A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 113

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1156

USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio > Part 113

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retired with a very comfortable competence. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Jacobina Rieselt, is also a native of Germany.

John Henry Koehl, of this review, is indebted to the public-school system of Columbus for his literary education, and in Knox Business College he was' fitted for the practical experiences of the business world. When fifteen years of age he began learning the printer's trade, and after mastering the busi- ness in its older methods he learned the machine-printing business. He is now one of the most expert operators in the United States, having taken part in several contests of speed, in which he has carried off the honors. He is now with the A. C. Berlin Publishing Company, of Columbus, in charge of a linotype machine. As a representative of this business he has traveled throughout the United States.

Since his boyhood political questions have had deep interest for Mr. Koehl and he has labored earnestly in behalf of Democracy. He was elected a com- mitteeman from the thirteenth ward in 1900, and on the organization of the committee he was chosen as its secretary for the present year. His labors are now being given untiringly toward the advancement of his party's growth and success, and his work is highly commended by party leaders.

Mr. Koehl is a member of Typographical Union No. 5, and is a trustee of the Trades and Labor Assembly. He is very active in union trade circles and his opinions carry weight in trade councils. He has made a close study of the questions of capital and labor, and is in hearty sympathy with the unions in their efforts to secure justice and fair compensation for work. In his religious affiliations Mr. Koehl is connected with the German Independent Protestant church.

WILLIAM MERION.

The family of Merion is one of historical importance in Franklin county, Ohio, and it is distinguished as having given its name to one of the townships of that county, which was called Merion in honor of William Merion, Sr., the father of William Merion, the subject of this sketch, who was a well known citizen of Columbus. The township of Merion referred to was organ- ized in 1880 from territory taken from the old townships of Hamilton and Montgomery.

William Merion, the father of William Merion, Sr., and the grandfather of William Merion, of Columbus, came from Massachusetts in 1804, and he and his brother Elijah and his brother-in-law Morrill took up three sections of land, which at this time would be bounded as follows: On the north by Rinehart avenue, on the south by the Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad, and on the two other sides by the river and the Lockburn road. Mr. Merion was' a prominent early citizen of the county, a large land-owner and an extensive farmer, and died at his homestead in 1837. His son, William Merion, Sr., was born in 1811 in a cabin that stood on South High street, just south of Mohler street. At that time there were only about four houses west of the

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river. He attended school at the Sells' school house, at the corner of Coshatt and High streets, and once while coming home from spelling-school, killed a bear-the last ever slain within the city limits-with a horse pistol at Deshler and High streets. He gave his life to farming, was successful and became a well known and respected citizen, and when Merion township was organized was its oldest citizen who was born within its limits. He died in 1894, aged eighty-three. William Merion, the original settler, was married, in Massachusetts, to Sarah Morrill, and his brother-in-law, who came with him to Ohio, had two daughters, one of whom became the wife of Colonel Innis, a biographical sketch of whom appears in this work, the other being Mrs. Lydia Cookman, of Columbus. William Merion, Sr., married twice, -first, Mrs. Catherine (Clinckenger) Johnson, a daughter of Jacob Clincken- ger, a pioneer in Ohio, who came from New Jersey. His second wife was Mrs. Martha Sheldon, who was the daughter of James Uncles, an early settler in Ohio from New England. Besides William Merion, the subject of this sketch, William Merion, Sr., had four other sons: Charles Merion, of Colum- bus, a well known farmer, now living on South High street, whose son, Hon. Charles Merion, was elected to the general assembly of Ohio in 1894, and again in 1898; Oliver Merion, a wholesale flour and grain merchant of Chicago, Illi- nois ; Levi Merion, living retired at Columbus; and Edward Merion (born of the second marriage), who is the chief clerk in the Columbus offices of the Shawnee & Hocking Railroad Company.

William Merion was educated in Columbus, principally during the war of the Rebellion; and it is not strange that he was often kept from school to do farm work, as two of his brothers were in the south fighting for the Union,-George in Colonel Innes' cavalry, with which he hepled to capture Morgan, and Oliver as a lieutenant in the Ninety-fifth Regiment Ohio Volun- teer Infantry. Until after his father's death he lived on the Merion home- stead, but in a short time subsequent to that event he moved into the city of Columbus, where he has since given his attention to contracting. He married Miss Anna Stimmel, a daughter of the late Samuel Stimmel, a wealthy and prominent farmer of Franklin township, Franklin county, and has two chil- dren : Mary, a student at the high school; and George Edgar, also at school. With his family, Mr. Merion attends the Congregational church. In politics he is a Republican, and, though he is not an office-seeker or even an active politician in the ordinary sense of the term, he is not without influence in his party and is a man of recognized patriotism and public spirit.

WILLIAM L. TOWNS, M. D.

The family of Towns is a distinguished one in England, where several of its members have been prominent in public affairs and others have won distinction in the army and navy, and one of Dr. Town's uncles of that name was a member of parliament, as was also his uncle, George Hickman. Dr. Towns, of No. 521 Main street, Columbus, Ohio, was born at Mount Ver-

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non avenue and St. Clair street, in this city, in 1869, a son of William Towns, who came to Columbus from Guilford in Surrey, England, in 1861, and became prominent as a surveyor and contractor for street work, doing a large business and achieving a distinct success financially. In 1872 William Towns removed to a fine farm of one hundred acres in Franklin township, Franklin county, Ohio, where he lived until 1897, when he returned to Columbus and embarked in business as a feed merchant.

William Towns married Miss Josephine Walton, of Worthington, Frank- lin county, Ohio, a daughter of Henry Clay Walton, who is a native of Frank- lin county, but whose father came from England and was a direct descendant of Colonel William Henry Clay, a man of prominence and influence in his time. With such antecedents, it is not strange that Dr. Towns early showed that he was of the stuff of which successful men are made. He received his primary education in the public schools of Franklin township, where he passed his childhood after he was four years old, and was a graduate at the old Capital City Commercial School, of Columbus, in 1883. After that he was employed for two years by the Columbus Buggy Company and for eight years by he Ohio Buggy Company, of Columbus, and during that time had a valuable business experience and an opportunity to study men of affairs and their methods which has an important bearing on his professional success. He was graduated from Starling Medical College, Columbus, with the class of 1896, and at once thereafter entered upon the practice of his profession with offices at 521 East Main street, Columbus. He has devoted himself to general practice and has built up a large and increasing patronage.

Dr. Towns has been a Republican since before he was a voter and was at one time active and prominent in local politics in Franklin township. He was married, at Circleville, Ohio, to Miss Margaret C. Boysell, a daughter of Jacob Boysell and a member of a family old and well known in that part of the state. Dr. Towns is an up-to-date physician who makes a special study of every case in which he is called, and keeps up with the literature of isis profession; and as a man he is straightforward and unassuming, with a capacity to make and retain friends; and his success thus far, flattering as it is, is regarded by those who know him best as only an earnest of greater achievements to come.

MICHAEL J. OATES.

Michael J. Oates, an enterprising and wide-awake business man of Colum- bus, is numbered among Ohio's native sons, his birth having occurred in Lancaster, in 1860. His father. Patrick Oates, was born in Ireland, and on leaving the Green isle of Erin he crossed the Atlantic to the new world in 1850. taking up his abode in the Buckeye state. Throughout his entire life he followed the tanner's trade and his death occurred in 1873, when he was forty-five years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Annie Britt, was a native of county Roscommon, Ireland.

MICHAEL J. OATES.

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Michael Joseph Oates spent his boyhood and youth in the county of his nativity, attended the parochial schools there, and after putting aside his text- books learned the trade of merchant tailor. He was also employed in a drug store for three years. In 1880 he came to Columbus and embarked in busi- ness on his own account. For twenty years he has conducted a merchant tailoring establishment, which is one of the leading enterprises in its line in the city. He carries a large and well selected stock of goods and one may al- ways be sure of securing the advance styles there. His business methods are thoroughly reliable and commend him to the confidence and patronage of the public.

Mr. Oates was married in Columbus, to Miss Elizabeth Straub, who was born in this city in 1860, and is a daughter of Andrew and Catherine Straub, who came from Germany and took up their residence in Ohio's capital many years ago, the father being here engaged in the shoe business. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Oates have been born five children, namely: Carl, Edward, Marie and Helen, aged respectively thirteen, nine, seven and five years, and Joseph, who is now in the second year of his age. The parents are members of the Sacred Heart church. In 1898 Mr. Oates was elected a member of the city council from the seventeenth ward and served for two years. He is a prom- inent member of the Knights of St. John, of which society he has been the treasurer. He is also the treasurer of the Hibernian Knights of Columbus, and is a charter member of the Catholic Order of Foresters. He is a man of keen discrimination and sound judgment, and his executive ability and excel- lent management have brought to the concern which he controls a large de- gree of success. The safe, conservative policy which he inaugurated com- mends itself to the judgment of all and has secured to him a large patronage.

LEWIS J. BROOKS.

"Agriculture is the most useful as well as the most honorable occupation to which man devotes his energies." Such was the utterance of George Washington more than a century ago, but the truth stands to-day. Agriculture is the foundation of the world's prosperity, and upon it depends all activity in every line of life. Mr. Brooks is a worthy representative of the calling, being numbered among the leading farmers of Plain township, Franklin county. He was born in Newark, Licking county, Ohio, on the 16th of August, 1855, and is one of the four children of Hiram and Sarah ( Park) Brooks, although he has but one brother now living, Samuel D., who is a carpenter and builder of Newark. The father is numbered among the native sons of the Empire state, his birth having occurred in Syracuse county, New York, October 1, 1824. The grandparents, Thomas and Elizabeth ( Wade) Brooks, were both natives of Canada, but soon after their marriage removed to New York, where the grand- father became a prominent farmer, there spending his remaining days. Hiram Brooks was reared upon the homestead there and in early life learned the trade of a carpenter and builder. On leaving the east he took up his abode in Eliza-

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bethtown, Ohio, and after a short time went to Newark, Licking county, where he resided until 1859. In that year he settled near Jersey, in the same county, and continued to follow his chosen occupation until 1864, when, in response to the country's call for troops, he served for one hundred days, enlisting in the Union army as a member of Company D, Seventeenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The regiment was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, and he remained at the front until after the expiration of his term. Returning to his home, Mr. Brooks then engaged in business as a manufacturer of tile, and early in the '70s removed to New Albany, where he erected tile works, continuing the opera- tion of the Jersey Tile Works for three years in connection with the factory at New Albany. He then sold the former in order to give his entire attention to the conduct of the latter enterprise, following the business until the early 'Sos, when he removed to Worthington, Franklin county. Here he erected an extensive plant for the manufacture of tile, its motive power being steam, and for five or six years he carried on business here, but on the expiration of that period disposed of the plant and has since enjoyed a well earned rest. Great activity in industrial affairs brought to him a handsome competence, his capital being now sufficient to supply him with all the needs through his remain- ing days. He votes with the Republican party, earnestly advocating its prin- ciples, yet has never been an office seeker. A member of the Worthington Lodge, F. & A. M., he is now serving as one of its officers and is a faithful and loyal follower of the fraternity. His wife was born in Blendon township, Franklin county, in March, 1835, and is a daughter of Samuel Park, one of the early pioneer settlers here, who died a few weeks prior to the birth of his daughter.

Lewis J. Brooks attended the common schools until fourteen years of age, when he began working in his father's tile factory, continuing his con- nection with that pursuit until his' twenty-fifth year, but after his marriage he abandoned that industry for farm life, taking up his abode on a tract of land joining his present farm upon the south. It comprises one hundred and a half acres belonging to his father-in-law. After five years, in connection with Mr. Strait, his father-in-law, he purchased his present home farm of ninety- one acres and removed thereto. He has proved a capable manager, and as a result of his industry and business ability, supplemented by the labors of his wife, he has acquired some three hundred and forty acres of land. He pos- sesses unabating industry and ability in the conduct of his farm, and his labors have been crowned with a high degree of success.

On the 13th of June, 1880, Mr. Brooks was joined in wedlock to Anna Eliza Strait, a daughter of Dennis B. Strait, and they now have two children, Ina Maud and Gladys B. The elder is a graduate of the district school. while the younger daughter is still a student. In his political views Mr. Brooks is a Republican and is recognized as one of the leaders in the local ranks of his party. Twice he has been a candidate on its ticket for the office of trustee, and though the township is strongly Democratic, he polled a large vote, receiving the largest support that has ever been given to a Republican

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candidate for the office for many years. In the spring of 1900 he was nominated for justice of the peace, and again his defeat amounted almost to a victory, for he ran far ahead of his ticket, a fact which indicates his personal popu- larity and the high regard reposed in him. The Brooks household is cele- brated for its gracious and generous hospitality, and our subject and his wife have many warm friends throughout the county, being recognized as people of sterling worth.

ELMER J. MILLER.

Elmer Jacob Miller is one of the leading citizens of Columbus whose advancement has resulted from his individual efforts, and who to-day occupies a prominent position in business and political circles in the capital city. He was born in Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, on the 30th of De- cember, 1862, and is a son of Amos Miller, a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. The father is now living in Columbus, at the age of sixty- nine years, having come to this place from Carlisle, where he had charge of the agricultural department of the Carisle Indian Training School for eight years,-from 1882 to 1890.

In taking up the personal history of Elmer J. Miller we present to our readers the record of one who is widely and favorably known in Columbus in connection with business and political interests ; and his career is one which is in many respects well worthy of emulation, He acquired his education in the public schools near Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and at the age of sixteen he entered upon a five-years apprenticeship at the machinist's trade, to the Frick Company, at Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. Subsequently he came to Col- umbus, and with practical experience gained through association with his father's business he established the Miller Fruit & Vegetable Company, which enterprise was attended with success from the beginning, his trade steadily increasing until it assumed extensive proportions. He continued its conduct until 1899, and then retired from that enterprise, but maintained his active connection with many other important business concerns of which he had become a member in the meantime.

Mr. Miller in the interval had become deeply interested in politics and was well known as a worker in Republican ranks. He was first made the secre- tary of the county central committee and for two terms he was the secretary of the Republican State League. During the campaign of 1896 he was a member of the Republican national league committee and in 1898 was a vice president of the national league. He is not only well informed on political subjects but has the business ability and executive power so necessary to the successful management of a campaign, and his efforts have been very effective in promot- ing the party's interests. On the 2d of June, 1897, he was appinted surveyor of customs at Columbus, and is still filling that position. Aside from this he is connected with several other important financial undertakings which have

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not only advanced his individual prosperity but have contributed in a large measure to the business activity and consequent success of the city.

Mr. Miller was married in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, in 1887, to Miss Ida S. Geist, the eldest daughter of Jacob and Sarah Geist, who were promi- nent settlers of Baltimore county, Maryland, and are now deceased. They have three sons: Tolbert C., Raymond E. and Frank G., aged respectively twelve, ten and six years, and all now in school.

While possessing the qualities of a successful business man and a desir- able social companion, perhaps Mr. Miller's most strongly marked character- istic is his unswerving fidelity to duty. His private interests have ever been subordinated to the public good, and thus he has become honored and esteemed by all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance or who have met him in a business way.

GEORGE OTSTOT McDONALD.

Among the useful and highly respected citizens of Columbus, Ohio, now living in retirement from active business none in mose deserving of a place in this work than George Otstot McDonald, who is descended from an old and respectable Scottish family. His great-grandfather, John McDonald, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1713, came to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1773, and died in Washington, Pennsylvania in 1822. His son Mordecai was born in 1770, came with his father to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1773, emigrated to Belmont county, Ohio, in 1798 and died at Zanesville, Mus- kingum county, Ohio, in 1810. Ebenezer McDonald, a son of Mordecai Mc- Donald, and the father of George Otstot McDonald, was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1810. His mother was Elizabeth nee Byers, a native of Wash- ington county, Pennsylvania. He came to Columbus in 1832 with John Huff- man and Daniel Heavey from Newark, Ohio, and secured a position at the state penitentiary not long afterward, and was connected with that institution until after his retirement in 1888. For more than forty years he was the superinten- dent under the Hayden contract, for the manufacture of coach and saddlery hardware by convict labor, which long necessitated the employment of many hundred convicts under seven foremen. Mr. McDonald accumulated consider- able property and died in 1892. He married Sarah Otstot, a native of Lan- caster county, Pennsylvania, whose father, a native of Germany, came from Pennsylvania to Franklin county, Ohio, in 1831, and located on land which is now the northwest part of the city of Columbus.

George Otstot McDonald was born in 1835 in a house which stood on High street near Long, Columbus, Ohio, on the site of the People's House Furnishing store, a son of Ebenezer and Sarah (Otstot) McDonald, and was educated in the public schools of his native city. After serving an ap- prenticeship at the machinist's trade at the old Eagle foundry, which has developed into the shops of the Columbus Machine company, he turned his attention to work in railway machine shops. From a railroad machinist he

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developed into a locomotive engineer and for most of the time during thirty- three years ran trains of the Pennsylvania company out of Columbus and when not so employed was a foreman in the local shops of that corporation, 1866-73. He retired from active life in 1897.

In April, 1861, Mr. McDonald enlisted in Company B, Third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served in the Civil war until August 28, 1865, in the Army of West Virginia and later in the Army of the Cumber- land, participating in the historic fighting of those two important bodies of troops; and at Rome, Georgia, May, 4, 1863, he was, with Colonel Straight. made a prisoner of war and confined for a time at Belle Island. He is a mem- ber of Wells Post, No. 581, Grand Army of the Republic, of Columbus, and of the Association of the Prisoners of War, and is a Knight of Pythias and an Odd Fellow. His only brother, Adam S. McDonald, also served in the Civil war in the Second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for three months, and later in Hoffman's battery, the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Ohio, in which he was promoted to the captaincy of Company B. He died in 1871.

Mr. McDonald was married at Piqua, Miami county, Ohio, to Miss Mary Shannon Cox, the adopted daughter of the Rev. William Cox, a clergyman of the Presbyterian church, and he and his wife are members of the Broad Street Presbyterian church, of Columbus, where his father also was active in church work and for many years an elder in the Second Presbyterian church.

JONAS M. McCUNE.

The gentleman whose name appears above is an old and prominent re- tired business man of Columbus, Ohio. He was born in Vermont in 1822. His grandfather, William McCune, was a prominent citizen of Brattleboro, Vermont, and commanded a company of patriotic soldiers in the Revolution- ary war. John McCune, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a leader in the town affairs of Brattleboro, in his day and generation, and ably filled many local offices, including those of selectman and member of the school board. He married Sarah Harris, a daughter of Nathaniel Harris, of Brat- tleboro, and a descendant of a Mayflower pilgrim. The American ancestor of the family of McCune came from Scotland and the McCunes have in ail generations been stanch Presbyterians and patriotic lovers of liberty.

Jonas M. McCune was educated in a district school which was con- ducted on his father's farm. In 1841, at the age of nineteen years, he came to Columbus and until 1848 was a clerk in the hardware store of Grear & Abbott. In the year last mentioned he became a partner in the concern, which was then styled Grear, Abbott & Company. In 1856 he established the wholesale and retail hardware firm of J. M. McCune & Company on North High street, the name of which was afterward changed to McCune, Loomis & Griswold and which erected a new and larger store at the corner of Spring and Front streets. Mr. McCune retired in 1895, after an active and successful business career of forty-eight years, and his old enterprise is now carried

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on by the Griswold & Sohl Company, under the personal management of Charles C. Griswold, who was formerly a clerk in Mr. McCune's employ. During its entire history this concern has been known in all parts of the state as the largest wholesale and retail hardware store at Columbus.

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A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 113

Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1156

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1156