20th century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 66

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 993

USA > Ohio > Clark County > Springfield > 20th century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 66

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

W. O. Paden was reared in German Township and at the age of fourteen started out in the world for himself. He worked on farms by the mouth for two years, after which he attended school at Lebanon, having obtained his primary ed- neation in German Township, and after completing his higher course he taught school for eighteen years. Mr. Paden then went to the South, where he engaged in the Inmber business for twenty years. Upon his return to Clark County. Ohio, he purchased his present farm in Green

LUCIUS M. HARRIS, city auditor of Springfield, Ohio, was born in 1849 in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, and has been a resident of this city since 1885. He is a son of Sullivan D. and Marian Harris. Mr. Harris was reared and edu- rated in Columbus, Ohio, where his par- ents moved when he was a small child. Early in life he entered his father's of- fice, the latter publishing the old "Ohio Cultivator." and later went to Cleveland. where his father published the "Ohio

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Farmer." Soon after locating at Cleve- F. & A. M., also a member and secretary land, Mr. Harris learned telegraphy, and of the B. P. O. E., of which he was for five years exalted ruler.

in 1864 enlisted in Company A, Sixty- ninth Pennsylvania Regiment, and was immediately transferred and assigned to duty in the telegraph department. After the war he was engaged as operator in the train dispatcher's office at Meadville, Pennsylvania, for two years and was then employed for one year in the West- ern Union offices at Savannah. After re- turning north he became chief train dis- patcher for the Pennsylvania Railroad lines, being located at Logansport, In- diana, for twelve years, and from there he went to Chicago, where for a short time he was in the employ of the Chicago and Atlantic Railroad. He then became train- master of the I. N. A. & C. Railroad, be- ing located at LaFayette, Indiana, for three years. In 1885 Mr. Harris came to Springfield and engaged in the wholesale and retail tobacco and news business. in which he continued with success for about eighteen years, when he disposed of the business and assumed the city ageney for the traction line. In November, 1904, Mr. Harris was elected auditor of Springfield and was re-elected to that office November 5, 1907. He is now serving his second terms therein and has proved a faithful and capable officer and enjoys the high esteem and good will of his fellow-citi- zens. Mr. Harris was trustee of the water works, but had only served one year when the new code was enacted.

In 1870 Mr. Harris was joined in mar- riage with Miss Frances E. Gardner, and they have one child, Carlton G. Harris, who is employed in the engineering de- partment of the city of Springfield. Fra- ternally Mr. Harris is a member of the

JOHN N. GARVER, a business man at Springfield, is a citizen well known in journalistic and political circles and has been identified with various important in- terests in this section. Mr. Garver was born in Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio, September 28, 1858, and is a son of Benjamin C. and Ruth A. (Rohrer) Gar- ver.

Benjamin C. Garver was born near Har- per's Ferry, Virginia. His grandfather, Christian Garver, emigrated from Ger- many and settled in Washington County, Maryland, where his family of eighteen children were reared. Abraham C. Gar- ver, father of Benjamin C., was born in Maryland but became a resident of Jef- ferson County, Virginia, now West Vir- ginia, in 1819. In 1831 he came to Clark County with his wife and six children, and settled in the forest in Bethel Township, where he had purchased a farm. Later he acquired land aggregating 700 acres. He married Elizabeth Rice, who was born in Maryland. He died in 1857, his wife sur- viving him several years. Benjamin C. Garver was two years old when his pa- rents came to Clark County. At the death of his father he inherited a portion of the land, on which he continued to reside for some years and then moved to Kansas. The closing years of his life were spent as a local preacher in the Methodist Epis- copal Church. His wife Ruth, who was born in Springfield, was a daughter of John A. and Susan (Thrall) Rohrer, who came to Clark County from Pennsylvania,

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in 1840. Benjamin C. Garver and wife owners and the business manager of the had eleven children, the following nine reaching maturity, John N., Abraham R., Frank R., James L., Walter B., Edward M., George G., Clara E. and Arthur C.

After an academy preparation, John N. Garver entered Wittenberg College and continued his studies there from 1876 un- til 1878, and then entered the Ohio Wes- leyan University at Delaware, where he was graduated in the class of 1882. He was then engaged as traveling representa- tive of the Superior Drill Company, of Springfield. He later turned his attention to the study of law, reading for about one year at Emporia, Kansas, and then drifted into newspaper work, for which he had acquired some earlier training as a reporter on the Springfield Republic and as business manager of a college pub- lication. He became editor first of the News and later of the Globe at Emporia. In 1885 he filled the same position on the staff of the Sioux City Tribune. In the fall of 1886 he was appointed land in- spector for the New England Trust Com- pany, for Missouri and Kansas, and late in 1887 he went to Lincoln, Nebraska. where, associated with A. D. Hosterman, now a resident of Springfield, and a num- ber of prominent business men of Lin- coln, he established a publishing house known as the Lincoln Newspaper Union. This venture proved a great success and in 1888 they disposed of this business ad- vantageously. Returning to Springfield, Mr. Garver, as a member of the Hoster- man Publishing Co., became interested in, and the advertising manager of. the Re- public Times, then one of the leading Re- publican newspapers of southern Ohio. In 1892 Mr. Garver became one of the

Peoria, Ill., Transcript, which he con- ducted successfully for five years, after which, in 1898, he became sole owner of Farm News, which he published with splendid success until 1905, at which time he sold it in order to give his entire time to his western land and local real estate and business interests.

In 1888 Mr. Garver was married to Anna Geiger, a daughter of the late Dr. H. R. Geiger, and Nancy (Hartford) Gei- ger, of Springfield. Mr. and Mrs. Garver live in a beautiful home at No. 619 Wit- tenberg Avenue and are members of the High Street Methodist Episcopal Church. In his political affiliation Mr. Garver has always been a staunch Republican and has taken an active part in public affairs wherever he has been located. He is an alumnus of the Phi Kappa Psi, a college fraternity. He is a member of the several Masonic bodies, including the Knights Templar and the Mystic Shrine. During 1898 he was president of the Springfield Commercial Club, the city's leading com- mercial organization. He is interested in several business concerns in Springfield and elsewhere.

REUBEN M. ROBERTS, who operates a valuable farm of 190 acres, which is ad- vantageously situated within two miles of South Charleston, owns the finest herd of registered Holstein cattle in Clark County and carries on a large stock business. He is one of the substantial citizens of Madi- son Township and was born on Septem- ber 26. 1850, at Alexandria, Virginia. His parents were Reuben and Hannah (Rob- erts) Roberts.

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Enoch Roberts, the grandfather, was a native of New Jersey, and Reuben Rob- erts married Hannah Roberts, a daugh- ter of Josiah Roberts, of Moorestown, New Jersey. They had eight children, five of whom survive. Reuben Roberts died in 1855.

Reuben M. Roberts was educated in the neighborhood of Moorestown, New Jersey, and later worked as a farmer there be- fore coming to Ohio in 1886. He engaged in agriculture on the Merritt farm, having previously married Susan M. Merritt, who was born April 4, 1852, in Springfield, Clark County. She is a daughter of Ed- ward Merritt, who was born at Mt. Holly, New Jersey, in 1820, and who, in 1832, accompanied his parents, Thomas and Jane (Gaskill) Merritt, to Madison Town- ship, Clark County. Thomas Merritt was a cabinetmaker and followed farming on the present Roberts farm after coming to this section. He had four children. Ed- ward Merritt was married twice and had two children born to his first marriage, and four by his second, Mrs. Roberts being of the second family. Her early home was near the site of the present water works at Springfield. She was edu- cated in the district schools and remained at home until her marriage, September 16. 1886, to Reuben M. Roberts. They have one son, Merritt E., who is a student in the George School in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In political sentiment, Mr. Roberts is a Republican. He is a member of the Society of Friends.

WILLIAM H. SIEVERLING, city en- gineer of Springfield. Ohio, and one of that city's substantial and enterprising

business men, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 29, 1865. There he was reared and received his educational training in the public schools and in the civil engineer- ing department of the University of Cin- cinnati. At the age of nineteen Mr. Siev- erling became a member of the engineer- ing staff of Anderson & Hobby, civil en- gineers, and of the Cincinnati Southern Railway, and remained in Cincinnati en- gaged in civil engineering for a number of years. He then went to Anderson, In- diana, and engaged in preliminary survey- ing for traction lines for about a year and a half. In 1895, at the solicitation of John H. Thomas, he came to Springfield, but after reaching the city entered the engin- eering department of the Ohio Southern Railway, remaining with that company for over two years, when he surveyed the extension of the Findlay, Ft. Wayne & Western Railway to Kankakee, Illinois. One year later he became chief engineer of the Detroit & Lima Northern, which subsequently consolidated with the Ohio Southern under the name of Detroit Southern, with which company he re- mained as chief engineer for two years. On July 17, 1901, he was appointed city engineer of Springfield, which position he held until February 1, 1908. While employed by Anderson & Hobby, he acted as engineer in charge of numerous large projects, notably the building of a town, Grand Rivers, Kentucky, with two 60-ton blast furnaces, opening twelve coal mines and building numerous coking ovens; the building of Ivorydale-Proctor & Gam- ble's great soap works ; the Addyston Pipe & Steel Co.'s plant at Addyston. Ohio; the Anniston Pipe & Steel Co. at Annis- ton, Ala., and the government post of

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Fort Thomas, Kentucky, opposite Cincin- nati.

On February 15, 1908, he took service with Gould & Wright, contractors of To- ledo, Ohio, superintending the construe- tion of the main high level sanitary sewer and other sanitary sewers of the sanitary system he designed while city engineer in 1904, the estimated cost of which was $981,000.

In 1894 Mr. Sieverling was joined in marriage with Kate Helen Stoll, of Piqua, Ohio, and they have two sons-Walter .J. and Paul Sieverling.

Mr. Sieverling is a member of the Ohio Society of Engineers, and is serving on the board of trustees of that society. He is a Master Mason, belonging to Anthony Lodge, No. 455, Clark County, Ohio. Re- ligiously, he is affiliated with the Center Street Methodist Episcopal Church, be- ing one of the trustees.

JAMES O. TUTTLE, general farmer and stock-raiser in Harmony Township, where he owns ninety-seven and one-half acres of valuable land, was born in Clark County, Ohio, October 26, 1847, and is a son of Sylvanus and Jane D. (Garlough) Tuttle.

The Tuttle family belonged to New Jer- sey prior to settling in Clark County, Ohio. In 1806, the great-grandfather of James O. Tuttle brought his family from that State and settled in Springfield Town- ship and spent the remainder of his life here. His son, John Tuttle, was born in New Jersey and married in Ohio, in 1815. His wife was Margaret Prickett, who was a daughter of Nicholas Prickett, and to them were born fourteen children.

Sylvanus Tuttle, of the above family, was born in Clark County in 1820, and in early manhood he married Jane D. Gar- longh. They had six children, namely: Margaret, John, James, Marion, Tabitha and George H. Margaret is deceased. Her husband, Charles Holland, died in Hardin County, Ohio. They had the fol- lowing children : Robert, William, Charles, Harry, George and an infant daughter. John died in infancy. Marion resides in Clark County. Tabitha is the widow of John Blee. George probably resides in Arizona.

James O. Tuttle attended the district schools during his boyhood and grew to manhood on the home farm. When his father died the property was left to five heirs and subsequently James O., together with his brother Marion, purchased the in- terests of the three others. He carries ou general farming successfully raising the usual grains of this section, and gives considerable attention to producing fine stock, his land being well adapted to both industries.

On November 6, 1870, Mr. Tuttle was married in Green Township, Clark Coun- ty, to Catherine Todd, who was born Au- gust 4, 1848, in Madison County, Ohio. and is a daughter of Samuel and Salome Todd, both deceased, who had eight chil- dren, namely : Margaret, Elizabeth. Thomas, Sarah B., Catherine, Samuel, Nancy J. and Jacob. Margaret Todd. de- ceased, married Thomas Baker and they had four children: Elma, who is the widow of Wesley Clark, has three sons, Ernest, Clay and Wesley A. Orval, who married (first) Lottie Blackburn and (second) an Eastern lady, is a professor in a college in the State of New York.

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JAMES H. RABBITTS

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Leonard, who lives at Dayton, has three Diehl, with whom he remained about four children. Louise died young. These were years, later going to the firm of Elder & Tuttle. With the exception of four years, during which he was engaged in a grain business, Mr. Tuttle has continuously de- voted himself to the interests of the hard- ware trade. In 1904 his present enter- prise, the W. F. Tuttle Hardware Com- pany, was organized, and a large and con- stantly expanding business has followed. the children of Margaret. Elizabeth Todd, deceased, married William Billby and left one son, Charles. Thomas Todd served through three enlistments in the Civil War from Indiana. He has married twice (first) Anna Graham, who left two children, Minnie and Harley, and (second) Anna Stillwell. Sarah B. Todd, now the wife of Alfred Stanton and residing in In 1887, Mr. Tuttle was married to Flor- enee Otstot, who is a daughter of Will- iam Otstot, a member of an old pioneer family of this section. Mr. and Mrs. Tut- tle have one son, Carl. Kansas, was married first to Theodore Brawley. Samuel Todd married (first) Nettie Billby, who left one child, Oliver. and (second) Cynthia Shurett. They have one daughter, Sarah E., who married Al- bert Weider and they have two children, Waldo and Kenneth. Nancy .J. and Jacob Todd both died when small.

Mr. and Mrs. Tuttle have had two daughters, Leona, who was born July 2, 1876, died aged twenty-eight days; and Mabel, who was born January 3, 1879. In 1900, she married William Nave and they live in Pleasant Township. Mrs. Tuttle is a valued member of the M. P. Church at Harmony. Mr. Tuttle is identified with the Grange.

JAMES H. RABBITTS, postmaster, oldest son of the late Charles and Mar- garet (Robison) Rabbitts, was born at Springfield, Ohio, April 1, 1853. He com- pleted his public school course in his na- tive city, and then entered the University of Wooster, Ohio, from which institution he was graduated in 1874. He then took up the study of the law under the super-

vision of General J. Warren Keifer and Hon. Charles R. White. In 1876 he was admitted to the bar, and later entered into partnership with his preceptors. In this engagement he continued until 1881. when he was elected clerk of the courts of Clark County.

W. F. TUTTLE, secretary, treasurer and manager of The W. F. Tuttle Hard- ware Company, has been a resident of Springfield for the past twenty-six years During the seventeen years following he was actively engaged in political life. He was chosen chairman of the Repub- lican County Central Committee in 1883, and 1884, and again in 1889 he served in the same position. In 1884 he was re- elected to the office of clerk of the courts, and was born in Springfield Township, Clark County, Ohio, in 1863. His father, John J. Tuttle, was a leading farmer in the township. At the age of seventeen years, W. F. Tuttle came from his coun- try home to Springfield, where he became a clerk in the hardware store of W. W. and was again re-elected in 1887, and

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served in that position until January 1, 1890, when he resigned to take the posi- tion of managing editor of the Daily Re- public-Times, the leading Republican journal of Clark County.

In this engagement he continued for eight years, when he resigned his editor- ship to serve as postmaster of Spring- field, to which office he was appointed by President Mckinley, May 1, 1898. In 1902 and again in 1906 Mr. Rabbitts was reappointed by President Roosevelt. During Mr. Rabbitts' incumbency thie rural delivery service was established, and the volume of the business of the Springfield post office, its gross receipts and the number of its employes have all increased more than one hundred and twenty-five per cent.

Mr. Rabbitts was married December 7, 1882, at Indianapolis, Ind., to Miss Cor- nelia Burt, who is a daughter of Rev. N. C. Burt, D. D., who was formerly pas- tor of the First Presbyterian Church, at Springfield. Of the three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Rabbitts, a son and a daughter survive, viz: Burt and Frances. The family home is at 652 North Lime- stone Street.

In 1898 Mr. Rabbitts was elected a member of the Board of Directors of the Merchants' and Mechanics' Building and Loan Association and served continu- ously in that position. Following the death of the late Edward C. Gwyn, Mr. Rabbitts was elected president of the as- sociation January 1, 1908. Mr. Rabbitts is an active member of the Springfield Commercial Club and contributes his will- ing effort in the discharge of all the duties incident to public-spirited citizenship.

MARTIN FRANTZ, who is engaged in general farming on a fine farm of 336 located about ten miles west of Spring- field, in Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio, was born October 2, 1857, near bis present farm, and is a son of Benjamin and Mary Ann (Leedy) Frantz.

Daniel Frantz, great-grandfather of our subject, came from Virginia to Ohio at a very early period and settled west of Springfield, where his death occurred some years later. His son, Benjamin Frantz, Sr., came to Ohio at the same time, but settled in the wilds of Bethel Township, on a large tract of land, re- siding in that locality for over fifty years, and passing ont of this life at the age of seventy-seven.

Benjamin Frantz, Jr .. father of the subject of this sketch, with the exception of two years spent on a farm in Wabash, Indiana, has passed his entire life up to this time in Bethel Township on the old homestead, to which he has at times add- ed more land, having acquired about 600 acres. He was first married to Mary Ann Leedy, of Wabash County, Ohio, who died in 1897, aged fifty-seven years. Eight children were born of this union, namely: Martin, whose name appears at the head of this article: Joseph; Eliza- beth, wife of A. Detrick; Emma, who died aged seventeen years; Charles, and three children, who died in infancy. He subsequently married Mattie Binkley and they are at present spending the winter in California.

Martin Frantz was born in the old stone house on the farm where his brother Charles now lives, and there grew to man- hood. ocenpving his time with farm duties and attending the district schools

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of the township. Being the eldest son, a large part of the work fell to him, and he cleared about thirty acres of land, re- maining at home until after his marriage. He then bought the John Garver . farm, which he carried on for two years, when he returned to his present farm, buying the land from his father. Here he has since been engaged in general agriculture, and has spent considerable time and money in improving the land, remodeling the old brick house and other buildings on the farm.

Mr. Frantz was married October 14. 1879, to Dora Markey, of Preble County, Ohio, and thirteen children have been born of this union, namely: Verna, wife of J. Aukerman, who has one child- Forest; Benjamin A., who married Dora Brubaker; Edith, who married James Shoup; Maude, wife of E. Onkst; Markey, Anna, Emma, Evelyn, Martin, Pauline, and three others who died in infancy.

Mr. and Mrs. Frantz are members of the old German Baptist Brethren Church, in which Mr. Frantz's father is an elder and preaches in the Honey Creek Church.

MICHAEL RADER, township trustee and owner of a farm of ninety-five and three-quarters acres, located abont six miles northwest of Springfield, on the Enreka Road, just off the Troy Turn- pike, is one of the enterprising and influ- ential agriculturists of German Town- ship. He was born December 9, 1868, on a farm in Springfield Township. Clark County, Ohio, and is a son of Philip and Margaret (Sultz) Rader.

Philip Rader was born and reared to manhood in Germany and after coming

to Clark County worked for a time on the fam now owned by William W. Hyslop. While visiting his sister in St. Louis, Mis- souri, he met and married Margaret Sultz, who was born in Germany and came to America with her parents, who settled in St. Louis. Mr. Rader and wife began housekeeping on a farm just op- posite the Hyslop farm, which was then owned by Michael Shafer, an uncle of Mrs. Rader, and they have resided on farms in Clark County ever since. For a number of years Mr. Rader rented land and operated the Sintz farm in Spring- field Township for six years; then became a resident of Pike Township for seven years, after which he returned to Spring- field township and rented for two years, when he bought a little farm there which he conducted for nine years, then sold and bought a tract of sixty acres in Mad River Township, which he also sold, after which he bought the farm on which he and his wife began housekeeping, where he has since continued to reside. Ten chil- dren were born to Philip and Margaret Rader, nine of whom are living: Michael, Philip. who lives with his brother Michael; Henry, who died aged twenty- eight years, left one child, Augusta; Mary, who is the wife of John German; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Louis Fos- ter; Adam, who lives on the farm of sixty acres in Pike Township, which was formerly owned by Philip Morningstar; Minnie, who is the wife of Charles Lehnard; Kate, who is the wife of Em- mard Lehnard; and Maggie, who married Ralph Saunders.

Michael Rader was born on the old Sintz farm in Springfield Township and remained at home until the time of his

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marriage. With the exception of two Leffel Company, of this city, has been a years spent in working in the quarries, resident here for the past forty-two years. and was born in 1837, near Rob Roy, In- diana, where he was reared and educated. Early in life he engaged in milling and farming, which occupation he followed umtil 1866, when he came to Springfield and was here engaged in milling for one year. In 1867 he entered the employ. as clerk, of the James Leffel Company, of this city, and has gradually advanced to his present position as vice president and treasurer of that company. Mr. Book- walter is also a director in the Citizens' National Bank, of this city. he has always followed farming, and after his marriage located on the Cold Springs Farm in Mad River Township. One year later he moved to the Susan Sintz farm, which he conducted for seven years with much success, then bonght and located on his present farm of ninety-five and three quarter acres in German Township. Here he is successfully engaged in gen- eral farming and has made numerous im- provements. There are two barns on the place, one of which was built by Mr. Rader in 1903.

On February 26, 1895, Mr. Rader mar- ried Kate Kaffenberger, who is a daugh- ter of Conrad and Barbara (Schafer) Kaffenberger. Mrs. Rader's mother died when she was but four years old. and she was reared until eleven years of age , by her step-mother, after which she went to live with her grandparents, Adam Schafer and wife, both of whom were na- tives of Germany, but residents of Ger- man Township, Clark County, for many years. The grandmother died January 31, 1908, aged seventy-five years, and the grandfather's death occurred in July, 1905. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Rader, namely: Harry. Will- iam. Bertha, Albert. Paul and Gertrude. Politically Mr. Rader is a Democrat, and was elected trustee of German Township on the Democratic ticket. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, of Northampton.

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20th century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 66

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co. Number of Pages: 993

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 993