USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio > Part 117
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For eleven years, 1884-95, Major White was employed in a prominent carriage-making enterprise. In 1895 he was appointed a letter-carrier at the Columbus postoffice, a position which he has filled continuously since except while engaged in military duty. In February, 1890, he joined the Fourth Regiment, Ohio National Guard, as a private in Company B, and having passed all lower grades he became second lieutenant in 1894, and May, 1896, was promoted to the captaincy of the company. Three times in 1894 he was in active service-in the southeastern mining strike, at Mount Sterling, against Galvin's army of "Coxeyites," and at the Washington Court House riots in October. In 1898 his regiment went into the United States volunteer army, and he was mustered into the service at Camp Bushnell, Columbus, May 9, and was at Chickamauga May 15. July 24 he left for Newport News, and thence he went to Porto Rico, landing at Arroyo August 2, and fought at Guayama. Time all accounted for he was at Porto Rico from August 2 to October 29, and was on duty all the time in one service or another. At Guayama Company B and Captain White almost literally crawled four miles, while under a hot fire from Spaniards, and acquitted themselves so gallantly that they received special mention in the report of Colonel Coit commanding the Fourth. Captain White was a member of a general court-martial ap- pointed by General Brooke, which sat for fifteen days, during which time it transacted much important business. He was mustered out January 20, 1899, and reported to the governor of Ohio as a National Guard officer of that
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state, and was ordered by the adjutant general to report how many men of the regiment intended to remain in the National Guard, and found that Com- pany B would remain but that six other companies objected to so doing; and a reorganization of the regiment necessarily followed. July. 1899, Company B was on duty as an independent company at Cleveland in consequence of the street-railway strike in that city, and Captain White was elected major of the reorganized Fourth Regiment, Ohio National Guard, in camp at Cleve- land, Ohio, July 31, 1899. The regiment was on duty at Akron to protect the city against rioters, August 23, 1900.
Major White married Miss Maggie May Miskell, of Perry county, Ohio. His mother, Caroline Camden McFarland, was a daughter of Dr. Josiah McFarland, of Zanesville, Ohio, and two of her brothers served the cause of the Union in the Civil war, and Colonel G. A. Frambes, the brother of her mother, also won laurels in that great conflict. Fred J. White, brother of Major White, lives at Watertown, New York, and his sister Lilian married C. C. Beverly, of Columbus. Major White is national president of the Society of American Veterans of Foreign Service, of which there are two hundred and twenty-five members in Columbus, and he is in all things a man of public spirit, who takes a deep and helpful interest in every question affecting the welfare of his fellow citizens. In political affiliation he is a Republican.
SAMUEL FRANKLIN COEN.
The value of high personal character in public office has come to be so generally recognized that except in localities where politics is in very bad management the men chosen to do the work of municipal legislation are clean- handed politically and highly regarded in business circles. Such a conscien- tious and well-esteemed public servant is Alderman Samuel Franklin Coen, of Columbus, Ohio.
Mr. Coen is a native of Morgan county, Ohio, and was born in 1859. William Coen, his father, married Elizabeth Proque, whose ancestors were Hollanders and who came to Ohio from Pennsylvania. In 1861 he enlisted in the One Hundred and Fortieth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and he died of wounds received in battle before Vicksburg while his son was yet a child in arms. His wife passed away in 1871. The son had early to take up the battle of life for himself. He was employed in a store in which his day's work usually ended about ten o'clock at night, and gained a fair edu- cation by industrious study after that late hour and in what other spare time he had. He came to Columbus in 1882, and until he established himself in business as a wholesale confectioner was city salesman for Butler, Crawford & Company and Shedd & Son, wholesale grocers. His trade was a satisfac- tory one from the first, and it increased rapidly and steadily until his estab- lishment is regarded as one of the foremost in its line in Columbus.
Mr. Coen is a thorough-going Democrat, and as a member of the city council, to which he was elected in 1900, he takes a leading part in local poli-
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tics and is a strong advocate of municipal reform, in the furtherance of which he is a valued ally in the council of Rev. Dr. Gladden. He is personally acquainted with almost every active business and professional man in the city and many of them are his warm personal friends.
Mr. Coen married Miss Emily L. Machin, of Chillicothe, Ohio, daugh- ter of Aaron Machin, deceased, a native of England, who came to Chillicothe in 1840, and was a merchant there in the queensware line, and she has borne him four sons and two daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Coen are members of the Congregational church, and Mr. Coen is a member of its board of trustees. Of conspicuous public spirit, he has, since he became a resident of Columbus, given his moral and material support to every public measure which has, in his good judgment, promised to advance the interests of the city and its people.
FRANK O. SCHOEDINGER.
One of the young and enterprising business men of Columbus is Frank Oscar Schoedinger, who was born in this city on the 7th of September, 1872. He is of German lineage, his father, Philip J. Schoedinger, having been born in Germany in 1825. When only six years of age he was brought by his parents to the new world, the family establishing their home in Columbus. For many years. he was successfully engaged in the undertaking business in this city, where he died in 1880. He was twice married, his first union being with Barbara Linther, by whom he had four children: George J .; Philip L .; Lizzie K., the wife of F. Kallmerten; and Lena A., the wife of William J. Bowers, of Mansfield, Ohio. After the death of his first wife Mr. Schoedinger was again married, his second union being with Caroline Heverly, of Bucyrus, Ohio, in 1868. Three children graced this marriage, namely: John Albert, Frederick Herman and Frank O.
In the usual manner of lads of the period living in the cities of our middle west, Frank O. Schoedinger spent the days of his boyhood and youth. He pursued his studies in the city schools, completing his course in the Columbus high school. In September, 1890, he entered upon his business career, in connection with the stove, house furnishings and roofing business. A few years afterward, in 1895, he entered into partnership with William A. Fearn and J. R. Dickson. The roofing branch of the enterprise has been owned and controlled from the beginning by Mr. Schoedinger, and to this he now devotes the major portion of his time. His plant, located on Long street, in Columbus, is large, well constructed and splendidly equipped with the best machinery of modern invention for carrying on the trade. He has produced some of the best specimens of finished workmanship in ornamental galvanized iron which can be found in the state. Many public buildings in different portions of Ohio attest his skill and workmanship, and the products of his house have been sent into various states of the nation. The plant has a large capacity, equal to the heavy demands which are made upon it, for the busi- ness is constantly growing in volume and importance.
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Mr. Schoedinger is a gentleman of resourceful business ability, wide awake, alert and enterprising, and his labors have been extended into various fields. For two terms he was the president of the Builders & Traders Ex- change, is a member of the board of directors of the Columbus board of trade, and a director of the Bank of Commerce. His religious connection is with the Emanuel Evangelical church, in which he is serving as one of the trustees. He is very prominent in Masonic circles, is now an officer in Mount Vernon Commandery, No. I, K. T., and holds membership in both the York and Scottish Rite bodies. He likewise belongs to the Columbus Club. the Arling- ton Country Club, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias fraternity. In point of energy, enterprise and business ability he is one of the most prominent men in Columbus. He has been a leading factor in the progress of the city during the last decade, church and social, as well as business interests owing their promotion in a considerable degree to him. Throughout life he has resided in Columbus, and the years have been largely devoted to the public good.
REV. WILLIAM B. DAVIS.
The old families of Ohio whose history in the state reaches back to pioneer days have in their different generations made the material for records most valuable and interesting, and the unfolding of the family history of the Rev. WV. B. Davis, of Marion township, Franklin county, is an illustration of this fact. Mr. Davis was born near the "Rock mill," on the Bookwalter farm, in Fairfield county, Ohio, August 5, 1823, a son of John Buckey and Elsie ( Big- gerstadd) Davis. The family is of Welsh lineage and was founded in America by the grandfather of our subject, a native of Wales, who became a farmer of Maryland. John B. Davis was born in Frederick, Maryland, and was there reared, educated and married. In 1808 he came to Ohio and located on the Bookwalter farm in Fairfield county, and thence removed to Pleasant township, Marion county, Ohio, about 1835. He was' a pioneer there and locating in the forest he built a log cabin and cleared a farm. For many years he was a devoted member of the Methodist church, and in politics was first a Whig and later a Republican. He became a man of considerable local prominence and died when about sixty-two years of age. His wife, who was also a native of Maryland, died at the age of thirty-seven years. Unto them were born ten sons, nine of whom grew to manhood, while five are yet living. After the death of the mother the father married a Miss Williams, and they had two daughters.
The Rev. W. B. Davis was his father's fifth son and was twelve years of age when the family settled in the midst of the green woods of Marion county. He aided in clearing the land and placing it under cultivation, and his early education was obtained in a log school house with puncheon seats resting on pins, and writing desks of hewn slabs supported by pins driven into the wall. He was about eighteen years of age when his mother died, and he soon after-
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ward entered the employ of Gamaliel Gooding, for whom he used the horse in plowing corn and did other farm work, receiving twenty-five cents per day or a dollar and a half per week, boarding with his employer, who was a bachelor and did his own cooking. Later he entered the service of William Gooding, a cousin of his former employer, receiving eight dollars per month and remaining with him for five years.
On the Ist of August, 1844, he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Morris, a native of Pleasant township, Marion county, Ohio, and unto them were born six children: Lafayette M., Humphrey O., John H., Sarah J., William H. and Perry. Of these Sarah J. and John are the only ones now living, the former being the wife of John Ehrenhart, a well known merchant of Springfield, Ohio, while the latter is engaged in the millirg business as a member of the firm of Davis & Clark, of Columbus. The mother died in January, 1887, and Mr. Davis married Ann E. Souder, the widow of Jacob Souder. They lived happily together until her death, which occurred in San Diego, California, January 30, 1895, her remains being then brought back to Columbus and interred in Green cemetery. On the 17th of June, 1895, Mr. Davis married Elizabeth Everett.
After his first marriage Mr. Davis rented a farm in Pleasant township, Marion county, on which he had been previously employed by Mr. Gooding, and was so successful in its management that he was within a brief period able to buy and improve forty acres of land. This he later sold and then pur- chased one hundred and twenty acres in the same township, which he dis- posed of advantageously, investing his money in a mill in Prospect township, Marion county. After profitably operating this for a year he sold out and resumed farming.
In 1861 Rev. Davis entered the ministry of the United Brethren church and was given charge of the Allen Creek mission with thirteen appointments' to fill every thirteen weeks. During his first year's service he added one hundred and sixty to the membership of the church and during his second year there sixty other members were added to the congregation. He was then sent by the conference to Johnsville circuit, in Morrow county, Ohio, where he was located for two years, during which time about ninety were added to the church through his efforts. He was next given charge of the Shiloh cir- cuit, in Harrison and Richland counties, Ohio, and in one year brought in one hundred new members. From there he was sent to the Huron mission, which was without a church or a church member of his denomination, and after four weeks labor in a little village he organized a society of forty mem- bers in Huron county. Later he organized another society near by and raised money to build a church edifice, his meetings thus far having been held in a school house. After laboring there successfully for six months he was ap- pointed chaplain of the One Hundred and Eighty-seventh Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and in that capacity served for one year during the Civil war, being mustered out June 26, 1866. Returning to Ohio he was sent as a missionary to Columbus and organized a church on Town street and later
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built the Olive Branch church in that city and the church now occupied by the United Brethren in West Columbus. raising twenty-two hundred dollars toward the erection of the last church mentioned by personal application in New York city. Up to this time he has been instrumental in erecting three churches in Columbus. In connection with his second wife and Mr. Sessions Rev. Davis built the South Congregational church, and our subject served as a member of the board of trustees and was its president for some time. Fifteen years of his life he devoted to the active work of the ministry and his efforts were crowned with abundant success. He is a man of irreproachable character and of stainless reputation, honored and respected wherever known and most highly esteemed where best known.
BISHOP McMILLEN, M. D.
Dr. McMillen was born August 5, 1856, on a farm near Johnstown, Licking county, Ohio. His father, Lylle B. McMillen, is now a resident of Westerville, Ohio, while his grandfather was Diver McMillen, of Scotch- Irish extraction, who died in Coshocton county, Ohio, at the age of eighty-two years. The mother of the Doctor bore the maiden name of Marinda Cramer and was a daughter of Captain J. B. Cramer, who won his title by service in the war of 1812, and died near Johnstown, Ohio, at the advanced age of ninety-two and a half years. The Doctor's parents are both living.
. He attended the district schools and there acquired his preliminary edu- cation, which was supplemented by study in the Johnstown high school and at the schools of Westerville. Later he spent one year in teaching, and then entered the office of Drs. Stimson & Williams, at Alexandria, Ohio. He became a student of medicine under Dr. David Williams, now of Columbus, and later attended the Eclectic Medical Institute, at Cincinnati, Ohio, grad- uating with the class of 1881. He began practice at Gahanna, Franklin county, and after seven years spent in Gahanna and in Westerville he secured the position of assistant physician in the Columbus State Hospital for the Insane. He spent two and a half years, making a specialty of the study of mental diseases among the unfortunate patients there. This work was greatly to his' liking, mental diseases having ever been a source of interest to him. On leaving the hospital he resumed the general practice of medicine at No. 1075 Oak street, Columbus. In 1892 he received an injury to his spinal cord which has greatly handicapped him in his labors. He was taken to Shepard's Sanitarium for treatment, and in 1894 became associated with Dr. William Shepard in the sanitarium work. The department for mental diseases in the sanitarium was opened that year with Dr. McMillen in charge, and he is still connected with that institution. He is also well known as an educator, hold- ing the position of professor of mental and nervous diseases in his alma mater-the Eclectic Medical Institute, of Cincinnati. Ohio. He is a member of the National. the Ohio State and the Ohio Central Eclectic Medical Asso-
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ciations, and has contributed to these societies many interesting papers on inental and nervous diseases.
On the 8th of March, 1882, Dr. McMillen was united in marriage with Miss Eva Agler, the only daughter of Clinton W. Agler, who now resides in Columbus. Socially the Doctor is connected with Mifflin Lodge, I. O. O. F., at Gahanna, Ohio. He has always been an ardent worker in the Republican party, rendering it valuable service in his county.
FRANK G. WINTERRINGER.
The present well-known and popular postmaster of Hilliard is an import- ant factor in business circles and his popularity is well deserved, as in him are embraced the characteristics of an unbending integrity, unabated energy and industry that never flags. He is a leading merchant of that place, and as a public-spirited citizen is thoroughly interested in whatever tends to pro- mote the welfare of the community.
A native of Franklin county, Mr. Winterringer was born in Norwich township November 19, 1869, and there grew to manhood, being educated in its common schools. At the age of eighteen he became a telegraph operator for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and after serving as extra man for two years accepted the position of operator at Hilliard. When the company moved their office to Hayden he went with them, but at the end of six months resigned his position and returned to Hilliard, where he embarked in general merchandising in partnership with his father, J. E. Winterringer. He has since been actively identified with the business interests of this place.
In 1888 Mr. Winterringer was united in marriage with Miss Kate E. Leady, a daughter of John D. and Sarah ( Hare) Leady. Two children were born of this union, Maud A. and one unnamed, but both are deceased. The Republican party has always found in Mr. Winterringer a stanch supporter of its principles, and he has been honored with several local offices. Besides that of postmaster he has served as township clerk four years, and treasurer of Hilliard since 1894. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and Masonic lodges of Hilliard.
JOHN Y. BASSELL.
The family history of the subject of this review in both ancestral lines extends far back to a remote period in the settlement of Virginia. The immediate family of our subject were natives of Harrison county, which was continuously their home throughout life. John Y. Bassell was born in Harri- son county, Virginia, June 23, 1847, and is the son of Stephen and Catherine (Young) Bassell. He attended school at a classical academy located at Mor- gantown, Virginia, now West Virginia, where all the higher branches of learning were taught, and special instruction was imparted to students who contemplated a regular classical and complete course of college graduation.
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Mr. Bassell was in attendance at this academy at the inception of the war of the Rebellion, and. though but thirteen years of age, felt constrained to respond to the call of his state, enlisting in the Confederate army. He volunteered as a private in the Nineteenth Virginia Cavalry, and a short time subsequently became a member of the staff of General William L. Jackson, a relative. He participated in many engagements and for bravery and meritorious conduct was promoted to the office of lieutenant. At Droop Mountain he was shot through the lung. At Jackson river he was shot through the hand, and at the battle of Winchester he was so severely wounded by a minie ball piercing his side that he became unfitted for further service in the field and was appointed midshipman in the Confederate navy and placed on board the naval vessel, Patrick Henry, then lying in the James river below Richmond. There he remained until he was stricken with typhoid fever, when he was consigned to the naval hospital in Richmond, where he was confined for several weeks. Recovering sufficiently to enable him to leave his bed, he was given hospital leave in time to escape the capitulation of the city.
After the conclusion of the war Mr. Bassell attended the University of Virginia, at Charlottesville, where, in addition to the regular curriculum, he took a thorough course in the department of law. In 1869 he was married to Miss Rebecca Benedict, a daughter of William B. Benedict, who was for many years in charge of the United States observatory at Washington. Unto this union were born three children: John Y., who graduated at the Lehigh Uni- versity as a mining engineer and metallurgist, served in the Spanish-American war and died at Columbus in 1899; Henrietta B .; and William Benedict, who is practicing medicine in Columbus.
For several years after his marriage Mr. Bassell was engaged in business at Leesburg, Virginia. Removing thence to Missouri, he established himself in business at St. Louis, where he lived until he came to Columbus, in 1895. Upon his arrival in this city he was elected to the position of president and general manager of the Chittenden Hotel Company. For several years he was in charge of this hotel. and upon his retirement from the management of its business he was elected to the office of secretary of the Columbus Board of Trade. An event rarely impels a man into his proper sphere of action. The exception to that rule seems to have exemplified itself in its relation to Mr. Bassell's connection with the Board of Trade. The location of a number of extensive manufactories at Columbus is in a great measure due to his active efforts. The selection of the capital city of Ohio as a point in many instances for gatherings of political associations and fraternal organizations is likewise due in a great part to the same controlling influence and industrious efforts of the worthy, zealous and efficient secretary. The transformation of an immense skating rink in Columbus into one of the most complete and con- veniently arranged auditoriums of the state or country is an additional proof of executive ability, combined with a cultivation of taste and adornment which would reflect high credit upon an accomplished artist. By the usual and cus- tomary standard with which the proficiency of an executive officer is rated
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and established, including as well the additional efficiency of the "pudding test," inference, it would seem, would lead very strongly to the conclusion that Mr. Bassell has during the brief interval of his connection with the Columbus Board of Trade, by his systematic and methodical process of doing business, rendered it exceedingly difficult for those who may succeed him in the office to improve upon his methods or make material addition to the sum total of valuable service performed by himself during the time of his connec- tion with it. At a general meeting of the Board of Trade in January for the election of officers for the current year he was re-elected to the office of sec- retary by a unanimous vote. As a collaborator in public utilities pertaining to the material and substantial interests of the city the services of Mr. Bassell, without invidious comparison of results achieved by any other individual, may with propriety be estimated in both extent and importance equal to those of any other citizen of Columbus.
A feature more pronounced and distinct, perhaps, than any other in the intellectual composition of Mr. Bassell is an intuitive faculty of conception and expression of thought extemporaneously delivered. Particularly in repartee or ready response he is peculiarly gifted, and on numerous occasions it has been the delight of his friends in social and convivial gatherings to enjoy the versatile and interesting effusion of intellectual thought and elegance of expression rarely blended in a single individual. Culture and refinement to a marked degree in this line of singular intellectuality is rare and isolated, and if with pride and satisfaction New York can boast a Chauncey M. Depew so with similar pride does Columbus boast an equally brilliant orator in the person of its gifted and cultured fellow citizen, John Y. Bassell.
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