A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 58

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

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George W. Meeker married Harriet Hatch, of Westerville, Ohio, and two sons were born unto them: Garry Waldo and Claude Loraine, both of whom are represented elsewhere in this work. As a journalist, lawyer and political leader George W. Meeker left the impress of his individuality upon the his- tory of the state. He was a man of the strongest mentality whose mind was developed and disciplined by educational advantages, by broad reading, care- ful consideration and original investigation. Though men differed from him on questions of political importance, they never doubted his sincerity or his fidelity to his honest convictions.

ALICE GILLESPIE-ALLEN, M. D.

This lady was born June 7, 1855, on South Gift street, Columbus, the daughter of Melinda (Deardurff) Davidson, and a granddaughter of David Deardurff, who settled here in 1798. Therefore she is a direct descendant and fair representative of the old-stock pioneer, a self-made woman in every respect. At the death of her grandmother, Rachel Deardurff, when but eight years old, she was out of a home and among strangers. A lover of books, flowers, plants and animals, she found plenty of interesting and instructive material. The pale, intellectual face with its great, liquid, eloquent eyes, attracted her teachers, who found in the eager child a thirst for knowledge from every source, and the promise of an earnest student. No interest was taken by anyone in her education, her one all-consuming desire, except by herself and district-school teachers. In fact as she grew in scholarship, there sprang up envy among some, who preferred that their children should occupy the standing won by this industrious child, and obstacles were placed in the way of her advancement; but, with her one great aim always in sight, she surmounted all, steadily working days for board and clothes, studying by candle-light and even by moon-light, many an hour that should have been for sleep. To Miss Lucilla Crane she owes some of the highest principles of character stamped indelibly upon her mind in early childhood. Reid Crane,

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Ella White, Lucy Watterman, Mrs. G. F. Wheeler and the ministers of old Heart Chapel each lent a moral influence never lost.

As little Alice grew up, she made many friends. A love of mischief brought down many a school master's rattan or ferrule, but she often said this was only a zest for study. Her propensity for fun, caricatures and witty poems got her many a switching; but she was always a favorite at school because of her generous, affectionate nature and quick, clear perception. Her firm resolution to do everything right and never half do a job, won esteem from her employers. Her services were soon in demand. She became an excellent nurse and spent four years at the Imbecile Asylum as governess and two years at the Southern Hospital at Dayton. Having completed the common school course she entered and graduated at E. K. Ban's Commercial College. By close economy she had secured a scholarship at Oberlin College, but she was deprived of this by her mother, who had been informed that it was "only a nigger school." This was a bitter disappointment to her, but proved an incentive to greater effort. She studied and saved.

In 1878 she met and married Robert Gillespie, of Dayton, a young man of great musical ability, but after a few brief happy years his bright life was cut short by consumption.

When not yet thirty she found herself once more upon her own resources, with two helpless children and a widowed mother. Her undaunted courage and energy asserted themselves at once and she readily turned to nursing. She went to Indianapolis for training and returned at the request of first-class physicians to be kept busy and well paid. But the old longing for higher instruction returned. She placed herself under the preceptorship of W. J. Means, M. D. Through Professor A. E. Dorby, M. D., of Mount Vernon, she entered the University of Medicine and Surgery of Cleveland, Ohio. Her rapid progress as a student, with her indefatigable perseverance, soon brought her to the front ranks, and in 1893 she graduated with the honors of the class, securing the grade of 100 plus, with twenty-five dollars in gold for the best thesis on gynaecology, from Professor H. T. Biggar, B. A., A. M., M. D., her grade being awarded by the Ohio State Board of Censors. She at once repaired to New York, entered the Electro-Therapeutic Institute of the Mc- Cartneys and completed the post-graduate course. Returning to Columbus, Ohio, she took up active practice, making a specialty of nervous and women's diseases. Her remarkable success is due to clear perception, a cool head and steady hand. She is trusted and loved by her patients for honesty, integrity and sincere attachment to her profession. Today, she stands high in her chosen work, successful and well-to-do. Her opinion and professional aid are sought by the sick all over Ohio, and she is often called to other states, as her ability is easily recognized by scientific experience and work.

At forty-five she mastered French and German, and in 1900 crossed the Atlantic to take a course of scientific practical electricity from the great Apostalli, of Paris, France. She stands today equipped for any case of pro- fessional emergency, as many attest. She has had many battles with death,

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but is victorious. Those who know this remarkable woman best, say that she possesses the chief characteristics of a Napoleon, blended with the gentle, womanly graces and the tender sympathies of a Florence Nightingale.

Dr. Alice Gillespie-Allen is a member of the Ohio State Medical Asso- ciation, also of the American Academy of Sciences, a prominent worker in the Ladies of the Maccabees, and is a medical examiner for that order and a supreme officer. She is also a worker in the Red Cross and Order of Eastern Star.

In 1895 she was married to Dr. Oswald Allen, of Cleveland, a descend- ant of the old Scotch Springer-McAllen families of Fulton county, Ohio. This sturdy Scotchman is justly proud of his able wife. She is the mother of Carol and Bernice Gillespie. Her husband has B. A., O. S. and Frank Allen, two sons and one daughter.

Dr. Alice writes for scientific and medical papers, her pen being as ready as her wit, veracity and quick repartee. She is proud of her lineage and loves the old people of her day who are so rapidly disappearing from the old scenes where she has erected a commodious' home on South Gift street and expects to grow old on the spot where her ancestors first lived among the Indians.

ANDREW RELLICK.

Andrew Rellick, of Columbus, was born May 26, 1859, in Austria, whence he came with his parents to America, the family landing at Baltimore on the 16th of August, 1867. They located at Crestline, Ohio, and after one year removed to Massillon, which became the family home, the father fol- lowing his occupation of railroading.

Andrew Rellick acquired his literary education in the parochial schools of Massillon. He early entered the railroad service, for in his youth he was employed as water boy for one year on the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad. and for an additional year on the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling Road. After his boyhood services with the railroad companies he secured a position in the paper mills of Massillon, Ohio, where he was employed for two years, and he then engaged in clerking for a year and a half in a grocery store in Massillon. Subsequently he was on a section of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad for three years. In 1878 he was an extra brake- man on the Massillon & Cleveland Railroad, holding that position for two years, and on the 30th of May, 1880, he began braking on the main line of the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railroad, in which capacity he served for a year and a half. He then became brakeman and baggagemaster on a pas- senger train, in which capacity he served for four years, after which he was promoted to freight conductor, in June, 1885. On the 11th of August, 1891, he was made passenger conductor, filling that position until 1895, when the run was discontinued and he again became conductor on a freight train. He thus served until March 1, 1900, when he was promoted to passenger con- ductor, and thus has been in continuous service for the Cleveland, Akron &

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Columbus Railroad since 1880, a period of twenty-one consecutive years. Since 1886 he has been a member of Division 100 of the Order of Railway Conductors.

On the 3d of January, 1881, Mr. Rellick was united in marriage to Miss Ella Majors, but his wife died on the 21st of March following. On the 23d of May, 1882, he wedded Miss Eva Taylor, of Hudson, Ohio, and they have three children : Grace, who was born March 12, 1883, and died October 19, 1885; Ethel, born April 21, 1888; and Ruth, born May 18, 1896. Mr. Rel- lick and family belong to the Catholic church. He is a reliable and trust- worthy man in business, and his consideration of the patrons of the road on which he runs has made him a valued representative of the line. -

LEWIS D. BONEBRAKE.

Among those whose connection with educational interests in Ohio has been most beneficial to the state is the Hon. Lewis D. Bonebrake, now com- missioner of common schools. He is an example of the boys who educate themselves and secure their own start in life,-determined, self-reliant boys, willing to work for advantages which other boys secure through inheritance, destined by sheer force of character to succeed in face of all opposition and to push to the front in one important branch of enterprise or another. As a man his business ability has been constantly manifested in one phase or another to the improvement of the schools with which he is connected, and his advancement in educational circles has been continuous and merited.

Lewis D. Bonebrake is one of the native sons of Franklin county, his , birth having occurred in Westerville, on the 23d of August, 1859. He is a son of the Rev. Daniel and Hester Ann (Bishop) Bonebrake, and traces his ancestry back through many generations to one of the name of Bonebrake, who was of Prussian birth. It is said that he incurred imperial displeasure and therefore came to America, becoming the founder of the family on the soil of the new world. His son, Dewalt Bonebrake, was a farmer and black- smith of Germantown, Pennsylvania, and served as a soldier under General Washington in military operations between New York and Philadelphia. From 1801 to 1808 he resided in Athens county, Ohio, and then removed to Montgomery county, but after a year cast in his lot with the pioneers of Preble county, where he died in 1824. Among his twelve children were Daniel Bonebrake, the grandfather of our subject. He was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, June 16, 1797, and in 1801 was brought by his parents to Ohio. He became a local and traveling minister of the United Brethren church, and gave about half of his time to his ministerial labors, while during the re- mainder of the time he followed farming until 1853. when he embarked in the grocery business in Lewisburg. Five of his brothers served under Gen- eral Harrison in the war of 1812. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Jere- miah Mills, and among their children was the Rev. Daniel Bonebrake, who

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is mentioned on another page of this volume, and in connection with his record will be found a more detailed history of the ancestry of the family.

In his early boyhood Lewis D. Bonebrake pursued his studies in the dis- trict school near his home and when he had mastered the preliminary branches entered the high school of Westerville. He earned the money with which to aid him in pursuing a college course, following school teaching or doing any kind of work that would increase his savings. At length he was grad- uated in the Otterbein University with the class of 1882, and then resumed his work as an educator. He has been superintendent of a number of village schools and ultimately became superintendent of the city schools of Mount Vernon, Ohio, in which capacity he was acceptably serving when elected com- missioner in 1897. He has served as county school examiner in Athens and Knox counties, and for five years was a member of the state board of exam- iners. So acceptably did he fill the commissionership through his first term of three years that in 1900 he was re-elected for a second term. so that he will be the incumbent of the office until 1904. It would be difficult to find one who has done more practical work in behalf of the schools of Ohio than has Lewis D. Bonebrake. He has kept in touch with the progress and im- proved methods advanced in connection with school work and has been very. successful in adapting these to his own work. His own enthusiasm amounts almost to an inspiration to others and his labors have indeed proven most beneficial.

JOSEPH E. BEERY, M. D.

Among the representatives of the medical fraternity in Columbus is numbered Joseph E. Beery, who is one of Fairfield county's native sons, his birth having occurred near North Berne, on the 21st of August, 1861. His parents were Frederick and Elizabeth (Warner) Beery. On the paternal side he represents one of the old and honored families of Virginia. Two branches of the name are supposed to have emigrated from Scotland to Eng- land and thence to the new world and Pennsylvania. Daniel Beery, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Richmond, Virginia, and became a resident of Fairfield county, Ohio, where the birth of his son, Frederick Beery, occurred. The latter was a farmer by occupation, and when he had arrived at years of maturity he married Elizabeth Warner, who was also born in Fairfield county.

Dr. Beery spent the days of his boyhood and youth in the county of his nativity and in the winter season was sent to the district school, where he acquired his preliminary education, obtaining a good knowledge of the com- mon branches. In the summer months he worked in the fields. After leaving the district schools he entered the National Normal University, at Lebanon, Ohio, where he prepared himself for teaching, while at intervals he was a student in that institution for four years. During the remainder of the time he followed teaching, and thus acquired the money necessary to

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meet the expenses of his college course. With the desire to make the prac- tice of medicine his life work he began reading with his brother, L. W. Beery, then of Royalton, Fairfield county, and later he entered the Miami Medical College, at Cincinnati, being graduated in 1886. Later he spent six months in the Cincinnati Hospital, and thus fortified his theoretical knowl- edge by practical experience. He located at Pickerington, Fairfield county, where for three years he remained in practice and then came to Columbus, locating on West Broad street, where he is now established in a good business.

In June, 1887, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Beery and Miss Frankie Blair, of Mantua, Ohio, a daughter of Chauncey and Martha (Storey) Blair. They now have two children, Flossie and Jean Ingelow. The family occupy a fine residence at No. 802 West Broad street. Socially the Doctor is connected with York Lodge, F. & A. M. In the line of his profession he is identified with the Columbus Academy of Medicine and with the American Medical Association. He spares no effort that will advance him in his chosen calling and make him more proficient in administering to the needs of suffering humanity. His practice is now large and of an im- portant character and the future has undoubtedly in store for him a success- ful career.

GEORGE M. HOFFMAN.

Among the agriculturists of Norwich township, Franklin county, Ohio, who have successfully pursued their peaceful vocation for many years, is George M. Hoffman, the subject of this sketch. He was born within eight miles of the city of Lancaster, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, August 5, 1840. His father, John Hoffman, was a native of Biron, Germany, born in 1808, and until his fourteenth year attended school, going from there to work as a glazier. In 1838 he came to America, sailing from Bremen to New York city, and after a voyage of sixty-five days reached the American shore. Many of his countrymen had settled in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and thither he went, remaining for ten or twelve years in the neighborhood. work- ing in a tannery. His marriage took place there to Miss Elizabeth Heibeck, also a native of Germany, who had come from her native land with her fam- ily on the same boat as Mr. Hoffman.

In 1848 Mr. Hoffman removed with his family to Franklin county and lived a few months in Columbus ; then, buying a tract of twenty-eight and a half acres of land in Norwich township, he took his family to that location. Here he soon added forty-two acres more, still later buying thirty-seven and one-half acres, having then a fine farm of one hundred and eight acres. Upon the first land purchased was a log house containing two rooms. This had been built many long years before by Thomas Wilcox, one of the first settlers in that locality.

The mother of our subject died at this farm from an accident upon the Pan Handle Railroad. Mr. Hoffman, senior, married a second time, choos-

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ing for his wife Margaret Spicer. His death took place in 1888, on the old place where he had lived for years. He was a Whig in early days, but be- came a Democrat later in life. His religious belief connected him with the Lutheran church. The children of our subject's parents were: Andrew, of Norwich township, who married first Caroline Fether and secondly Mary Kellar; George M., our subject; and Elizabeth, who married Nicholas Huber.

Until he had reached his eighth year our subject lived in Pennsylvania and attended the schools of Lancaster county. The family removal to Nor- wich township took place then and his education was completed in Franklin county. He assisted his father in agricultural pursuits until his majority, then rented the home farm, and in 1888 bought the place where he has since resided, with the exception of three years spent upon a tract of eighty- two acres which he bought, but successfully sold. In 1900 Mr. Hoffman added fifty-eight and a half acres and now has a fine farm of one hundred and seventy-nine acres.

Mr. Hoffman was married to Miss Catherine Geyer, who had been born in New York, in 1841. She was the daughter of John C. Geyer, born in Bremen, Germany, in 1813, who had married Margaret Smith, born in Ger- many, in 1818, but at that time a resident of New York. In 1850 the Geyer family came to Franklin county, where Mr. Geyer engaged in his trade of wagonmaking and also in gardening, living until 1883, the mother living until 1898. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman is a large and prosperous one, although, in late years, gaps have been made by death. They are: John G., a resident of Iowa; Andrew, of Iowa; Anna E., George M., Henry, John N., Edward C. and Charles Frederick, living, and Margaret, Adam and Edwin George, deceased.

Mr. Hoffman is well and favorably known through the township. He is a stanch Democrat, and has been active in the promotion of the principles of that party. In his religious belief he belongs to the Lutheran church, in which he is a valued member. He is looked upon by his neighbors as one of the substantial citizens of Franklin county.

NATHAN A. SCOFIELD.

Though he traces his lineage on the paternal side to Germany, the well known citizen of Norwich, Franklin county, whose name is above, is dis- tinctively a son of Ohio. William Scofield, his father, was born near Zanes- ville, Muskingum county, Ohio, in September, 1830, and when he was eight years of age he was taken by his parents to a farm near Hilliard. Franklin county. His education in the common schools near his home and brought up to the hard but healthful life of a farmer boy. In school he took special interest in mathematics, in which he made unusual progress. The country was new and about everything necessary to be done to redeem a farm from the wilderness and put it under profitable cultivation was yet undone so far as his father's farm was concerned when he was old enough to lend a hand in the

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work, and being one of the elder boys he was kept from school in the interest of the farm. His father owned five hundred acres of land, and the amount of work its improvement involvedacan scarcely be comprehended now. He went through all the experiences of pioneer life and took part in every kind of hard, manual labor involved in all the processes of clearing and of farming on a large scale.

Mr. Scofield married Hannah Planck, who was born in Perry county, Ohio, in 1833, a daughter of Joseph and Nancy ( Wilkins) Planck. Joseph Planck, who was born in Germany, came to the United States when young. After his marriage Mr. Scofield bought fifty acres of his father's farm. After the death of his parents the remainder of the farm, aggregating two hundred and ten acres, was sold and the proceeds were divided among five heirs, each of whom had previously bought fifty acres of the original tract. Mr. Scofield remained on his farm until 1864, when he sold it to his uncle, Benjamin Scofield, and bought a farm of one hundred and thirty-two acres in the southern part of Norwich township, which he sold in 1874 to Andrew Mil- liken. He then removed to Memphis, Missouri, and from there to Illinois, where for a short time he owned and lived on a farm, but a year and a half after his departure from Ohio he returned to Norwich township and bought a farm of one hundred and fifty-eight acres, four miles northeast of Hilliard, where he lived until his death, which occurred August 18, 1891. He is buried in Wesley Chapel cemetery, Norwich township. His' wife died in 1869, and he then married Letitia Wright, who still survives him. Always energetic and industrious, he made the success of life which crowns the efforts of an honest man possessed of these qualities. He was a prominent and helpful member of the German Baptist church. Politically he was a Republican and was not without influence in his party, having been repeatedly solicited, but steadfastly refused, to accept township office. The children of William and Hannah ( Planck) Scofield were: Nathan A., who was born near Hil- liard, Franklin county, Ohio, February 5, 1853; Mary, who married Frank Helser ; Joseph W., who lives at Hilliard; and Martha, who is now Mrs. Levi Drumheller.

Nathan A. Scofield attended the public schools near his home until he was nineteen years of age, and by that time had acquired a good practical knowl- edge of farming. He was married in Norwich township. March 27, 1872, to Miss Arla Milliken, who was born in Madison county, Ohio, March 22, 1854, a daughter of Andrew Milliken. The children of Nathan A. and Arla Ann (Milliken) Scofield are: Alberta Dean, who married Byron Rogers, of Norwich township; Mattie, who is the wife of Leroy Dobyns; and Walter and Minar, who are still members of their father's household.

For twenty-two years Mr. Scofield rented land in Norwich township, he prospered and at the end of that time was able to buy his present farm from his father's heirs. He now owns one hundred and sixty-four acres. He sold twenty acres of land formerly owned by his father, part of a tract of one hundred and fifty-eight acres, to the city of Columbus to be used in con-

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nection with the construction of a dam. A man of influence in his com- munity, he is yet without political ambition and has no desire for public office, but is an active and zealous Democrat. He has served two terms as assessor of Norwich township. In 1896 he was appointed to fill a vacancy as trustee, at the expiration of which time he was elected for a term of three years. He is one of the prominent Masons of Norwich township.

NICHOLAS P. DAVIDSON, M. D. -

Among those who devote their time and energies to the practice of medicine and have gained a leading place in the ranks of the profession is Dr. Nicholas Perry Davidson, who is now successfully engaged in practice at Hilliard. His father, Nicholas Davidson, was born in Dorchester county, Maryland, in 1813, and was a son of William Davidson, a planter and slave owner, whose ancestors were Virginians and of Scotch descent. The father was reared on a plantation and received a good common school education. In early life he learned the carpenter's trade, and when a young man came to Ohio, locating in Zanesville, where he conducted a grocery store for a short time. There he married Miss Sarah Linn, a native of that place. Soon after his marriage he moved to Perry county, where he engaged in farming, contracting and building, which was more suited to his abilities than com- mercial pursuits. As soon as old enough to be of any assistance his sons began to aid in the farm work.

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A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 58

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