wade of Toledo.

Doctor Newton is a charter member of Toledo Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and for many years has been a ]Mason, having attained the thirtv-second degree of Scottish Rite and the Mystic Shrine. He is a member of Oak Council of the National Union, the Toledo Commerce Club, the Exchange Club, and the Toledo Yacht Club. He is a member of Trinity Episcopal Church. In 1872 he married Miss Sabra Ketcheson, who died in March, 1900. In 1901 Doctor Newton married Mrs. Elizabeth E. Harris. He has a fine family of sons and daughters. His son, Edward, lives in Cliicago. His daughter, Sabra, married A. L. Hoffman and has one son. JIaude E. is the wife of H. H. Hillman, living in Hollywood, California, and is the mother of two sous and two daughters. John C, who is married, has two children and lives in Toledo, is looked upon as the successor to his father in political affairs. He served two terms as county sheriff, from 1909 to 1913, and has served as director of public safetj' in the cabinet of Mayor Charles M. ]\Iilroy during his entire administration. John C. Newton was a Spanish-American war soldier and was also deputy sheriff under his father, serving as deputy nine years in all. Doctor Newton has a stepson, W. R. Harris, who is married and lives in Monroe, Michigan, and has one daughter.

Amos Keller. When Crawford County starts to enroll her men who have done well in every situation in life in which -they have found themselves, and who have brought credit and honor to the beloved old county through their achievements, one of the foremost names will be Amos Keller, a prominent citizen in many directions and now serving on the bench, filling his second term as judge of the Probate Court. Judge Keller was born in Sandusky Township, Crawford County, Ohio, Februai-y 27, 1864. His parents were Philip and Hannah (Stucker) Keller, both of whom were born in Northampton County, Pennsj-lvania .

Amos Keller grew to manhood on his father's farm and was given district school advantages that might have satisfied many country youths but apparently only whetted his appetite for a far moi;e liberal education. At first he studied privately and in thus endeavoring to increase his knowledge and develop his natural talents had the example of his father before him. Philip Keller was a learned man and had acquired a knowledge of literature, law and theology through wide reading. He was so well posted on the law that his neighbors would come from miles distant to consult him and his sound advice saved many from an expensive law suit. He was an earnest Christian and his family remember how well he could explain Bible texts as he gathered them atouud the fireside in the old home ou many evenings, and his knowledge seemed inexhaustible. Amos was impressed by his father's wisdom and determined to become an educated man himself. In this he .succeeded, but it was entirely through his own efforts.

Mr. Keller was but a youth when he began to teach school and for nineteen years he continued in the schoolroom during the winter seasons, working on the farm in the summers, and finally was fortunate enough to come under the tutorship, in the scientific coui-se, of the distinguished Professor Churchill of Oberlin College. As opportunity offered, he applied himself to the study of law and during his life has read cojDiously along this line, as well as othei-s, and with enlightened understanding far beyond the ordinary, is well qualified for the important place he fills in judicial circles.

Judge Keller was one of the original founders and organizers of the Farmers and Citizens Bank of Bueyrus, of which he is vice president. This banking institution, with resources of over $1,000,000, is one of the soundest in the state and Judge Keller 's name is one of its best guarantees.

In 1895 Judge Keller was married to Miss Maudesta H. Carrothers, who was born at Tiro, Crawford County, Ohio. Her parents were James and Sarah (Cole) Carrothers. Mr. Carrothers still resides at Tiro and is one of the substantial men of that section and the owner of much real estate. Judge and Mrs. Keller have four children, namely : Constance, who is serving as deputy probate judge ; John, who is employed in a motor manufacturing plant at Bueyrus; Warren, who is learning the plumbing trade: and l'liili]i. who is yet in school. Miss Constant' is a graduate of the Bliss Business College, Columbus, Ohio, and at present is applying herself to the study of law, through a course in a correspondence school. She is an unusually talented and capable young lady. Judge Keller and his family are members of the German Reformed Cliurch and for many years he has taught a class in the Sunday school.

Although nominally a democrat, Judge Keller has been identified very prominently with organizations which, in his judgment, have come closer to the people and in some ways have been more representative. He has studied public problems closely and to some extent has been very sympathetic to the cause of labor and in two campaigns traveled through the congressional district, speaking as an advocate of the people's party and was sent as a delegate to Cincinnati to represent both the people and labor interests.

In 1912 Judge Keller was elected to the Pi'obate Bench and the value placed on his knowledge and integrity- was shown by his reelection in 1916. He is identified with two fraternal organizations, the Maccabees and the "

Sutton P. Kanel is proprietor of one of the most complete men's furnishing goods and clothing establishments in the Citj- of Findlay, located at 232 South Main Street. If there is anything ilr. Kanel does not know about the clothing business his intimate associates have never discovered it. He has been in that line of work practically since boyhood, and long study and experience have made him a master judge of values and also a master in the art of pleasing and accommodating the public. Mr. Kanel was early thrown upon his own resources, and has battled his way through life to success.

He was born at Kenton, Ohio, September 5, 1873. When he was eighteen months old his mother died. His father, John Kanel, was a native of Germany and had participated in tlie German Revolution of 1848. After becoming an American citizen he showed his loyalty to his adopted country by .serving with a regiment of Ohio volunteers during the Civil war. He was in the gi-eat battles of IMissionary Ridge, Chiekamauga, Stone River and other" l)attles in the South. Mr. Kanel's mother v. as ni' Swiss stock.

Sutton P. Kanel for about three years attended the public .schools in Kenton, Ohio. He then went to live with his grandparents in Big Lick Township of Hancock County, and was there eight years. After their deaths he went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ropp, and the time .spent M'ith them is perhaps the nearest home life in ]\Ir. Kanel's memory. In the meantime he had very little opportunity to attend the country schools. At the age of sixteen he began working for neighboring farmers at monthly wages, and at seventeen he entered tlie Oliio Northern University at Ada, where he took the commercial course and for two semesters pursued the normal course.

lines was at Frankfort, Indiana, where he began working in the clothing store of Rudolph Shonfield for $3.50 a week. He did what was asked of him and a great deal more for those wages, and remained altogether for six years in Frankfort, Alexandria and at Muneie, Indiana. He then returned to Hancock County and worked ou a farm to recover his health, after which he went back to Muneie, Indiana, and was again in tlie clothing business for a year in the tirm of A. I. Friend. For two years he was with the Keller-Brycer Company, clothing merchants at Muneie, put in one summer with Bryce Brothers at Columlius, Ohio, and three years with ilever, Engleluu'd & Company at Bucyrus, (Jliio.

Returning to FiiuUay in IW'2 ^h: Kanel took employment with the National Clothing Company as salesman, buyer and general all around man, and was associated with that tirm for ten years. Another year he was with I. J. Shatz in the same line, until the business was discontinued. Having in the meantime in addition to his wealth of exin'iiiMice saved his money Mr. Kanel was tlim in a position to start for himself, and at l-'^l:.; South Main Street, his present location, he oi)ened a complete stock of clothing, haberdashery, hats, and other's men's furnishing goods. In certain articles he has the largest and best stock in Hancock and adjoining counties, and his patrons came from all over this section of Northwest Ohio.

In 1902 Mr. Kanel married Miss Mabel Marks, daughter of Charles M. and Jennie -Marks. They have two children : Marian Frances, liorn February 28, 1910; and Ilene, born in May, 1915. Mr. Kanel is a democrat in politics, is a member of the First Church of Cod, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Masonic order. He also belongs to the Maccabees. His successful position in bu.siness and social affairs at l^'imllay is due to hard work, a constant and consistent attention to the duty that lay nearest him, and lie has never dejiended upon others for influence or for favors which he could not repay.

Ex-GovERXOR Cn.\RLES Fo.Ster was born in Seneca Townslii|i. Seneca Coimty, Ohio, April 12, 182S. Ills parents were natives of :Massachusetts, connng to ( <liio in 1827, and locating at Rome, now known as Fostoria. in 1832, where C^harles W. Foster, the father, began business as a country merchant. His son Charles had but few educational advantages aside from the ordinary village school. He attended the Norwalk, Ohio, Seminary for nine months, and because of general sickness in the family he had to become assistant and, at the age of fifteen, manager of his father's

Edward Dickinson, who had I n decte,! previoiislv in tin' same district l,v l.lif.'. majoritv. In 1^72 he was n-elect.NJ hy 7:^(i over IJush R. Sloane, Greeley repuhli.'aii and democrat. In 1874 he was re-electcil with l.")!) majority over a very popular democi-at. (i.'nrge E. Seney, although tlie state went ilemncratic l)y over 17,000 in thirteen of the twenty disti'iets. In 1876 he was again elected hy a majority of 281 over his Bourbon competitor. The democratic legislature then redistricted the state, putting Mr. Fester into a district w-hicli at tlie previous election gave 4,547 democratic majority, and contained but one republican county, ;\lr. Foster was again renominated but was defeated, cutting down the adverse majority, however, to 1,225. In 1879 he was elected governor over Gen. Thomas Ewing, of Fa^rlichl Comity, and in 1881 over .lolin W. Bookwalte!'. of Clarke. His adniiiustration of state affairs is regarded as a model. After the death of William Win. lorn, in IS!)], Governor Foster was a|>pointed secretary of the treasury by President licnjaiuin Harrison, and was an exceptionallv able cabinet officer. He died in 1904.

George W. Hartm.\n, now living retired in Bowding Green, is one of the oldest native sons in this part of Wood County, and his -family has been identified with this region since it was almost an uncleared wilderness. ilr. Hartman is a veteran Union soldier, and has applied himself with success to many undertakings in the course of his long and active career.

His father, Jacob Hartman, was born in one of the Rhine provinces of Germany in 1808 and was of old German stock of Lutheran affiliations. Jacob Hartman learned the trade of shoemaker in his native land, and wdien still yoiing he and a neighbor set out from

Germany -and after a voyage of many weeks on a sailing vessel arrived in New York City. There the two young men became separated and Jacob Hartman soon came West to Perrysbnrgr, Ohio. He located there in the early '30s, when all Northern Ohio was new and with few towns or other evidences of civilization. He brought with him to Perrysburg $38 and this he invested in leather and set up a shop for the making and repairi]?g of boots and shoes. A year later some friends who lived in Center Township near Bowling Green induced him to come to that then incipient village, promising they would put up a hewed log house for his accommodation. A cobbler was greatly needed in the community, and Jacob Hartman accepted the proposition of his friends, agreeing to do shoemaking to pay for the home. He bought nine acres of land, on which the cabin was ei-ected. This was part of the original site of Bowling Green, but subsequently the village was moved a mile north in order to have higher ground. Jacob Hartman, however, remained at his original place and in a few years he gave up shoemaking as a trade to devote himself to farming. He bought forty acres of additional land, later bought six acres, and then another tract of forty acres, and in the course of time had ninety-five acres under cultivation and improvement. Nearly all of this was under cultivation and marked by substantial improvements before his death. He first built a large stone house and later a brick dwelling, and with these comforts he spent his last years, dying in 1891. He was a hard working man and a very valixable citizen every way. Politically he was a republican and was always true to the church in which he was reared. He married ilargaret Litzenburger, who was born in Germany in 1814 but grew up in the State of Indiana, where her people located when they came from Germany. She died at the old home in 1896. She was a faithful member of the Lutheran Church. Of their eight children, all grew up, six married and five are still living. George W. was the foui'th son and fifth child.

George "W. Hartman was born on the original nine acres owned by his father now located just outside the corporation limits of Bowling Green on May 26, 1841. The first nine years of his life were spent in the hewed log cabin of his father, and after that he lived" in the stone house with which his father replaced the original cabin. After getting his education in the public schools of Bowling Green 'Sir:

Hartman applied himself to the business of farming and in the course of years he became recognized as one of the best farmers and stock raisers in Wood County. His first purchase on his own account was forty acres, and after improving that he made other piirchases until at one time he owned 420 aci'cs. Of this he bequeathed 120 acres to his son. All of the land was under cultivation and has been divided into several farms, each 'with a substantial equipment of buildings.

In 1863, at the age of twenty-two, ilr. Hartman answered the call of patriotism and enlisted in Company H of the Sixty-.seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was with the Union armies in the eastern field of action and saw some of the hardest fighting of the war, including the engagements at ilalvem Hill, Fort Gregg, the siege of Petersburg, and in many battles around Richmond. Part of the time he was on detailed duty, but never sought a commission. He escaped unhurt and for many years has enjoyed the companionship and esteem of his old comrades as a memlier of Wiley Post No. 46, Grand Army of the Republic, in which he has held several of the offices.

In 1902 Mr. Hartman retired from the active responsibilities of farming and moving to Bowling Green bought a fine property at 303 South ]Main Street, at the head of Pearl Street. Here he has a modern home of ten rooms, and it is a most pleasant and comfortable environment in which to spend his declining years. Mr. Hartman has alwaj's affiliated with the republican party.

In this county and township he married for his first wife Barbara A. Apel. She was born in ^ledina County, but after the age of five was reared in Washington Township of Wood County. She was a daughter of John and Margaret Apel, both natives of Germany and coming to the United States when unmarried. They were married in Ohio and spent their industrious years as farmers in Medina and Wood counties. They were members of the Lutheran Church and they died when quite old. By his first wife ]\Ir. Hartman had four children : John, who died at the age of twenty-two after graduating from the Bowling Green High School: Agatha, who died at the age of six months: Walter, who is elsewhere referred to in this publication ; and Irene, wife of Alva George, a farmer near Bowling Green and the mother of thi-ee children, ^larvin, Howard and Lester.

Mrs. Emma Blyth. She was boru near Waterloo, Ontario, fifty j-ears ago and is of English and Irish stock, a daughter of Sidney and Mary (Kern) McMahan. Both her parents were born in Canada and her father died there. His widow afterwards spent a number of years in the United States and she died M'hile visiting at Niagara Falls, her death coming suddenly. The McMahans were members of the Methodist Cluirch. She married for her first husband in Ontario, Canada, Thomas Bl.yth. He was born in that province of Scotch ancestry and w^as a capable mechanic. He died at Waterloo at the age of twenty-three. Mrs. Blyth with her only son, David R., then removed to Detroit, where her son grew up and is now a jeweler. He married Harriet Gelette. Mrs. Hartman is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Lewis Selle. One of the most successful business careers ever worked out in Seneca Coimty has been that of Mr. Lewis Selle. When he was fourteen years of age his father died ancl after that he became the main dependence of his widowed mother and his sisters. He contributed the results of his hard work to their support for a number of years. His chief success in a business way was as a merchant. As a youth, however, he had learned the tinner's trade and was euiploA'ed as a practical tinner for twenty-five years. He then opened a small stock of men's furnishing goods and gradually developed a merchant tailoring business and a lai-ge stock of clothing and other wearing apparel for men. Mr. Selle has been continuously in the same location now for thirty-two years and has a splendid business and a fine reputation. Some years ago he took in K. W. Gunder as a partner.

His store is only one of numerous business interests at present. He is vice president of the Tiffin Consolidated Telephone Company and is a director in the City National Bank. For a number of j'cars he was in the pottery business and was actively connected with the National ilachinery Company, having been its president for "four years. He was the oldest member of that firm and still holds the position of chairman of the board managers. It was largelj^ JMr. Selle 's energy and ability that put that business on its feet. He was also interested in the nail works. He is a part owner of the Grand Opera House of Tiffin, which he helped build. Among other property he has a well improved farm of 115 acres east of Tiffin. All of this success represents his individual labor and effective management. He never had any money given him and has depended upon his owti resources.

Mr. Selle was born in Bavaria, Germany, in May, 1845, a son of William and Lenora Selle. His parents were also Bavarians. They came to the United States in 1852 and after ^spending one winter in the country moved to Tiffin. William Selle was a stone mason b.y trade and before his death had been able to provide quite liberally for his family. He was a democrat in politics and he and his wife were members of the Second Reformed Church of Tiffin. Of their four children only two are now living, Lewis being the older. His sister is Mrs. John Wagner, a widow living at Fostoria, Ohio.

'Sir. Lewis Selle had a limited and somewhat irregular education in the local schools. Hard work was his portion from early years and he has been rewarded not only with large business success but also with high standing in the community. He has served on the count}' visiting board and also as a member of the board of safety of Tiffin. Politically he is a democrat, is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and he and his wife attend the Reformed Church. He was married in 1913 to il. Amy Lowmaster. She was born in Newark, Ohio, daughter of Henry Lowmaster, a painter at Tiffin.

Daniel W-. Reddin, M. D. Perhaps no other citizen of North Baltimore has come in closer contact with the realities and adventures of life than Doctor Reddin. As a 1ioy he spent several years in the far West, was a farmer, a cow puncher, a student and a liomesteader out in the wilderness. Over thirty years ago he settled in North Baltimore as a practitioner of medicine and for years he enacted the role of a true pioneer doctor, riding and di-iving over almost impassable roads through all kinds of weather to his patients who lived in the black swamp region. His has been a life of devoted service to the ]n-ofession, but it has also been amply rewarded in a business way.

His love of an active life in all its phases is doubtless an inheritance from his father, whose career was a most romantic one. His father, Thomas Reddin, was born in Dartmouth, England, in 1808. He inherited a strong intellect, was carefully educated, and learned the art of decorator. On coming to America he was employed in carrying out some of the decorative designing on the build- ings of Girard College at Philadelphia. His craving for adventure led him to the seafaring occupation and for several years he was captain of a vessel and sailed to many of the ports of the civilized world. He was still young when he came to the United States, and iiis spirit of adventure was stiU unquenched. During the early '30s he was attracted to the straggles of Texas for independence and joined the American patriotic forces in the far Southwest and was part of Colonel Fannin's historic command which surrendered to the Mexican President Santa Anna at the battle of Goliad. The Fannin massacre is a vivid chapter in American history. On a fatal Palm Sunday the prisoners were started away from their point of detention with the understanding that they were to be paroled. After going a short distance the Mexicans ambuscaded them and from the deadly slaughter that ensued only a few got away alive. Thomas Reddin was one of the few that survived the fate that was in store, and he and his comrades broke away from the lines and managed to escape the shower of bullets. He afterward fought under Gen. Sam Houston in the battle of San Jacinto, where the whole Mexican army was either captured or annihilated.

After this experience in helping Texas win her independence he went East to Pennsylvania and subsequently fought in the Mexican war. He was also in the na\y during the Civil war, on the Union side. In' 1846 he married Catherine Braucht, who was born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, April 16, 1828. She was of a splendid old Pennsylvania family and was a woman of very beautiful characteristics of heart and mind. Her father, David Braucht, was a prosperous Pennsylvanian who married a Miss McAlister of Scotch ancestry. Her family were identified with the banking and business interests of Philadelphia. David Braucht served in the War of 1812, while liis father was a Revolutionary patriot.

During the Mexican war Thomas Reddin 's wife came up the Mississippi River from New Orleans, her husband having enlisted for the Mexican service in that city. She came via Cincinnati and journeyed to Hadcock County, Ohio, where she remained until she was joined by her husband, who later developed a farm there, where he spent his last days.

It was in Hancock County, Ohio, that Dr. Daniel W. Reddin was born January 24, 1860. At the age of fourteen he left home and became self supporting. The age of sixteen found liim in the far West, where he worked for railroads, on cattle ranches, and for several years traveled all over the cattle country of the Western States and territories. Many nights he slept on the prairie under a blanket, and he came to know all that vivid and interesting life of the West and the gi-eat plains which is now a story that is told. Some of his experience was in the Northwest, in old Dakota Territory, and when that territory was admitted to the Union as a free state he preempted a claim of a quarter section of land near Huron, South Dakota. That claim was then far from civilization and the nearest habitation to his cabin was four miles distant. He paid $200 for land that is now worth from $60 to $75 an acre. This period in his life, with all its hardships and incidents, is one that Doctor Reddin likes to recall.

Doctor Reddin had pre%'iously returned to Ohio and equipped himself for the broader responsibilities that awaited him. He was educated in Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa, the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, and Valparaiso University at Valparaiso, Indiana. In 1881 he cctmpleted his course in the department of medicine and surgery of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and later located for practice at Findlay, Ohio. In 1886 he located at North Baltimore, from which city he has since directed his varied interests and affairs. Doctor Reddin has been a close student of his profession and has taken post-gi-aduate work in New York City and has read and studied and utilized every opportunity for increased service. When he located at North Baltimore the village was hardly out of the swamps and the surrounding country was for a large part of the year almost inaccessible. It was almost impossible for a vehicle to get over the roads, and he usually rode horseback and not infrequently it occured that he had to tie his horse and make the rest of his journey to some distant house on foot. Doctor Reddin is a physician in good standing, is a member of the Wood County Medical Society, Northwest Ohio Medical Society, Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Besides his large medical practice he has acquired many interests in local affairs. He cleared up and improved a 160 acre tract of laud, whicU is now one of the finest farms in the entire county, well drained and improved with model buildings. Its management and its crops have furnished him a delightful recre-

For several years he held the office of vice pi-csident of tlie Hardy Banking Company and since 1911 has been its president, succeeding D. W. Murphy, the first president of that bank. Doctor Reddin is a prominent Mason, a member of the Blue Lodge at North Baltimore and Knight Templar Commandery at Findlav and the Scottish Rite bodies at Toledo.

On DeceiiiliM- 2>!. 1SS6. Doctor Reddin married Ella LihIiIiim.I, (if Keokuk, Iowa. She died Januarx 7, l>ss. Her final illness was brought on during the fire which swept North Baltimore and destroyed Doctor Reddin 's home, medical library and much other valuable property. For his present wife Doctor Reddin married at Tiffin, Ohio, ]Miss Eugenia B. Bachman, who was bom at Tiffin March 21, 1870. Her father, G. W. Bachman, was a prominent lawyer and politician of Tiffin, Ohio. He was mayor of the City of Tiffin two terms and president of the board of education. He also served two terms as prosecuting attorney of Seneca County. Mrs. Reddin was educated in the Tiffin public schools and Heidelberg College and is a woman of culture and of wide experience as an educator. She was a teacher in high schools and did her last work in that capacity in the Fostoria High School. I\Irs. Reddin is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and several literary and social clubs. She is the mother of three children, the youngest, Theodore, dying in infancy. The other two are ver\' capable young men and have received every advantage at home and in school to enable them to make the most of their ambitions and talents. Daniel W., Jr., is a gi-aduate of the North Baltimore High School and has finished the junior year at Heidelberg Universitj^ at Tiffin, Ohio. He is now serving in the Medical Reserve Corps Ambulance, No. 4, United States Army, of Cleveland, Ohio. George B., the younger son, is now seventeen. He is a member of the North Baltimore High school, class of 1918, and is also interested in military matters, being a member of the Boy Scouts organization, and the North Baltimore Rifles.

Hon. Gr.vnt E. Mouser, present judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Marion County, has been a leader in the bar for over a quarter of a century and one of the prominent men in the republican party of Northwest Ohio.

Judge Mouser was born at LaRue, Ohio, September 11, 1868, a son of Di-. Justice A. and Sarah (DeLong) Mouser. His grandfather, Isaac Mouser, was a native of Virginia and an early settler in Marion County, Ohio. Many of the family attained to professional distinction. Judge Mouser 's father was for many years one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Marion County. Three of his brothers became lawyers and gained successful positions in their profession in different parts of the Middle and Far West. Judge Mouser 's maternal grandfather was a pioneer in Hardin County, Ohio. Doctor Mouser and wife Iiad nine children: Ambrose, who became a physician ; George, now deceased, who was a lawyer; Lloyd, who died while a student of medicine; Howard, who also took up the law; Maude, who married William F. Kniffin; May, who married Frank Holland; Roy, who became a resident of Lincoln, Nebraska; Harold, a prominent physician of Marion; and Grant E.

Judge Mouser was educated in the public schools of Marion County, attended the Ohio Northern University at Ada two years, studied law in the office of Charles "C. Fisher at Marion, and in 1890 graduated from the Cincinnati Law College with the degree LL. B. He has been in active practice at iiarion since 1890.

Judge Mouser was elected prosecuting attorney of Marion County in the fall of 1893 and served three years. He was a local leader in republican affairs from the time he reached manhood and gradually his name became better known all over Northwest Ohio. In 190-4 he was elected from the Thirteenth Ohio District to Congress and re-elected in 1906, sei-viug in the Fifty-ninth and Sixtiotli congresses. All that time lie carried the lieavy burdens of a large law practice, as nieml)er of the firm Mouser & Quigley, until elected to the Bench of the Court of Common Pleas, where he is now rendering a splendid service.

Judge Mouser is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Elks, is a republican and a member of the Presbyterian Church. November 28, 1892, he married Miss Delia E. Ridgeway of Marion County. They have three children : Helena M., Grant E. and Annabel.

and effective part as a gallant and fighting soldier of the Union, John Fangboner came to Northwest Ohio and for upwards of half a century has been identified with the business and civic welfare of Fremont City and Sandusky County. He has become well to do and influential, though at the start he had little more than any of his contemporaries, except a determined pui-pose and a persistence which has enabled him to realize many of the cherished plans and ideals of his younger years.

Mr. Fangboner was bom at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, June 3, 1846. His parents were James and Christina (Illick) Fangboner. James Fangboner was born in New Jersey in 1809, and was married in Pennsylvania, his wife being a native of Easton that state. James Fangboner when a young man came west and traveled with a companion on foot as far west as "White Pigeon, Michigan, which at that time was an important town and the center of the United States Land Office, but is now almost an unknown village. However, he returned to Pennsylvania, and became a farmer and also learned the wagon makers trade. He was a veiy skillful mechanic and through hard woi'k he provided well for his family and left an honored name. He became a republican upon the organization of that party and held various minor offices. He was active in the Lutheran Church. He and his wife had seven children, and the three now living are : Mrs. Anna Kaufman and Mrs. A. E. Sleifer, both of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania; and John.

John Fangboner grew up in Pennsylvania, had a district school education, and when a little past sixteen years of age he enlisted in 1863 in Company K of the Fifty-first Pennsylvania Infantry. He was with that regiment in all its campaigns, marches and battles until the war was ovei-. He took part with it in the battle of the Wilderness and on the second daj' of that tremendous fight was wounded in the right knee. He spent three months in the hospital recovering, and once more took his place in the ranks and fought wherever duty called him until Appomattox and the close of the long struggle.

At the end of the war ilr. Fangboner became clerk in a country store. He also did farming for a time. In 1868 he came to Ohio and located in Sandusky County. He did business as a farmer and also as a livestock dealer on a limited scale and in 1887 removed to the City of Fremont, where he engaged in the grain, hay and livestock business on a larger scale. He has shipped stock by the train load and in all the years he has done business he has continued to enjoy the confidence of all his customers and his integrity is as thoroughly recognized as his success and good judgment. At times he has fed cattle extensively, and he ovms a good ' farm of 109 acres which is chiefly used for that purpose.

In 1877 Mr. Fangboner married Miss Mary Emma Faller, who was bona in Fremont. They have three children: Irvin T., in the grain and hay business at Bellevue, Ohio; Myrteila, wife of G. A. Hoot, of Fremont; and James Raymond, a business associate of his father. Mrs. Fangboner is an active member of the Lutheran Church.

Mr. Fangboner has always taken an active interest in his comrades of the war and joins heartily in the Grand Army of the Republic and its afiEairs. In politics he is a republican and in 1893 was elected on that ticket county auditor of Sandusky Count}-. This county wa^ then strongly democratic and his election was a direct testimonial to his individual worth and popularity. He also served on the city council of Fremont and in several other offices and in mauj' ways has made that city's interests his own. His business profits he has invested in Fremont real estate, and he is also one of the city's bankers, being vice president of the Fir.st National Bank and a .stockholder in the Colonial and Croghau banks. He was one of the incorporatoi-s of the Stock Yards at Cleveland and is still financially interested in that enterprise.

Charles Dirr. A native of Henry County, Charles Dirr has spent practically all his life within the limits of Pleasant Township, and in that time has accpiired those things most appreciated by a man of industry and ambition. He has several fine farms, has that degree of material prosperity which frees him ' from worrA- as to the future, and while nominall}' cla.ssed as a retired farmer, he is really pursuing a very energetic program of action and supervision on his home place at the Village of Pleasant Bend.

Mr. Dirr was born ^larch 5, 1853. on the old Ridge road 1^ -; miles west of New Bavaria in Pleasant Township. I\Iucli might be said concerning the experiences and the character and activities of his parents and other members of the Dirr family in Henrj- County. However, that story has been partly told at least on other pages. Charles Dirr is a son of Henry and Catherine (Gardner) Din-. Both were bom in Germany. They came to America when practically the only method of ci-ossing the ocean was ou vessels propelled by wind and with sails. They came when the>- were yomig people with their respective parents. They grew up at Akron and at Cleveland, but finally both the Dirr and Gardner families located as pioneers in Pleasant Township of Heniy County. Henry Dirr and Catherine Gardner were hard workiug people from early youth. Neither was above hard work when it furnished an honorable means of livelihood. They worked on the canal and boarded the men employed on the canal. Thus they made their beginning as homemakere, and having acquired a tract of land they also applied themselves to its clearing and cultivation. They lived with the comforts of a log cabin, and a very primitive abode it was. The logs were unhewn, laid together by notches at the end, there was a puncheon floor, the roof of claplioards was tied on, and the mud and stick eliimney rose at one side of the building. "What cooking was not done by the open fireplace was taken care of by the bake oven which stood outside the door. Henry- and Catherine Dirr lived long and useful lives, and were amoug the most honored and respected citizens of their commuuity.

It was in the old home of his parents that Charles Dirr spent his boyhood days. He leai-ned the lessons taught in the district schools, and became proficient in those arts and crafts which were a part of the equipment of all the old time farmers. He began earning money for himself when still young, and finally with some assistance from his father and in partnership with his brother Andrew he bought 120 acres of land. It was only partly improved, and the brothers worked it for several years. After Charles Dirr married he sold his interests to his lirother Andrew, and then bought eighty acres in section 29. and twenty acres in section 28 of Pleasant Township. He went to that farm as his home in September, 1885. A number of years later he bought eight.y acres of .section 31 and in 1907 acquired a seventy-acre farm in section 21, known as the old Fred Demlaud farm, the home of Mrs. Charles Dirr when she was a girl.

by the limits of the Village of Pleasant Bend. That is now his place of residence. He retired from the management of his several farms to this home in November, 1914. It is a i^rofitable and well managed small farm, and gives him all the interests and occupation he desires. Since coming to the place he has erected a fine bam 34 by 46 feet and he and his wife have a very comfortable seven-room cottage home. Mr. Dirr in the meantime put substantial farm buildings on all his different places and his fanning methods have shown a high degree of progressiveness at every turn. He has been willing to accept the lessons of experience as learned by others as well as by himself and his prosperity can be credited to this quality perhaps as much as to his solid busines.s ability and judgment.

An incident might be told illustratiug his progi-essiveness. ilr. Dirr had the distinction of purchasing the first automobile in this section of Henrj^ County. It was a Ford car, bearing the company's number 501. It was a one cylinder model of the type which can be remembered, though it is perhaps better to forget it. Mr. Dirr took a great deal of plea.sure in this car. though at the same time he aroused the ire of his neighbors, and many of them expressed their opinions rather vigorously and forcefull.y to the efi'eet they hoped he would break his neck or run into the ditch, and in passing wagons it not infrequently occurred that the drivers would actually force Mr. Dirr and his ear very- close to the ditch. Mr. Dirr comments upon this experience chiefly because many of those very men who took so much exception to his pioneering as an automobilist have since become devotees of the auto car and have acquired all the manners of the up to date motorist.

Mr. Dirr was married in Pleasant Township at the old home of the bride's father to Miss Cornelia Demland. ilrs. Dirr was born on the old homestead November 29, 1863, a daughter of Fred and Sarah (Stephens) Demland. Her father was born in one of the lowland provinces of Germany and her mother was a native of the Province of Alsace. Her mother when two years of age was broiight to America by her parents, who located at Buffalo, New York. Her father was twenty-two when he came to this country and was also accompanied by his parents. The Demlaiids at once made settlement in Pleasant Town.ship of Henry County, and Sarah Stephens also came to the county when she was seven years of age. Fred and Sarah Demland were mar- ried in Henry Connty and then located cm seventy acres in section 21 of Pleasant Township. Tliere they spent their years profitably and nsefnlly. and the mother died August 1, 1906, and the father on November 4, 1907. The mother \va^ srvml y-four inid the fatlier seventy-two wlicii tlicy piiss.^d ^iway. T'lcy were active iiiimiiIkm-s of tlu' .Mftlmdist Episcopal Church. In polities Fred Dendand was a very decided republican and the same is true of the Dirr family, including; ]\Ir. Charles. ;\fr. :nid ^li's. Dirr take a very active inteicst in the Methodist K>iiiscn|ial Church and have done sii fur many years. They have contributed liberally to cliurch movements and causes, Mrs. Dirr has been a worker in the Sunday school and a teacher for six years, and Mr. Dirr has followed the office of trustee in the ehureli for twenty years. They are the parents of three children, Clarence, Roy and Elsie. Clarence, who was born April 14, 1886, grew up in Pleasant Township, completed his education in the local schools, and is now profitably engaged in farming his mother's old home, the Demland fann. He married Hattie Smith of Defiance County where she was born and reared. Roy was born September 20, 1888, and has also found his niche in the world of usefulness as a farmer and is occupying one of his father's places in Pleasant Township. He married Anna Sauer of Pleasant Township. She is a wi'll ciincatcd and cultui'ed young woman, and for tlii'cc years liefore her marriage was a snecessfnl teaeher. Tile daughter Elsie was born Novendier 12, 1902, and has had the advantages of the eountrj' schools.

St.\nley a. Grzezinski. While one of the youngest members of the Toledo bar, Stanley A. Grzezinski has a record of much worthy accomplishment in his profession, and even more in the field of good citizenship. He is a recognized leader among the Polish people of that city.

He was born at Toledo October 18, 1887, a son of Michael and Julianna (Prelinska) Grzezin.ski. His parents were born in one of the Polish districts of Germany, and came to America as young people. After arriving in New York they made their way West to Toledo, and there in that city they met and married. They were married in St. Mary's Church, or rather in the basement of the later church edifice. They began housekeeping in Toledo forty-three years ago, and were among the highly respected Polish people of the city.

For the past thirty-eight years the Grzezinski family has resided at 145 Dexter Street. At that home the beloved mother of the family passed away September 21, 1915. She was a noble woman, devoted to her family, and her memory will always be blessed. The last twelve years of her life she was an invalid. ^licliael Grzezinski, who is still living, is a retired liuilding contractor, having given up active business in 1913. He is a democrat, while his son Stanley is a republican. Stanley was the next to the youngest in a family of ten children, eight of whom are still living, four sons and four daughters. Two sons died in infancy.

Reared in his native city, and receiving his primary education in St. Hedwig's parochial school, Stanley Grzezinski did his first work as a wage earner as cash boy for the La- Salle and Koch Company. He was with them three years under Louie Eppstein, who was at that time manager of the furniture department. The opportunities that had much to do with his real career came to him during the following three years when he was working under Karl Hardee for the National Supply Compan.y. During part of that period he was a desk clerk. The company frequently sent him with vouchers to their attorney, Mr. Ira Taber, a well known Toledo lawyer whose career is traced on other pages. While waiting in Mr. Taber 's law office young Grzezinski was attracted to the law books, and from casual glimpses within their covers his interest deepened into appreciation and eventually a determination to study law and become an attorney. On leaving the National Supply Company he studied regularly with Mr. Taber for a year, and then entered the Ohio Northern University Law Department at Ada under Dean S. P. Axline, now deceased. While he was in law school the ex-governor of Ohio, Mr. Frank B. Willis, was one of the instructors.

In June, 1911, he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, afterwards pursued post-graduate courses for six months, and was admitted in December, 1911, to the Ohio bar. Shortly afterwards he began the practice of law at Toledo, and has since acquired a very substantial clientage, having two offices, one in the Ohio Building, with the firm of Hankison and Deeds and another at 2929 Lagrange Street. A large number of Polish people, both in Toledo and in Lucas County, have entrusted their legal affairs to Mr. Grzezinski.

among his own people, and is very influential in politics. He took a specially active part in Governor Willis' campaign. In the fall of 1915 he was an unsnccessful candidate for judge of the city courts. Outside of his profession his activities extend to many business, civic, fraternal and benevolent enterprises. He is president and director of the Polonia Clothing and Shoe Company, which was one of the first corporations he organized after admission to the bar. It is a prosperous concern, and is situated in one of the finest buildings on Lagrange Street. He is a trustee of the Polish Falcons, and has done much im- ]iortant work for the home of that organization. In February, 1915," he made a campaign and collected .$2,400 for the benefit of the Falcons, and bought the land on which a $10,000 home is to be built at the corner of Moss and Fellows Aveniae. He is also secretary and a director of the Toledo Polish Commerce Club in the Lagrange Street district.

St. Michael's Society, of which he is secretary of the executive board, is one of the most prosperous benevolent organizations in Toledo, having more than $15,000 in its treasury.

During the European war Mr. Grzezinski has taken a foremost part in raising funds for the relief of Polish war sutferers. He is secretary of the Polisli War Relief Fund, and this organization in June, 1915, produced the play Chimes of Normandy at the Valentine Theatre, an entertainment that netted $2,500 for war sufferers in Poland. He was also a delegate to the Northwestern Ohio Section of the Polish National Alliance in its convention at Schuectady, New York. This Alliance has a membership of 125,000 in America, and more than $125,000 a year was subscribed to the sutfering people of Poland.

i\Ir. Grzezinski is first vice president of the Federation of Catholic Parishes of Toledo, and has attended their national convention in Baltimore and New York. He is a member of Toledo Lodge No. 53, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Other Polish organizations with which he is affiliated are tlie Casimir Pulaski Society and the Polish National Alliance, and he is a member of St. Hedwig's Catholic Church, belongs to the Toledo Commerce Club, to the Toledo Bar Association, and is a member of the Delta Theta Phi National Law Fraternity. He is a member of the Oriole Pleasure Club, a Polish organization for young men of Polish descent born in America. Mr. Grzezinski was one of the organizers of the Ohio Polish Savings and Building Association which is a credit to his efforts. This is a newly organized industry in the Polish settlement.

William H. Dillery, former mayor of Arcadia, Hancock County, has been a business man in that section of the state for over forty years. He was formerly extensively engaged in lumbering and manufactured great quantities of the hardwood timber of Northwest Ohio. Various other business interests have claimed his time and attention, and in the leisure afforded by financial independence he has been able to give much of his time to public affairs.

He was born on his father's farm a mile east of Arcadia in February, 1852, a son of Joseph and Catherine (Peters) Dillery. His father was born near Frankfort-on-the-Rhine, Germany, and was brought to America by his parents when eight years of age. They lived in Baltimore for a time and subsequently went West to Steubenville, Ohio, where he remained two years and then removed to Hancock County. His chief bu.siness was as a timber nlan, and he had the first sawmill in the vicinity of Arcadia. He owned several different farms, and for a number of years was prospei'ously engaged as a merchant. He did not retire from active business until 1900, and at his death in 1913 he was ninety years of age. His wife had passed away in 1871.

William H. Dillery, who was the oldest son in a family of three sons and four daughters, attended the Findlay public schools and spent the winters of 1872 and 1873 in Eastman's Commercial College at Poughkeepsie, New York. On returning home he and his brother, George W., bought their father's sawmill and conducted it for twenty years under the name Dillery Brothers. They not only worked up the local supply of hardwood timber but also bought saw logs from a territory sixty miles around the mill. After the timber had been dressed in the mill it was shipped and distributed over a number of the eastern states. After selling his interests as a sawmill man, Mr. Dillery became agent for the Page Woven Wire Fence Company and sold the product of this company all over Hancock County for a period of twenty years. He then retired from business, but in a short time found leisure incompatible with his active tastes and largely as a diversion he took the position of station agent at Arcadia for the T. F. & F. Railroad. :\lr. Dillerv is a stock-

On October 23, 1873, at the beginning of his business career, he married Lucy Bowman, daughter of John "VV. and Anna (Eicher) Bowman, of Arcadia. Mr. and Mrs. Dillery have three daughters and one son. Zettie is now Mrs. J. F. Wheland, of Arcadia, and they are tlie parents of three vigorous young sons, Ivan Wayne, Karl and Reed. SteUa married John Hoffman and they reside in Chicago and have a family of two daughters and two sons, Robert, Richard, Catherine and Lucy. Leone married J. C. O'Neil, of Toledo, and their family consists of one son and three daughters, Miriam, Barbara, Ardinelle and James. Mr. Dillerj''s only son is William Ralph, still unmarried and employed as an electrician in Chicago.

In politics Mr. Dillery is a republican in national affairs but acts independently in local mattei-s. He served three terms of one year each as local clerk, and for a period of sixteen years was town treasurer. He gave a capable administration to the municipal affairs of Arcadia during his two terms as maj'or, but resigned the office on account of his business interests. He is an attendant of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Arcadia and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Edward Deummond Libbey. A history of Northwest Ohio would be incomplete without a sketch of Edward Drummoud Libbey, one of its truly great business men and public spirited citizens. One of the pioneers in the business world, he has helped make Toledo one of the important industrial centers of the United States. Through his public spirit he has established in Toledo the greatest art museum now existing in any American city of its size, which promises to make Toledo one of the great art centers of the United States.

His career has been a constant and steadying influeuce in Toledo business and civic and artistic life for upwards of a third of a century. Primarily his name is associated with glass manufacture, particularly cut glass. Two generations of the family have been identified with- the development of this industry.

It is said that the story of cut glass in the United States began with Deming Jarvis, the pioneer glass manufacturer of New England. Deming Jarvis was senior member of Jarvis

In 1850 this firm took into its employ as confidential clerk William L. Libbey. William L. Libbey was born in 1827 and died in 1883, a son of Israel and ilary Libbey. He remained with the firm of Jarvis & Commeraise only five years until 1855, when Mr. Jarvis sold the plant to the former clerk, and it was successfully conducted for ten years by William L. Libbey. At the end of that time he concentrated all his attention to the manufacture of glassware. A successful business was built up, but he sold in 1870 and took the position of general manager of the New England Glass Company at East Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1880 he bought the entire business and at that time took in his sou Edward as a partner.

Edward Drummond Libbey was born at Chelsea, Massachusetts, April 17, 1854, son of William L. and Julia M. (Miller) Libbey. He acquired his early education in the public schools of Boston and later attended lectures at Boston University. In 1871 at the age of twenty he was given an interest in his father's glass business. It was by a most strenuous apprenticeship that he was fitted for executive responsibility. He performed the most trivial of office duties and filled nearly all the clerical positions in order to learn every detail. On the death of his father in 1883 he succeeded as sole proprietor of the business ~and it went forward in the same successful manner under his leadei'ship.

It was the discoveiy of natural gas in Northwestern Ohio, and consequent cheap fuel to manufacturers, that brought Mr. Libbey to Toledo. He moved his business to the city in 1888 and incorporated it as The Libbey Glass Company. This is now one of Toledo's most noted industries. This city has the largest cut glass factory in the world in the Libbey Glass Company, and is also the home of the largest plate glass plant. For these distinctions the cit.y and its citizens are indebted to the enterprise of Mr. Libbey, who was tlie pioneer in this special industry. Under normal business conditions the company employs several hundred men. While an incidental line of manufacture is the making of bulbs for incandescent lights, the solid fame of the Libbey plants rests upon its cut glass. No other nation has excelled America in the cutting of glass into intricate and beautiful designs, and among cut glass manufac- turers the Libbey Glass Company stands deservedly at the head. It is a business with a great record of success and of progi-essive ideals, and the excellence of the Libbey product is unmistakable under whatever conditions it is tested.

At the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in' 1893 the Libbey Glass Company erected at a cost of more than $100,000 a beautiful building in which the art of making and cutting glass was carried on in all its branches. Tliat beautiful and practical exhibition probably did more than anything else to familiarize the world with this art and secure its ju^t appreciation. What the Libbey Company did then was the culminating effort of almost a century of steady progress in glass cutting, but the progress has continued uninterruptedly throughout the subsequent twenty-five years. Again, at the W'orld's Pair in St. Louis, more than ten years later, the Libbey cut glass was prominent as an attraction and as a sharer in the awards.

From the time the business was incorporated at Toledo to the present Mr. Libbey has been president of the company, and has not yet felt justified in withdrawing from the management of his vast enterprise.

A number of years ago he turned his attention to a problem and in helping forward its solution has practically revolutionized glass manufacture. This lias been brought about liy the manufacture of automatic machinery for the making of glassware, particularly the ware which must be "blown," and for that for generations the only method was the old hand and lung practice. Mr. Libbey has done much to introduce to the trade the Owens machine, which blows glass automatically. Mr. Libbey was president of the Toledo Glass Company, a corporation established by him in 1894, and in 1903 he organized the Owens Bottle Machine Company, an Ohio corpora- .tion. This company secured an exclusive license from the Toledo Glass Company for the United States for the manufacture of machines and machine-made bottles. Since then the company has introduced the bottle machines into many of the largest plants in the United States. The Owens macliine has been one of America's most wonderful inventions and in its success has almost rivaled Standard Oil in the returns to the original investors.

Until recently Mr. Libbey was president of the Owens European Bottle Machine Company, which was organized in 1905. This company purchased from the Toledo Glass

Company all European rights for the Owens Bottle JIachine, but a few years ago these rights were sold to a syndicate of European bottle manufacturers.

]Mr. Lil>be3' 's also president of the Northwestern Ohio Bottle Company and the Owens West Virginia Bottle Company. He is identified with still another organization that is one of the most familial' trade names in America, the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, of which he is vice president.

With this brief exposition of his business interests and achievements, it remains to state what Mr. Libbey has done for his home city apart from the stimulation and establishment of business and industrial well being. There is no reason to doubt the assertion that has been made that he has done as much for Toledo as any resident who ever lived here. It is not merely a diversion but a sincere interest which has made him always a lover of art. That interest has taken its chief direction in his benefactions in establishing the Toledo Museum of Art. On May 29, 1909, he and his wife Florence (Scott) Libbey conveyed by deed to the trustees of the museum seven lots and all the buildings thereon. This place was the homestead of the late Maurice A. Scott, father of Mrs. Libbey, and situated in the Scottwood Addition to the city. The terms of the deed are that the trustees hold the same for fifty years, erect thereon a museum for the advancement apd display of works of art, and after the lapse of the stated time the trustees may do with the proi:)erty as they may desire. In addition to this gift Mr. Libbey purchased 100 feet on the west side of the new museum property on ilonroe Street, extending 400 feet to Grove Place, thus giving the museum a total frontage on Monroe Street of 500 feet and the same on Grove Place. This acquisition was purchased for the purpose of protecting the museum from any future encroachment on the part of unsympathetic property owners who might erect unsightly buildings close to the beautiful museum structure. The Toledo Museum of Art was incorporated in 1901 and Mr. Libbey has always been the president of the institution. Upon the ground a magnificent structure has been erected through the benefactions of Mr. Libbey and thousands of other Toledo citizens, which is praised by critics everywhere. Mr. and Mrs. Libbey have presented many beautiful paintings and other works of art to the museum and their bene- factions in its behalf never cease. In 1916 an endowment fund of $600,000 was raised among Toledo citizens for tlie Museum of Art, even children couti'ibuting their pennies, and to this fund Mr. Libbey was the largest donor. He has also promised to almost double the size of the present building. Altogether, his benefactions to this institution will approximate $1,000,000.

A few years ago ilr. Libbey was elected for one term to the Board of Education by an almost unprecedented vote, a signal proof of his popularity. To this work he gave his time unstintingly, was honored with the presidency of the board, but declined a re-election. Mr. Libbey is a member of the Union League Club of Chicago, the Duquesne Club of Pittsburgh and the Toledo Club of Toledo.

Cl.vrke N. WoiDER is one of the able and widely experienced newspaper men of Sandusky County, and is now manager of the Fremont Daily Me.ssenger. He has been connected with the Messenger for the past eight years and prior to that was in the newspaper business at Clj'de.

He has been a hard worker since early youth and has .seldom allowed opportunities to be wasted. He was born at Clyde, Ohio, October 23, 1876, son of N. T. and Sarah A. (Nettleton) Wilder. His father was both a farmer and mei'chant and died in Sandusky County November 12, 1909. Mr. Clarke N. Wilder started life with a public school education acquired at Clyde. He was still a boy when he began acquiring busine.ss experience, part of the time in his father's store as a grocery clerk and a number of summer seasons he spent working on a farm. In 1895, at the age of nineteen, he went to Toledo and for four years was in the employ of the E. P. Breckeuridge Company of that city.

From Toledo he returned to Sandusky County and spent two years on his father's farm in Green Creek Township. In January, 1903, he bought a half interest in the Clyde Democrat. The Democrat was established April 2, 1899, by W. 0. Kenan and T. L. Hunt. In August of that year Mr. Hunt sold his interest to S. B. Sturtevant and in December of the same year Mr. Kenan became sole proprietor. In January, 1905, Mr. Wilder acquired all the interests in the paper, and published it successfully for four years. He gave it a large circulation and built up its patronage and busine.ss to a successful point. While living in Clyde Mr. Wilder was one of

On August 29, 1909, having sold the Democrat to B. F. Jackson, he removed from Clyde to Fremont, and was actively connected with the Daily Messenger in different capacities until he became its business manager on December 29, 1916. The Messenger now has a circulation of 2,600 and is one of the most influential newspapers of Sandusky County. It is published daily and semi-weekly.

Mr. Wilder is a progressive democrat and has taken much interest in politics and has done much to assist his party in local campaigns. Outside of newspaper work his special enthusiasm is music, and he has been connected with the bands both at Clyde and at Fremont. He was married September 17, 1901, to Miss Helen Lytic Snyder. She is a daughter of Merritt and Susan (Bowland) Snyder, both now deceased. Her father was long a prominent attorney at Fremont.

George E. Schroth. A former judge of the Court of Common Pleas and a member of the bar at Tiffin for over thirty yeai"s, Judge Schroth has largely made his own way in the world, has found and utilized his oi^portunities to an exceptional degi-ee of success and has been alike prominent in the law, politics and business.

Among the many basiness interests that claim his attention aside from his private practice, he is president of the Sterling Grinding Wheel Company, a corporation with $100,000 capital. Its products are shipped all over the world. He is also vice president of the City National Bank of Tiffin and is a director and secretary of the Allen Motor Company of Fostoria. This company, with a capital of $1,500,000, has built up a business until it now sells 5.000 cars annually.

Judge Schroth was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 7, 1863, and is a son of Frederick and Catherine (Biehler) Schroth. His father was a native of Wuertemberg and his mother of Alsace-LoiTaine. The paternal grandparents spent all their lives in Germany. His maternal gi-andparents were Andrew and Catherine Biehler, who brought their familj^ from Alsace-Lorraine, and located on a farm near Tiffin. Frederick Schroth was born in 1836 and died in 1880 and his wife was born in 1840 and died in 1876. They were mai-ried in Cincinnati. Frederick Schroth had come to America in 1850 and for many yeai-s was engaged in the market business at Cincinnati.

He was a republican and a member of the German Reformed Church. Of his four children three are still living: George E.; Andrew, court bailiff at Tiffin ; Hemy, who died at Fostoria in 1916; and Ida, wife of Michael Hoffman, who is connected with the daily market at Cincinnati.

Judge Schroth acquired his education as opportunity offered at Cincinnati, Tiffin and Acta. Between the ages of sixteen and twentj^-three he taught school several months every year and in the meantime had articled himself to the study of law under J. K. Rohn at Tiffin. He was admitted to the bar in May, 1886, and at once took up active practice at Tiffin. Since then he has been admitted to practice in all the courts, both state and Federal. From 1887 to 1890 Judge Schroth was county school examiner of Seneca County. In 1890 he was elected prosecuting attorney on the republican ticket, an election which in a democratic community was a strong testimonial to his qualifications and his individual popularity. In 1893 he was re-elected and served two terms. From 1888 to 1890 Judge Schroth was secretary of the Agricultural Society. There has never been a time in his career when he has not been keenly interested in politics and in public affairs and his name is associated with many places of responsibility. From 1898 to 1903 he served as referee in bankiiiptcy to the Federal Court. In the fall of 1902 he was elected common pleas .iudge and filled that office creditably until 1909, when he retired from the bench and resumed private practice.

Judge Schroth was married in August, 1889, to Rose "Wolfe, who was bom on a farm just north of Tiffin. They have two children, Catherine and George, Jr. The son is now laying the foundation of a business career as an employe with a manufacturing company. Mrs. Schroth belongs to the Methodist Protestant Church. Judge Schroth has attained the Knight Templar degree in i\Iasonry and also belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.

J. Alvin Taylor is one of the younger business men of Pindlay and is successfully established as a jeweler and optometrist at 211 South Main Street. He began learning the jeweler's trade when a mere boy, and has depended for his success upon hard work, no favors and those principles of business practice which have been justified by generations of experience, including straightforward and

Mr. Taylor was born at Greenbank, West Virginia, son of W. L. and ilary A. Taylor. His father has been in the jewelry business at J^lkins and vicinity in West Virginia for forty years and is still alive and active. Mr. Taylor 's grandfather, Ludy Taylor, came from County Clare, Ireland, and locatiMl in West Virginia, many years ago. Mr. Ta\liir's maternal grandfather was a Confrdriatc s(ih_lier and was killed in the battle of Beverly, West Virginia, during tlie war between the states.

When J. Alvin Taylor was twelve years of age his parents removed to Franklin, West Virginia, where he completed his education in the high school. At" the age of thirteen he began li'ariiing the jewelry business with his fatliiT and rnntinued in his store until 1909. On lca\iiiu' hiime he worked as a journeyman jeweler at different places and in 1912 arrived at Findlay, where he continued as a journeyman jeweler for a year or so. In April, 1914, he employed his inodcst capital and his extensive experienci" in staifing a business of his own. He has a uood .stork, has a growing patronage and also has an excellent practice as an optometrist.

Mr. Taylor was married December 10, 1913, to Miss Ethel ilarie Peet, daughter of William A. and Malinda (ilontague) Peet, an old and well known family of Findlay. ilr. and Mrs. Taylor are members of the iMethodist Church. He is affiliated with the lodge of ilasons and in politics is a republican.

Russ Jackson Christy. There is hardly a household in America which does not know the "Christy bread knife." In some homes the Christy knife has been hanging by the bread bucket for thirty years, an implement always ready for use and practically indispensable. It is one of those things that is accepted as a matter of coui-se, and yet has served to lighten the bm'dens of the world, has made work easier, and deserves to rank among those inventions by which America has expressed its gi-eatest genius.

Every invention, great or small, has its birth in the germ of an idea. The idea is the important thing. There are perhaps millions of people who know the Christy bread knife, recognize that some one had the idea upon which the invention was based, but are unfamiliar with the personality of the man who conceived it all.

the success that has come from his invention, he is a plain and unassuming gentleman and has come to prominence and influence through strenuous exertions and by a gradual rise from conditions near to poverty.

This Northwest Ohio man whose name is a household word, though the majority of those who use it are unfamiliar with his personality or with his career, was born at Clyde, Ohio, February 10, 1862, son of John and Elizabeth Christy. His father was born in New York State" and his mother in Pennsylvania. They were early settlers in Sandusky County, and arrived when only two houses marked the site of the present City of Fremont. Their children are: Jennie, wife of Charles W. Barnaby, of New York City; Charles J., of Fremont; Stella, wife of Samuel Nusly, of Canton, Ohio; Willard C, of Oberlin, Ohio ; and Russ J.

John Christy was a cooper by trade. For a number of years he worked at that steadily and while an industrious man he never attained a position of complete financial independence and his earnings were largely expended in keeping up his home and giving limited advantages to his children. He died November 5, 1897, while his widow survived him until October 10, 1908.