USA > Ohio > Lorain County > A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the. > Part 54
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After leaving the flour mill at Wellington Mr. Andrews spent twelve years on a farm in Penfield Township, for a year was in a meat market at LaGrange, and since 1901 has been in the furniture and undertaking business at Wellington. He had a very small capital when he started and his first associate was James Damon under the firm name of Damon & Andrews. Six years later the firm became Andrews & Vincent, and later Andrews & Estey. As the prosperity increased Mr. Andrews was able to buy out his partner and has since conducted the business alone and has made a success of it. He carried a large stock of furniture and is also a licensed embalmer and has all the equipment for pro- ficient work in this line.
FREDERICK C. WOLF. The facts in the career of the late Fred C. Wolf, a general builder and contractor of Elyria, indicate a strong knack for constructive accomplishment, an untiring industry, a constant vigilance in observing and accepting opportunity, and an unusual ability in handling a varied line of business affairs. Mr. Wolf was for many years one of the leading builders in Elyria, and the best evidence of his work is found in the solid structures which at different times he built in and about that city. In the midst of a busy career death came to him and he passed away October 1, 1915, at the age of forty-seven years.
His life began in Germany, where he was born in the City of Mecklen- burg, Strelitz, April 19, 1868, a son of Fred and Sophia (Rankie) Wolf, who were also natives of that province in Germany. - About 1881 the family came to the United States, there being four children at the time. Fred Wolf. Sr., while living in Germany rose to the rank of captain in the armies of the Empire, but after coming to America gave all his time to practical labor. From New York the family came direct to Lorain County. locating at Amherst, where the father has since lived and is now retired from active work at the age of about eighty. The mother died in Amherst, December 13, 1914. Altogether there were six children in the family, among whom is Mrs. Kreeger, widow of William Kreeger, and she was born in Germany and now resides at Amherst. The oldest daughter, Lena, was married in Germany to Albert Wockenfus, and did not come to this country until 1890, and now resides at Elyria. The four children who came with their parents are Fred C., Carl, who lives at Amherst, William of Elyria, and Edward of Amherst.
Frederick C. Wolf was thirteen years of age when he came to the Vol. 11-23
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United States, and all his regular education was acquired in Germany. He never saw the inside of an English schoolhouse until as a contractor he built one of the schools at Elyria. In his younger days, at Amherst, he joined a club of fifty-two young men of about his own age and they hired an instructor by the name of John McCall, who taught the voluntary organization of ambitious young men four nights a week. Mr. Wolf had the benefit of this private instruction for 21/2 years. After coming to this country he spent about a year in the employ of a farmer, but then started to learn the trade of stone cutting. Mechanical industry came naturally to him, and besides stone cutting he learned the black- smith trade, the machinist trade and the trade of bricklayer, and arrived at the age of twenty-two with all these accomplishments. How- ever, stone cutting was his favorite line of work, and he showed a great deal of ability in designing and carving, and he made a favorable impression by his artistic skill. For about eight years he was employed mainly as a stone carver, though also at different times working in his other trades. Much of his time was spent in the quarries at Amherst. Later he was with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway on construction work and became assistant superintendent on bridge and construction work for that line, a position he held 31/2 years. Necessarily this employment kept him from home a good share of the time, and as he had been recently married he and his young bride found difficulty in reconciling themselves to this unsettled condition. It was at the suggestion of three of his old friends that young Wolf finally entered the business of contractor. These friends were Judge Nye of Elyria, the late Parks Foster, who in his time was one of the best friends of Mr. Wolf, and the late ex-Mayor Levergood of Elyria. At their sug- gestion and influence Mr. Wolf left the road and began business for himself at Elyria as a general contractor. He was twenty-five years of age at the time, and ever afterward followed steadily the business for which his skill in the trade and his native business enterprise so well fitted him.
From 1886 Mr. Wolf had his home in Elyria, having moved from Amherst in that year. On May 21, 1891, at Elyria he married Miss Ida Zarnke of Elyria, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Zarnke, old settlers who are still living in the city. Her father, who was a quarryman in his active days, is now retired. Mrs. Wolf was born in Germany, grew up and received her education there, and was about sixteen years of age when her parents emigrated to America and settled at Elyria.
It is important to give some idea of Mr. Wolf's accomplishments as a building contractor through a partial list of his activities. While he constructed many residences in Elyria, his specialty was largely in the construction of business blocks, schools and factories. He put up the Turner Block, the Sweet and Endley Block, the Century Block, the Masonic Temple, the Columbia Steel Works, the Perry Fay Factory Building. He constructed a three-story building at the Dean plant and also the power plant there. He also built the power plant and a large addition to the lace factory. His record included the construction of a number of school buildings, including the following: The Jefferson Street School, two additions to the Hamilton School, a large addition to the school east of the cemetery, the Lincoln High School on Sixth Street, the remodeling and additions to the Franklin School, the Cen- tralized School at Amherst, the high school at Berea. The Elks Club Building at Elyria is another sample of his work. Mr. Wolf constructed hundreds of homes in and about Elyria for others and many for himself, and an important feature of his business was the building and selling of houses. He built the Wolf Block on Second Street, but sold that in
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1914. At different times his enterprise was led into other lines. He remodeled and fitted the room in which he conducted the Walk-Over Shoe Store at Elyria for ten years, but finally sold the business in 1914. He also owned a millinery store, which he sold in 1913, and in the same year he sold a cigar store at Lorain of which he was owner for a time. He was also engaged for one year as agent for the Jackson Automobile Company and carried on the business in Cleveland under ,the style of the Wolf Motor Car Company at Seventeenth and Euclid Avenue.
Mr. Wolf was one of the genial and popular citizens of Elyria and stood high in social life. In Masonry he was affiliated with King Solo- mon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons; Marshall Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Elyria Council, Royal and Select Masons; Elyria Com- mandery of the Knights Templar; the Order of the Eastern Star, and had taken thirty-two degrees in the Scottish Rite and was a member of the Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland. Other fra- ternities with which he was identified were the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Elyria. An exceedingly busy man Mr. Wolf seldom found time to take a vacation, but when he did his favorite recreation was hunting and fishing.
Important though his material achievements have been, he took his keenest delight in his home and family. He was the father of a group of children of whom any parents might be proud. There are two sons and four daughters. Elsie is now the wife of Herbert Tucker of Ober- lin, and they have a daughter, Cleo Alice Tucker, born June 7, 1915. All the other children are still at home, their names being Emma, Esther, Carl, Alfred and Florence. All were born and educated in Elyria. The girls attended the German Lutheran School, while the boys both completed their education in the public schools, Carl having graduated from the high school with the class of 1915, while Alfred is a member of the class of 1917. They constitute an ideal family, and morality and earnestness of purpose have been cardinal principles in their training. The boys have never been in a saloon or poolroom in all their lives, and are sturdy and industrious and can usually be found within the home circle.
LOUIS W. KOTHE. No small part of the development of Lorain County from wilderness conditions to the present time is to be credited to the influence and energies of the sturdy people who came from Ger- many at different periods in the last seventy years. It is as a repre- sentative of this fine class of citizenship that Louis W. Kothe stands, and through his energy and thrift he has become one of the leading farmers in the neighborhood of Kipton.
He was born in Black River Township of Lorain County September 13, 1870, a son of John and Anna (Kothe) Kothe. Both parents were natives of Hesse, Germany. The paternal grandparents were Jonas and Martha (Grunewalt) Kothe, while the maternal grandfather was John Kothe, a German farmer, who died in the old country. The paternal grandparents settled in Black River Township in the early days, and from there moved to Amherst Township, where they died. John Kothe, the father, was born August 26, 1845, and died June 16, 1891. His wife was born in 1844 and died September 24, 1902. They were married in Erie County, Ohio, and later moved to Lorain County, and eventually secured a farm in Amherst Township, which was occupied by John Kothe until his death. He and his wife were members of St. Peter's Church at Amherst, he was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in politics was a democrat. Of the seven children born to the parents, the three now living are: Louis W .; Peter, who owns
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a farm in Amherst, Ohio; and Lizzie, wife of William Shriner, a stone- mason at Amherst.
Louis W. Kothe grew up on a farm in Amherst Township, gained his education in that locality, and has made his success in life by per- sistent application to the vocation of farming. After his marriage he lived four years on his mother's place and in 1998 bought his present farm of 103 acres. Since taking possession he has rebuilt the barn and has a very attractive as well as valuable country home. While he does general farming he also makes dairying a feature of his prosperity, and raises considerable stock, his dairy herd consisting of six or seven cows.
In 1894 Mr. Kothe married Miss Anna Braun, daughter of Henry Braun, and a granddaughter of Adam and Martha Braun. Adam Braun brought his family to America in 1860 and settled in Black River Township, but subsequently removed to Ottawa County, where he died. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Kothe was Martin Dute. Mr. and Mrs. Kothe have two children: Edward, who has finished his edu- cation and assists his father in the farming business and is a member of the Grange. The son, Walter, is still in school. The family attend St. Peter's Church in Amherst, and Mr. Kothe is one of the leaders in the Grange movement in this section of the county. The successful manner in which he has managed his own affairs has gained him the confidence of his fellow citizens, and in the fall of 1914 he was elected township trustee, an office which he is still capably filling. In politics he is a democrat.
CHARLES HENRY BUTTENBENDER. The City of Elyria counts as one of its livest and most enterprising citizens Captain Buttenbender, who has been identified with this community for the past twenty-five years, and in business, public affairs, and all the more notable movements of organization which go to make up the life of a thriving city, has exer- cised an influence in keeping with his magnetic personality, his bound- less energy, and a public spirit which never seeks anything for himself but is always at the service of the community.
A native of New York City, Charles Henry Buttenbender was born October 7, 1854, a son of Henry and Caroline (Bower) Buttenbender, both of whom were natives of Germany. They came to this country when young, were married in America, and about 1860 the father, who had up to that time been in business in New York City, moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he died at the age of sixty-six. The mother died there January 6, 1910, in her eighty-third year.
Six years of age when taken to Fort Wayne, Charles H. Buttenbender grew up in that Indiana city, and showed the independence of his nature when at the age of twelve he left school and began earning a living at wages of $2 per week in a grocery store. He found more profitable employment in another store, but soon discovered that he was not fitted for the grocery trade, and at the age of sixteen began an apprenticeship with a Fort Wayne manufacturer of silk hats. Later he was employed as a journeyman hatter, but with the passing of the fashion for the wearing of silk hats as a regular part of men's apparel, he turned his attention to a more substantial industry, and until about 1886 was a moulder in Fort Wayne.
His career as an independent business man began as a flour and seed merchant, and after selling that business he did a wholesale trade in buying and shipping of hay for several years. Captain Buttenbender got into active politics in Fort Wayne in 1887, when elected a member of the city council from the Eighth Ward. He was a republican and the
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eighth was the stronghold of the democratic party in the city. IIis per- sonal popularity enabled him to carry the ward by a majority of 150 votes, but in the following year the same section of the city gave a major- ity of 500 in the general election to President Cleveland. After being in the city council two years, he was deputy county assessor for a time. In 1889 he became a railway postal clerk on the division between Cleve- land and Syracuse, and it was this employment which led to his removal to Elyria. Mr. Buttenbender was in the mail service up to 1906. In that year he resigned and organized the Hinkson-Buttenbender Company, Incorporated, which was soon developed as one of the leading local firms of contractors and builders, real estate and insurance agents. Mr. But- tenbender was secretary of this organization until June, 1915, and since then has been in business as a real estate and general contractor under his own name, with offices in. the Sharp Block. Since March, 1915, his insurance business has been carried on under the firm name of Sotherden & Buttenbender, also with offices in the Sharp Block. From 1908 he was in the insurance business as a member of the firm of Sotherden, Butten- bender & Hinkson, Mr. Hinkson retiring in March, 1915. This fire in- surance firm represents some of the largest and leading companies in that field, and are also agents for automobile insurance in the Travel- ers Insurance Company of Hartford, the largest underwriters of acci- dent and liability insurance in the world. Other companies which they represent are: The American Central Insurance Company of St. Louis; the Phoenix Assurance Company (Limited), the Standard, the Royal Exchange Assurance, the Commercial Union, the New Jersey of New- ark, and the Nord-Deutsche of Hamburg, Germany.
From the beginning of his residence at Elyria in November, 1889, Captain Buttenbender has always exhibited the characteristics of a pub- lic spirited citizen. In November, 1909, he was elected councilman at large, and on the organization of the council on January 3 of the fol- lowing year was elected president pro tem, and filled that position two years. In 1912 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the republican nomination for the office of mayor of Elyria, and in the fall of that year was appointed by the city council as councilman of the Fourth Ward to fill the vacancy caused by the death of George Guthmann. He was again a member of the city council until February 1, 1913, and then resigned to accept appointment as director of public safety, an office he filled until February 1, 1914.
Probably no local resident has been more prominent in fraternal affairs and has received more honors at the hands of fraternal organiza- tions than Captain Buttenbender. In 1879 he joined Fort Wayne Lodge No. 14, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is past noble grand and past grand representative of that organization. He was one of the trustees of the lodge when the Odd Fellows Temple was built in Fort Wayne and filled all the chairs in the local organization. For a number of years he was captain of Canton Fort Wayne of the Patriarchs Mili- tant and served as major of the Second Battalion, First Regiment. Since 1883 he has also been an active member of the Knights of Pythias, hav- ing joined the order at Fort Wayne in that year, and is now past chan- cellor of Chevalier Lodge No. 316 at Elyria, having filled all the chairs and gone as representative to the Grand Lodge. He assisted in organiz- ing Uniform Rank, Company No. 117, Knights of Pythias. and served with the rank of captain fifteen years. On November 21, 1907, he was made a Master Mason in King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons, and attained to the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite in the Lake Erie Consistory at Cleveland less than one year later. He is past eminent commander of Elyria Commandery No. 60, Knights Templar,
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and is also a member of the Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland. The Elyria Lodge of Elks has also found him a mnost val- uable brother, and he is past exalted ruler of the lodge and was rep- resentative to the Grand Lodge in Denver in 1914, and in 1913 was president of the Elks Club Company. In the Fraternal Order of Eagles at Elyria he served in 1912 as chairman of committee when the Grand Lodge of Eagles, of which he is a member, held its convention in this city in 1913. He is also a member of the auxiliary organizations of the Eastern Star, the Pythian Sisters and the Rebekahs. Captain Butten- bender has for a number of years taken much interest in the Lorain County Volunteer Firemen's Association, of which he was president, and his influence was chiefly instrumental in inaugurating the Fire and Police Pension Fund in 1913, the measure having been adopted by the city council in that year and the first appropriation made, and the fund is now increased by regular appropriations from the county and state. Captain Buttenbender is a member of the Elyria Builders Exchange, is a stockholder in various business enterprises in that city and else- where and since 1906 has held a commission as notary public. Captain Buttenbender is noted for the versatility of his interests and avoca- tions, and one of his chief enthusiasms is automobiling, and since 1908 he has served as secretary of the Elyria Automobile Club. He is usually found at all the racing meets, and is occasionally called upon to act as an official in these automobile events, and was recently a timekeeper in the races conducted under the Cleveland Automobile Association.
Captain Buttenbender is one of the active members of the First Con- gregational Church at Elyria and also belongs to the Men's Club of that church. He was one of the captains of the teams who raised $127,000 in ten days for the beautiful Young Men's Christian Association Build- ing which adorns the public square of Elyria. He was elected and is now serving as one of the trustees of the association. He married Miss Estella C. Grout. Mrs. Buttenbender was born in Franklin County, New York, daughter of William Grout.
CHARLES T. JAMIESON has been one of the well known bankers of Lorain County for the past eighteen years, and was formerly a bank ex- aminer and comes of a family long prominent in banking and other affairs.
He was born in Clermont County, Ohio, May 2, 1855, a son of Milton and Maria (Titus) Jamieson. His father was born in Williamsburg, Ohio, in 1825 and died in 1907. The mother was born in Dutchess County, New York, in 1836 and died in 1879. They were married in 1854 at Batavia, Clermont County, Ohio, where Milton Jamieson was for many years a well known attorney and banker. Though a man who was self educated and self-made, his success was pronounced, and he was one of the foremost men in his section of the state. In early life he served one year as a lieutenant in the war with Mexico, and lost his health while in the army. He was very active in Masonry, attained the Royal Arch degrees, was a whig and later a republican in politics, and was very influential in that line although never a seeker for office. Both he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian Church. At the age of eleven years Milton Jamieson set type on the first issue of the Clermont Courier, and owned and conducted this newspaper for some time. Mil- ton Jamieson was a son of John and Catherine (Perrine) Jamieson, the former a native of Cynthiana, Kentucky, and a soldier in the War of 1812, having settled in Ohio after the close of that conflict. He was a saddler by trade, and kept one of the early hotels in Southern Ohio. The Jamieson family came from Aberdeen, Scotland, and Mr. Charles
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T. Jamieson's great and great-great-grandfathers were both soldiers in the Revolutionary war. The great-grandfather was Samuel Jamie- son and the great-great-grandfather was John Jamieson. Charles T. Jamieson's maternal grandfather, Titus, was a native of New York State, but settled in Clermont County, Ohio, on a farm about 1840. He should be remembered as having introduced the first Merino sheep into the state. The Titus family were Quakers.
Charles T. Jamieson was one of four children and is the oldest of the three now living. His sister, Mrs. Charles Belt, lives in Batavia, Ohio, the wife of a physician. His brother, Percy, is president of a bank at Batavia.
Mr. Jamieson was liberally educated, attending Hanover College and in 1875 graduating from the University of Wooster. For a short time he was assistant treasurer and paymaster in the railway service, and he was also admitted to the bar. For ten years Mr. Jamieson was pro- prietor of the Urbana Citizen and Gazette, and he established the daily issue of that paper. Subsequently he was special foreign agent of the United States Treasury Department, then filled the office of bank ex- aminer for one year, and since 1898 has had his home at Wellington in Lorain County.
At Wellington he became cashier of the First Wellington Bank, which was originally a national bank, but is now under a state charter. This is one of the strongest banks of Lorain County, has a capital of $85,000, surplus and undivided profits of $70,000, and its deposits aver- age $950,000.
In 1885 Mr. Jamieson married Miss Angie West, who was born in Lebanon, Ohio. Her father, Rev. Enoch G. West, died rather early in life and was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. and Mrs. Jamieson have one daughter, Miriam, who lives at home, and she and her mother are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Jamieson is a Presbyterian and for many years has been closely identi- fied with church and Sunday school affairs and has served as superin- tendent of the Sunday school at Wellington for sixteen years. Fra- ternally he is a charter member of Urbana Lodge of the Masonic Order, of which he is past master, and he is also a Knight Templar. In poli- tics he is a republican, and has given some capable public service as a member of the board of education.
JUSTUS M. STARR is a banker at LaGrange Village and through bank- ing and other activities has long enjoyed a place of prominence in that section of Lorain County. He is also a practical farmer and dairyman, and for a number of years was one of the merchants of the village.
His birth occurred on a farm which he still owns, in Penfield Town- ship of Lorain County March 28, 1864. His parents were Orrin K. and Elizabeth (Blanchard) Starr.
Mr. Starr grew to manhood on the old farm, and was well educated. As a boy he attended country school, spent a year in the Elyria High School, a year at Wellington, another year at the Valparaiso University in Indiana, and in 1882 he finished a commercial course at Oberlin. Following this came several years of traveling over the country, and in January, 1888, at Los Angeles, California, he married Miss Kitty C. Bailey.
Soon after his marriage he returned to Lorain County and for ten years conducted a general merchandise store. On February 1, 1898, he sold out and established at LaGrange a bank which he has since carried on with steadily accumulating success. In the fall of 1897 a fire had destroyed the building on the site where Mr. Starr's bank now stands.
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