20th century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 99

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 99

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).

In the year before his marriage Mr. Martin had purchased one acre of land upon which he erected a small house, and since then has always owned his own home. In 1862 he purchased forty acres of his present farm from Frederick Gor- don, later adding sixteen and three-quar- ters acres. In May, 1864, he entered the army, enlisting in Company E, One Hun- dred and Fifty-third Regiment, Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry, and served until Septem- ber, 1864. Upon his return to Clark

County he engaged in carpenter work for several years, building bank barns as a specialty, his sons in the meantime oper- ating the farm for him. Mr. Martin sub- sequently conducted the farm himself for a time, but acquired the larger part of his ample fortune by loaning money. For some time he has rented his land, taking care to have reliable tenants.

Mr. Martin is one of the oldest men in the township, and although past eighty years of age, is still remarkably hale for a man of his years, and has but once since his marriage required the services of a physician for himself. Politically he is a Republican, and has served his township in various offices. He is a member of the Mitchell Post, G. A. R., and has been a member of the Masonic order since 1857.

BENJAMIN F. MELLINGER, a much esteemed citizen of Mad River Township, who is engaged in general farming on a tract of seventy-eight acres, was born July 17, 1851, in Mad River Township, Clark County, Ohio, and is a son of Jobn E. and Mary Elizabeth (Pfoutz) Mellin- ger.

John F. Mellinger was born in Lancas- ter County, Pennsylvania, and was the eldest of a large family of children, of whom those now living are as follows: John, father of our subject; Jacob, Henry, a resident of St. Louis, Mo .; Da- vid; Mrs. Beard; and Elizabeth, who is unmarried and lives in Pennsylvania. The father, Benjamin Mellinger, followed farming in Pennsylvania all his life, also operating a small distillery and mill for some years.

John E. Mellinger was reared on his

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father's farm in Lancaster County, and his business in the store. The last few assisted in the work of the mill, distil- years of his life were spent on a farm, where he died at the age of seventy-two. Hle was the father of three children: Emma, wife of our subject; Frank W., who lives on the home place in Green County, Ohio; and Charles S., who con- duets an undertaking establishment at Xenia, Ohio, and is coroner of Green County. lery and farm. He was married in Ha- gerstown, Maryland, to Mary Elizabeth Pfoutz, a native of that village. In about 1851, when forty years of age, he and wife came to Ohio and settled on a farm in Clark County. They subsequently bought the farm, which the subject of this sketch now owns, from the Martin heirs, and there his wife died shortly after, leaving two children : Benjamin F., and Ann Elizabeth, the latter of whom is unmar- ried and lives at Yellow Springs, Ohio. Mr. Mellinger subsequently married Sarah A. Lewis, who died twenty years later, in 1870. There were no children born of the second union. Mr. Mellinger died in June, 1901, at the advanced age of ninety-one years.

Benjamin F. Mellinger has spent the greater part of his life in Mad River Township, where he has always been en- gaged in agricultural pursuits. His early life was spent on the home farm, assist- ing in Les work, and he attended the Rock Point district school for three months during the winter. He was married Janu- ary 10, 1878, to Emma L. Johnson, who was born at Yellow Springs, Green Coun- ty, Ohio, and is a daughter of Asahel and Mary A. (Gilmore) Johnson. Her father came to Ohio from Kentucky, and here married Sarah E. Elwell, who died leav- ing no children, and he later married Mary A. Gilmore. Mr. Jolison's occupation in early life was that of a wagon-maker, but he subsequently conducted a general store at Yellow Springs, during which time he was appointed ticket and freight agent of the Little Miami division of the Penn- sylvania Railroad, conducting that part of

After Mr. Mellinger's marriage he spent four and a half years on his father- in-law's farm in Greene County, and on April 1, 1881, returned to the old home farm in Mad River Township and pur- chased his sister's interest in the farm. Here he has since been successfully en- gaged in general farming, and is recog- nized as one of the township's substan- tial and representative citizens. The large brick house which he and his family occupy was erected in 1869 by his father, who had the brick burned on the place. Mr. and Mrs. Mellinger have one child, Charles J., who was born July 16, 1881. He passed the Boxwell examinations at the age of thirteen years, attended the Spring- field High School for two years, as a grad- uate of Wilts Commercial College of Day- ton, Ohio, and also attended the Ohio State University a short time, Politically Mr. Mellinger is a Republican.

REUBEN SCIFERS, one of Moorefield Township's representative men, residing on his excellent farm of fifty-six acres which lies on the Springfield-Urbana turnpike, one mile north of the corpora- tion limits of Springfield, was born in Shenandoah County, Virginia, February

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14, 1833. His parents were Jacob and and went to Urbana to learn the plaster- Nancy (Romick) Seifers.

The Scifers family originated in Ger- many. It was established in Loudon County, Virginia, by the grandfather of Reuben Scifers. Grandfather Scifers, wishing to escape military service, ran away from home and gained a vessel which brought him to the American colo- nies during the Revolutionary War, in which he served for six years. Jacob Scifers, father of Reuben, was born in Loudon County, Virginia, in 1787. He served in the War of 1812. He married Nancy Romick, who was born in Shenan- doah County, Virginia, where her father owned a large plantation. They had eight children born in that county, Reuben be- ing the youngest, and seven more were added to the family after settlement was made in Mad River Township, Champaign County, Ohio. One of his sons, James H., served four years in the Civil War.

Reuben Scifers was less than one year old when his parents left the old Virginia home, in September, 1833, and crossed the mountains in wagons to Champaign County, Ohio, where they settled on a rented farm. The father had previously bought a farm, but had never moved there and later sold it. He was a man of ster- ling character and reared his large fam- ily to respected maturity. In 1844 he con- tributed, with his neighbors, to assist in the building of Wittenberg College, his contribution taking the form of a load of lumber, and it was his son, Reuben, then a boy of eleven years, who delivered this first load as a beginning of that notable edifice.

In 1854. when he had reached his twen- ty-first year, Reuben Seifers left home

er's trade, at which he worked until 1856, and then came to Springfield, where he worked as a journeyman plasterer until 1860 when he went into plastering con- tracting, for several years being associ- ated with David Stevens. From 1872 until 1880 Mr. Scifers continued in business alone, doing a great deal of the plaster work on Springfield buildings. It was done with the slow, careful methods which make for permanence, rather than with the cheapening hurry of the present day, which too often entirely destroys the sub- stantial character of a building. In the spring of 1868, Mr. Scifers bought his present farm, to which he moved in the following fall and resided on it until 1876, when he spent two years at Springfield, in order to give his children city school advantages. In 1878 he returned to the farm and resumed agricultural pursuits.

On January 30, 1859, Mr. Scifers was married to Mary Hulinger, who is a daughter of Valentine and Elizabeth (Maggart) Hlulinger. Mrs. Scifers was born and reared in Mad River Township, Champaign County, where her parents had married, although her father was born in Pennsylvania and her mother in Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Seifers have two children : Alice Ada and Ulysses G. Alice Ada Seifers married Charles O. May, who is a contracting plasterer at Springfield. They have four children, namely: Ford A., who married Ross Poysell; Margaret ; John R .; and Blair, the latter of whom was accidentally drowned on Decoration Day, in 1904, when within one week of being twelve years of age. This was a sad blow to every member of the family

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and aroused the sympathy of the whole community. Ulysses G. Scifers resides at Springfield. He married Mary Clouse, and they have one son, Robert B.

Mr. Scifers is a Republican, and he was elected township trustee and faithfully served through his term of three years. For the space of eighteen years he was a member of the Board of Agriculture. With his family he belongs and gives lib- eral support to the Fourth - Lutheran Church at Springfield.

HARRY S. KISSELL, one of Spring- field's leading business man, president and treasurer of The Kissell Real Estate Company, and identified with other Springfield interests, was born in this city September 24, 1875, and is a son of the late C. B. Kissell a native of Mary- land who came to Clark County in child- · hood.

Harry S. Kissell was educated in the Springfield schools and at Wittenberg College graduating from the latter well- known institution in the class of 1896. After his graduation he entered his fatlı- er's real estate office, the latter having been engaged in this line of business for some twenty years. A partnership was formed under the style of C. B. Kissell & Son, which continued until the death of C. B. Kissell, which took place in 1903. Harry S. Kissell was the organizer of The Kissell Real Estate Company, which was incorporated in 1906, with a capital stock of $10,000. This firm deals entirely in Clark County and Springfield prop- erty, doing some platting and building and their honest, straight-forward meth- ods have built up for them an extensive

business. Mr. Kissell is a director and was one of the incorporators of The American Trust & Savings Company, and he is identified with other successful en- terprises, being vice president of The Fairbanks Building Company, and also of the Springfield Commercial Club.

In 1901 Mr. Kissell was married to Miss Olive Troupe, who is a daughter of Theo- dore Troupe, one of Springfield's leading citizens. Mr. and Mrs. Kissell have one son, Roger Troupe Kissell.

Fraternally he is a 32nd degree Mason and is an officer in the Grand Lodge, F. & A. M., of Ohio, and is a past master of Anthony Lodge, No. 455, F. & A. M. He is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church and is president of its board of trustees. His social connections are with the Lagonda and Country clubs.

GEORGE H. FREY, JR., a prominent business citizen of Springfield, who is closely identified with the city's railroad interests, was born at Springfield, Ohio, August 27, 1856, and is a son of George HI. and Jane Q. (Ward) Frey.

For many years the father of Mr. Frey was prominent in the business life of Springfield, in which city he now lives re- tired. The mother of Mr. Frey was a member of one of the old established fam- ilies of this section. She died in 1881. Of the twelve children which made up the family, five still survive, George H. being the third in order of birth.

George H. Frey, Jr., acquired his liter- ary education in the schools of Springfield, at Wittenberg College and at Wooster University. He prepared for the legal pro- fession, but later went into business, in

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1879, succeeding to his father's quarry in- terests. For some years he was engaged in a banking business at Omaha, Ne- braska, where he continued until 1885. He then returned to Springfield and for the following two years served as treas- urer of the Mast-Foos Manufacturing Company. He then went again to the West and for three years carried on a stone business in Kansas, but in 1890 he came back to Springfield and has since been identified with railroad and other im- portant business enterprises

Mr. Frey married Belle Mast, a daugh- ter of the late P. P. Mast, and he and his wife are the parents of three sons. Mr. Frey is a Republican in politics.

ARTHUR Z. SMITH, one of the enter- prising and successful farmers of Pike Township, who ably operates his father's farm of 200 acres, which is situated thir- teen miles northwest of Springfield, was born July 15, 1873, on the farm in Pike Township, Clark County, Ohio, which is now the property of William Sturgeon. His parents were Christian and Mary Jane (Zinn) Smith.

This Smith family came to Ohio from Virginia and it was the great-grandfather of Arthur Z. Smith who brought the fam- ily first to Pike Township. The parents of Arthur Z. Smith were born in Clark County, where the father lives retired, having long been one of Pike Township's WILLIAM MILLER, who is now liv- ing in retirement at his home in Spring- field Township after many years of busi- ness activity, is owner of considerable property in different parts of the county. He has seven or eight acres within the most substantial citizens. The mother of Mr. Smith was a daughter of Daniel R. and Matilda (Sturgeon) Zinn, and she died March 21, 1883. There were eight children born to Christian Smith and his first wife, as follows: Marcellus Z., Al- limits of the city of Springfield, a tract

bert Z., Matilda A., Orren Z., Della May, Arthur Z., Clarence Z. and Alice E., the last named being the wife of Cassius Schaffner. The second marriage of Christian Smith was to Carolina D. Tener, who died in the following year, and his third marriage was to Wilhelmina Dresh- er. To this last union were born the fol- lowing children: Margaret, Cynthia, Helen, Vernon, Gilbert and Luther. Helen and Vernon are deceased.

Arthur Z. Smith was three years old when the family moved to the present farm and he attended the old Yale School in this district. He assisted in clearing this farm and has devoted himself to its cultivation and improvement ever since boyhood. He engages in a general agri- cultural line, raising fine stock and grow- ing grain.

On December 2, 1900, Mr. Smith was married to Bertha Jordan, who is a daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Myers) Jordan, old pioneers of Pike Township. Mr. Jordan still survives. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two sons, Harold C. and Lloyd Parker. In politics Mr. Smith is a Democrat and in January, 1908, his party elected him a member of the School Board of Pike Township. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Junior Order of American Mechanics and to the National Protective Legion.

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of twenty-five acres across the road in Springfield Township and another tract of eighty-two acres in the same township, and in Moorefield Township has a farm of ninety-two acres. He is a native of Clark County, Ohio, having been born on the old Isaac Miller farm, April 10, 1846, and is a son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Sitz) Miller.

The paternal grandparents of William Miller came from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, of which they were natives, to Ohio, and took up their residence in German Township, Clark County. The grandfather, a hardy old pioneer, sowed the first clover seed in Clark County, having brought it in from Butler County.

Isaac Miller was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and was seven years of age when he accompanied his parents to Clark County. He attended the primitive schools of German Town- ship, and at an early age learned the trade of carpenter with .James Humphrey, who lived on the Urbana Pike. He en- joyed a long and useful life, being nearly ninety-two years old at the time of his demise. He married Elizabeth Sitz, whose father, Henry Sitz, was a farmer and an early resident of the county. This union resulted in the following issne: David. who died at the age of forty-two years; William and Henry, twins; and Mary, wife of .James M. Sheaff.

William Miller received an excellent education in the district schools of his native township, and throughout his long and active business career engaged in ag- ricultural pursuits. He farmed the home place until his marriage, in 1871, then rented a place south of the city of Spring- field. After a short residence there he

moved down toward Clifton, and later to the old Charles Stroud farm at Donnels- ville. He then purchased twenty-six acres of land from his father, for which he paid $2,600 and after residing there three three years sold out at $154 per acre, al- most doubling his money on the invest- ment. He then lived on the farm left by his father-in-law, Henry Gram, for four years, at the end of which time he moved to his present place.

Mr. Miller was first married to Miss Anna Rebbert, a daughter of Andrew Rebbert, who lived south of the city of Springfield, and one son, Andrew J., was born to bless this union. After the death of his first wife he formed a second union October 6, 1875, with Miss Elizabeth Gram, a daughter of Henry Gram, who was a speculator and a well known citizen of this county. She was one of the fol- lowing children born to her parents: Catherine, deceased; Rebecca, deceased; Elizabeth (Miller); Sarah; John, de- ceased; and Cornelius. This second union was also blessed with a son, Henry G., who operates the home farm. The latter was joined in marriage with Mary Kobe- lanz, a daughter of Henry Kobelanz, and has a son, Karl C., aged three years. Re- ligiously Mr. Miller and his family are members of the Lutheran Church.

LEWELLEN TAYLOR, a highly re- spected citizen and retired farmer of Mad River Township, was born on his father's farm in Ross County, Ohio, March 5, 1829, and is a son of John and Mary (Pierce) Taylor.

John Taylor was of Kentucky birth and rearing, and he was married in that state

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to Mary Pierce, whose people came from Pennsylvania. After marriage John Taylor and wife went to Ross County, Ohio, where he bought a large, uncleared farm in Paint Township. From tilling his acres here he went to serve as a sol- dier in the War of 1812, and on account of his knowledge of horses was made over- seer of a wagon train. He survived all the dangers of war and returned to his family and resumed clearing and cultivat- ing his land in Ross County. In 1853 he removed from there to Clark County and died at the home of his son Lewellen in 1863. His wife had died in Ross County. They had eleven children, namely: Wash- ington, Hettie, William, Rachel, Neicey, Pierce, Emily, Sallie, Andrew, Simeon and Lewellen all of whom reached ma- turity and married, and many left de- scendants.

Lewellen Taylor was the youngest born of the above family and is the only surviv- or. He assisted to clear up his father's 240 acre farm, in the meanwhile gaining a subscription school education in a log school building. His father paid $2.50 for three months' instruction for each of his children. In those days there was no free system of education as at pres- ent, when children cannot evade going to school and having advantages, even if they desire to do so. He was married November 15. 1855. to Delilah Bare- field, of Highiland County, Ohio, and to this marriage were born four children, namely: Jefferson, Mary, Alfred and Birch. Jefferson married May Phillips and they have five children. Mary is de- ceased. She was the wife of Robert Pat- ten and the mother of three children, all of whom married and have children of

their own. Alfred married Rose Sheets. Birch married Margaret Cahill and they have three children. Thus Mr. Taylor's family has expanded into the third gen- eration and he is very proud of his four great-grandchildren.

In 1855 Mr. Taylor moved with his fam- ily to Clark County, Ohio, where he bought 160 acres of land in Mad River Township. It was uncleared, unimproved property and the Rebert Turnpike Road which now skirts it was then but a rough, muddy highway. Mr. Taylor soon changed the appearance of his farm and surroundings. He erected all the build- ings now standing and continued to add to his land until he owned 500 acres. That represented years of industry and good management. This land he has ap- portioned to his children and has been permitted to live to see them in the enjoy- ment of their heritage.

Mr. Taylor has an honorable military record. When the Mexican War broke out he, with two companions, endeavored to enter the service, but he did not suc- ceed, although he was well developed for his age. He waited until 1864 before he made a second attempt to become a sol- dier, being accepted at this time. He was assigned to service on the gunboat, the "General Grant," on the Tennessee River, and he participated in the numer- ous battles that marked the river cam- paign, receiving his honorable discharge on June 30, 1865. He escaped all injury and was able to return to his family un- harmed. In polities he is a Republican.

In 1893 Mr. Taylor retired from farm work and built his handsome residence, which is pleasantly situated three miles south and west of Springfield. Mr. Taylor

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is one of the representative men of his section and has reared a family which is creditable both to the parents and to the community in which they have their homes.

WALTER NORTON CHAMBERLIN, one of the early pioneers of Clark County, Ohio, who is living in retirement at New Carlisle, in the enjoyment of a well earned rest after years of unceasing ac- tivity, was for many years one of the most prominent stock dealers and breed- ers of thoroughbred cattle, sheep and hogs in the county. He was born May 28, 1823, at Lisbon, Clark County, Ohio, and is a son of Isaac and Polly (Harriman) Chamberlin.

Isaac Chamberlin and wife came from Vermont to Ohio in 1817, leaving there in January in a sled made by removing the wheels from a wagon. After reaching the Western Reserve the wheels were again put into use and the trip finished by wagon, arriving at Clark County, Ohio, in March, when they settled in the timber- lands near Lisbon. Polly (Harriman) Chamberlin was a daughter of Stephen Harriman, who was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, and who had been in Ohio the year before the Chamberlins came here and bought a tract of timber- land near Lisbon. He then returned to Vermont and bought the farms of Mr. Chamberlin and three other farmers. Isaac Chamberlin was a comparatively poor man when he came to Ohio, where he engaged in farming and dealt extensively in stock, often taking stock to Detroit, Michigan, and other points. He was born April 14, 1782, at Strafford, Vermont,

and died near Lisbon July 25, 1863, at the age of seventy-nine years. Six chil- dren were born to Isaac Chamberlin and wife, namely: Stephen, deceased; George C., deceased; Caroline, married J. Henry, both deceased; Walter N .; and Sarah, who was the wife of Dr. J. S. Sprague, both now deceased.

Walter N. Chamberlin was reared on his father's farm and attended the dis- triet schools of the township and later the Springfield High School and Wittenberg College. He then tanght school at Platts- burg and vicinity for a period of ten years, 1842 to 1852, inclusive. On Decem- ber 25, 1851, he was married to Sarah Jane Osborn, a daughter of William and Jane (McDaniel) Osborn, who came on horseback to Ohio from Kentucky and set- tled near Plattsburg. Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlin were the parents of eleven children, but seven of whom were reared to maturity: Emma; Melton; Olive, who is an instructor in the schools of Toledo, Ohio; Norton, who lives in Columbus; Frank, who lives in San Francisco; Orphia; and William, who died aged twenty-one years.

Mr. Chamberlin has always been inter- ested in handling stock, and when nine- teen years old drove hogs from South Charleston to Richmond, Virginia, for ex- Sheriff A. Maddocks, and also drove horses from Clark County to Philadelphia for his father. Later, in connection with his brother, he drove cattle to Dutchess County, New York. Soon after his mar- riage he engaged in farming and stock- raising, first making a specialty of Short- horn cattle, and Chester White hogs, later of Poland China hogs and Amer- ican Merino sheep. He has had many

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very successful exhibits at Ohio State lin is a member of the Universalist Fairs and was once offered $1,000 Church, and has always taken an active interest in the Sunday-school work. He has been active in the advancement of ed- ucational interests and was one of the first to introduce teachers' institutes in the county; also centralized High Schools. He favored music in the common schools and mental arithmetic in the district schools, and has lived to see many of his ideas incorporated in the public school system. for one of his sheep. He has often been called upon to act as judge of stock at various fairs, and at the age of eighty years was one of the judges of stock at the Clark County Fair, and was also one of the five judges of stock at the largest state fair, which was held at Day- ton, Ohio. After being convinced of the advantages of pedigree stock, he became instrumental in establishing the records of Poland China hogs, calling a meeting of all the large breeders of that particular breed of swine in the state, of which meet- ARTHUR GERLAUGH, a life-long resident of Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio, residing on a fine farm of 350 acres, where he has always followed farming in connection with breeding and importing short-horn cattle, was born March 15, 1883, on his present farm near the village of Medway, and is a son of Charles L. and Julia A. (Hower) Ger- ing he was appointed chairman, and in 1879 the first record of Poland China hogs was published. Upon first entering the stock business Mr. Chamberlin rented a large farm in Hardin County and there held annual stock sales for about five years, after which he located at Plain City, Ohio, where he continued in the stock business, holding sales there for six laugh. years. In 1880, after selling out, he went to London, Ohio, where he lived for some years. He then operated a large farm in Adams County, Ohio, for eighteen months and in 1885 he came to New Carlisle and purchased his present residence property, which is located on the corner of Church and Jackson Streets, where he has since been living in retirement after a long, active business career.

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20th century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 99

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