USA > Ohio > Crawford County > A centennial biographical history of Crawford County, Ohio > Part 59
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Charles and Margaret (Beach) Edler have had ten children, eight of whom survive. Their daughter Emma married William Ricker and lives at
,
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Bucyrus, Ohio. Their daughter Mary married Samuel Eichhorn, of Galion. Their daughter Catharine became the wife of Levi Smith and lives at Galion. Their daughters Amanda and Margaret are members of their household. Their daughter Etta married Elmer Smith and also lives at Galion. Their son George is a resident of the same city. Their son Carl manages his father's farm and takes a prominent part in many township and county affairs.
JEROME BLAND, M. D.
There is no other profession in which greater responsibility rests than is peculiar to the medical profession. Upon the skill and fidelity of the physician depends life and death in great measure. No other professional man has greater opportunity to gain the confidence and esteem of his fellow man than has the physician. The public mind, nevertheless, is sharp and piercing in criticism ; the sick, too, are susceptible to change of sentiment, easily dis- couraged, quick to make changes of mind, so that after all the physician has not only to battle with disease but also with ever-changing temper of mind and heart so manifest in mankind. And that physician who succeeds in the art of healing and establishes and long holds for himself high rank in his profession and in the esteem and confidence of his patients and fellow men deserves no little praise from the pen of the biographer.
Among skillful, successful and esteemed physicians of Ohio the subject of this sketch holds a conspicuous place. He was an Ohio farmer's son, and made school teaching a stepping-stone into the profession of medicine : began his professional career a poor man, and not under the most promising circum- stances, but more than thirty years mark the span of a successful professional career for him, and yet he is still active and promising of no limited years of usefulness in his profession.
Dr: Bland is a native of Ohio, born on a farm in Muskingum county, July 22, 1840, and spent the first twenty-three years of his life on the farm, where he was schooled in arduous labors of farm life, learning most useful lessons of industry and perseverance that have characterized his life. His parents were Ebenezer and Harriet (Lane) Bland, and of their ten children, three daughters and seven sons, the Doctor was the eldest. The father was a native of Virginia, while the mother's native state was Maryland. John Bland. the paternal grandfather of our subject, came from Virginia to Ohio as early as 1798. and settled in Muskingum county. The land which he ob- tained by patent from the general government is still in possession of his de-
.
Sommerkland M.
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scendants, which are numerous in Muskingum county. From sturdy an- cestors our subject is descended, and his father and mother were possessed of many sterling qualities.
At the age of nineteen years Dr. Bland began teaching in the country schools of his native county, and, in all, he taught nine winter terms. In 1862 he became a student in Denison College at Granville, Ohio, where he remained till 1864, after which date he taught several terms of school.
Disposition of mind, that of a student, led him into preparation for pro- fessional life. Deciding upon the profession of medicine, he began, in 1864, the study of medicine, under the preceptorship of Dr. Joseph McCann, an old and successful practitioner of Irville, Ohio. Later he attended one term of lectures in the Starling Medical College, of Columbus, this state. He then began the practice of medicine at Hanover, also in this state, where he re- mained two years, and then returned to the Starling Medical College, where he graduated in 1869. He then came to Crawford county and located at Benton, now Poplar, where he continued in a most active and lucrative prac- tice for fourteen years. During this time so large was his practice that he was "on the go" almost night and day. No other physician of the county ever had larger, if as large, a country practice as had Dr. Bland while he was located at Benton, from which place he came to Bucyrus in 1883, since when he has been numbered among the most active and successful physicians and surgeons of Bucyrus, enjoying a very large and lucrative practice. He is a member of the Northwestern Ohio Medical Society, of the Ohio State Medi- cal Society and of the American Medical Association.
In politics the Doctor is a Democrat. He has served five years as county coroner and was a member of the pension board of examiners for four years under the second administration of Grover Cleveland. He also is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Masonic order, being a Knight Templar and also a "Shriner," holding membership in Alkoran Temple, at Cleveland.
He has considerable business interests, being the proprietor of the Knisely Springs stock farm, owning and breeding high-bred horses, his stock farm being noted for its high-class horses. On his farm are also most valu- able mineral springs, the water from which constitute the product for the Knisely Mineral Springs Bottling Works.
In the mention of the Doctor's family history there is a peculiar item to record. He had two brothers, Charles and John Bland, who studied medicine under him, and both entered medical college and died of consumption during
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the last year of their studies in college, and both at the age of twenty-eight, though their deaths occurred some eight years apart; and while a third brother died of consumption, his other brothers and himself are large and robust men.
In 1867 Dr. Bland married Lucy Coon, and they have had a son and two. daughters. The son, whose name was Ebbie, died while in Cuba during the Spanish-American war, and his remains were brought back to this country and interred in Arlington cemetery, near Washington, D. C. He was a mem- ber of Company A, a company of Bucyrus soldiers. The daughters are Hattie,. now Mrs. A. J. Vawger, of Bucyrus ; and Alice, now in school.
Dr. Bland is in every sense of that over-used term a self-made man. Many have been his life struggles, but steadily he has worked his way up in his profession and business affairs. His success in life has been largely due to. his fortitude of character, stern resolution and fidelity of purpose. Pleasant and agreeable in manner toward his fellow men, his friends are many and his name respected.
ELMER DEAN ROBISON.
An enterprising young farmer of Cranberry township, Elmer Dean Rob- ison, was born at the family homestead, where he now resides, October 22, 1866, and is one of a family of six children whose parents were Robert and. Esther ( Robison ) Robison. Only three of the children, however, survive, the eldest being Margaret J., wife of Isaac Helem, of Chicago Junction, Ohio, while the youngest is William L., a resident farmer of Cranberry township. The father was twice married, his first union being with Mary A. Robison, d. daughter of William Robison, who was one of three brothers and a brother of the grandfather of our subject. There were three children by this marriage,. but all are now deceased.
Many of the leading citizens of Ohio have come to this state from Pennsyl- vania, and among the number was the father of our subject, who was born in Perry county, of the Keystone state, on the 10th of October, 1825. His par- ents were John and Jennie ( Baxter) Robison, who were also natives of that county and the former was of Scotch-Irish extraction, while the latter was of Scotch parentage. In 1867, when their son Robert was only twelve years of age, they traveled by wagon to Ohio, bringing with them their household ef- fects. The journey led them through dense forests and across unbridged. streams, and with the pioneer settlers of this portion of the Buckeye state they
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cast in their lot. Having arrived in Crawford county, the grandfather purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Cranberry township, now owned by Adam Eckstein. He was a blacksmith by trade, and after locating here erected a shop on his farm, conducting business along that line for a number of years. In early life Robert Robison worked in the smithy with his father and in this way mastered the business, becoming quite an expert at the forge. When twen- ty years of age he opened a shop of his own in Waynesburg, and during the succeeding three years worked alnost day and night in order to gain a start in business life. He received good pay for his labor, and on the completion of that period he had received three thousand dollars. This he invested in a farm of eighty acres, where his son, William L., now resides. It was then almost entirely forest land, and in the midst of the green woods he erected a log house, as well as a shop, giving his attention to blacksmithing. He hired some one to clear his land and devlop the fields. Some time later he developed forty acres adjoining his farm, thus extending its boundaries until it comprised one hundred and twenty acres. He continued work in the smithy until 1867, when he purchased of Casper Eberly a tract of land of forty acres, on which he erected a residence, and then moved to the farm which is now the home of his. son Elmer.
He then abandoned blacksmithing, except as he occasionally did a little work in that way as an accommodation for some friend or neighbor. In 1876 he purchased thirty acres of land lying just north of the home farm and in 1880 bought fifty acres of the Cory heirs, lying just across the road from his residence. This is now the property of our subject. His landed possessions after these purchases aggregated two hundred and forty acres, and he also owned a town residence, surrounded by eleven acres, in New Washington .. After a useful, honorable and active career he was called to his final rest March 16, 1900. During the last eight years of his life he was blind, but he bore the affliction with Christian fortitude. He held membership in the Presbyterian church and was a stanch Democrat in politics, but would never accept office, preferring to devote his energies to his business affairs, which demanded all of his attention and which brought to him a good financial return for his labor. He possessed an iron constitution, indomitable will and unflagging energy, and his life is in many respects well worthy of emolution. His wife was born in Perry county, Pennsylvania, May 25, 1832, and was a daughter of George Robison, a native of Perry county, Pennsylvania, and of Scotch-Irish extrac- tion, as was also her mother. The paternal and maternal grandfathers of our subject were own cousins. George Robison, the maternal grandfather, was.
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an officer in the war of 1812, and after the close of hostilities was recognized as a leader in military matters for many years. By trade he was a cooper and he acquired considerable land, thus becoming in comfortable circumstances. He and his wife both spent their lives in Perry county, Pennsylvania, and their daughter, Mrs. Esther Robison, passed away in Crawford county, January 5. 1900.
Elmer Dean Robison, whose name forms the caption of this article, was given the educational privileges afforded by the common and high schools of New Washington, completing the course with the first graduating class, in 1883. The same fall he entered Oberlin College, where he completed the work of the junior year. His health then failed him and he was compelled to dis- continue his studies, which was a great blow to him, for he possessed literary tastes and wished to prepare for a profession or for some literary work. Leav- ing college, he returned home, and after a few months spent in recuperating he became a student in the Davis Business College of Toledo, where he was graduated in the fall of 1887. During the succeeding winter and summer he remained at home, his health being greatly benefitted thereby. He assisted in the work of the farm to some extent, and in the fall of 1888 he began teach- ing, which profession he followed through the winter months, while in the sum- mers he aided in the labors of the field and meadow.
However, when the spring of 1890 came he found that the confinement of the school-room had again undermined his health and he went to Colorado. where during the following six months he improved rapidly. He extended his trip into Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, California, Wyoming and Nevada, and in November, 1890, returned to his home. The following year his father lost the sight of one eye through an accident. In January, 1892, Mr. Robison, of this sketch, took a trip through the south to Jacksonville, Florida, in order to recover from the effects of the grip, and spent two months in that sunny clime. after which he made his way northward to Atlanta, Georgia, where he accepted a position with the Southern Bell Telephone Company, acting as secretary to the superintendent. He served in that capacity until, in a traction accident on a Sunday excursion on the Chattanooga river. he had his legs almost cut off. For six weeks he was forced to remain in bed. He then returned home to rest and recuperate, and soon after his arrival his father entirely lost the sight of both eyes.
At the earnest solicitation of his parents Mr. Robison decided to remain at home, where he has since continued, caring for his father and managing the farm. He is a most energetic and resclute young man, of strong purpose
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and marked ability, and his business management has brought to the farm good success. He votes with the Democracy and socially is identified with Hyperion Lodge, No. 651, K. P., in which he has fielled all of the chairs and is now serving as keeper of the records and seals and master of finance. His life has been upright and honorable, energetic and diligent, and throughout the com- munity he has a large circle of friends.
JEREMIAH J. HOPPEL.
Jeremiah J. Hoppel is justly regarded by the citizens of Liberty town- ship as one of their leading and representative men. He is a thorough farmer, a reliable township official and is thoroughly respected by his neighbors and those who know him best in private life. The birth of Mr. Hoppel was in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, on December 5, 1847, a son of Reuben and Christina ( Deal) Hoppel, and is one of the surviving children of a family of four, his sister being Emma E .. the wife of A. B. Charlton. The two de- ceased sisters were Anna. the wife of John Davidson; and Effia, the wife of Joseph Kinsley.
Reuben Hoppel was born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, of French ancestry, on August 18, 1818. At the age of fourteen years, he with his brothers, Charles and Adam, lost the parental care of their father, and were thrown upon their own resources. Reuben worked for neighboring farmers and grew up industrious and respected and married Christina Deal in his twenty-third year, her death occurring in 1862. After marriage he bought a farm, in the timber land and settled down to the laborous task of clearing it and putting it under cultivation. By 1858 he had succeeded in clearing it and had erected substantial buildings, but his brother Charles had gone to Indiana and prospered and Reuben decided to also go as far west as Ohio. He had inherited several thousand dollars from his granfather Kester, who owned extensive chestnut timber lands in Northampton county which sold for a fortune, after his death, and this money Reuben Hoppel brought with him to Ohio, buying with it one hundred and eighteen acres of land in section 6, Liberty township. This farm was later known as the model farm and passed into the possession of the Klunk family, by which it is still owned. After a residence of some six years upon it, Mr. Hoppel sold it and bought of Jacob Thomas, three hundred and twenty acres adjoining his former farm, on the south and here resided until 1896, having made it one of the best im- proved farms in the county. Here he built a handsome brick residence, in
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1885. In 1896 he sold the farm, which then contained two hundred and forty acres, and removed to Holmes township, where he purchased a small home farm of sixty acres, located one mile north of Bucyrus and there he had his residence for three years, his death occurring on February 27. 1899, in his eighty-first year. He had married, after the death of his first wife, Mrs. Mary Deagle, formerly a Miss McMichael, and three children were born to this union, viz: Ida, the wife of William Dinninger, of Holmes township; Reuben, of Plymouth, Indiana : and Ada, the wife of Charles Winner, with her mother, in Holmes township. The mother of our subject was born in North- ampton county, Pennsylvania, about 1820, a daughter of Frederick anl Eva Teel, also of that county, where her father lived. He died in 1848, from dropsy. Eva Teel, his wife, died at the same place in 1852. In politics Mr. Hoppel supported the Democratic party, for several years was one of the trustees of Liberty township and a man much respected. He was a con- sistent member of the Reformed church.
Farm life has produced the greater number of the solid and responsible men of the country. In the homely duties on his father's estate, young Jere- miah Hoppel passed from childhood to youth and manhood, receiving the best available schooling in the locality. His marriage on February 5, 1873. was to Miss Martha Schieber, a native of this township, a daughter of Christopher and Lydia (Hirschberger) Schieber, the former of whom was a native of Ger- many, the latter of Pennsylvania. Following this event, our subject became the owner of eighty acres of land from his father, bravely and happily began domestic life in one of the old pioneer log cabins, and in three years time was able to erect an attractive and comfortable residence and in 1883 completed one of the best barns of this neighborhood. In 1894 our subject sold this farm and purchased the old Michael Charlton farm, consisting of one hun- dred and sixty acres, in 1900 adding eighty-three acres adjoining, and now is the owner of two hundred and forty-three acres of as excellent land as can be found in the state of Ohio.
Mr. and Mrs. Hoppel have four children : Myrtle, the wife of Ralph McCalman, of Danville, Illinois ; Otis Milton, at home : Elger James, attend- ing Heidelberg College; and Helen, at home. Mr. Hoppel's political sympa- thies place him in the Democratic party, and in 1900 he was elected trustee of the township, and is serving with the greatest satisfaction to the public. Several years he served on the school board and is a trustee of the library board of Sulphur Springs. His early rearing was in the Methodist church, but his family are connected with the Lutheran church, and to this denomination he
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gives support. He has always taken a great interest in his home surroundings and has lately added very much to its attractiveness by the rebuilding of his commodious modern barn. His success has been attained by the exercise of honesty, energy and industry.
ROBERT W. JOHNSTON.
Robert W. Johnston was born in Green township, Ashland county, Ohio. His father, Thomas Johnston, was born at Frederick City, Maryland, Septem- ber 12, 1809, his parents, John and Christina (Johnston) Johnston, having emigrated from county Fermanagh, Ireland, about the year 1808. When eighteen years of age Thomas Johnston became a resident of that part of Rich- land county, Ohio, which subsequently became a part of Ashland county, where he resided continuously until his death, April 18, 1871. When but a little past his majority he became a wagoner, and for a number of years fol- lowed the occupation of conveying, by wagons drawn by six-horse teams, mer- chandise from Philadelphia, Baltimore and Pittsburg for the merchants in Richland and adjoining counties, and hauling the produce of the then new country to eastern markets. The advent of the railroads did away with this oc- cupation, and his life was then wholly devoted to farming and stock-raising, in which he took special interest, being among the first to introduce Durham or short-horn cattle into Ashland county from the Blue Grass region of Ken- tucky. He married, in 1833, Sarah Ann Workman, who was born at Gettys- burg, Pennsylvania, September 16, 1813, and was brought by her parents, Joseph and Lydia ( Shields ) Workman, to Vermilion township, Richland, now Ashland, county in 1815. She died at Galion, January 27, 1893. Joseph Workman was born in couny Monaghan, Ireland, March 12, 1786, and came to America with his parents in 1793. His father, Benjamin Workman, was educated for the ministry in the Covenanter church, but instead of carrying out his original plans devoted his life to teaching, following that occupation until he reached the age of seventy-five years. Joseph Workman was a sol- dier in the war of 1812, being a member of a Pennsylvania regiment, and two of his uncles, James and Hugh Workman, served with Colonel Crawford in the disastrous campaign against Sandusky. He was one of the early justices of the peace in Vermilion township, have filled that office in 1817-18, and and was a member of the first Ohio state board of agriculture.
Robert W. Johnston spent his youth on the farm in Ashland county, at- tending the public schools, Vermilion Institute at Hayesville, and Green Town
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Academy at Perrysville. In 1876, having decided to engage in the study of law, he entered the law office of Henry C. Carhart, at Galion, and graduated at the Cincinnati Law School in the class of 1879. In the same year he was ad- mitted to the bar and immediately formed a partnership with his preceptor, Mr. Carhart, and has practiced his profession continuously at Galion. Mr. Johnston has taken an active interest in all things pertaining to the welfare of the city of Galion, and has been concerned in the promotion of various enter- prises which have contributed to its progress. Politically he has always been a Republican, and is a strong adherent of the principles of the party, and al- though Galion is strongly Democratic he has served both as mayor and city solicitor, having been elected to the former office in 1883 and to the latter in 1893.
JOHN W. FRENCH.
John W. French owes his success in life to his own efforts and has gained the only title which America confers upon her citizens, that of a self-made man. He was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, November 8, 1832, his par- ents being Samuel and Rebecca (Welch) French. The father was a native of Pennsylvania, born about 1800, and was a son of Irish parentage. His mother died during his early childhood and he was then reared by his maternal grandfather, William McLaughlin, who came to Ohio about the time of the mother's death, settling in Columbiana county, where he took advantage of the offer made by the government to the settlers who could claim land and would develop farms. He built a log cabin and made a home for his large family numbering ten children, seven sons and three daughters. Several sons were veterans of the war of 1812. Samuel was a captain in the service and Robert loyally aided in the defense of his country, died while on his way home and was buried in the forest of Seneca county, but his grave was unmarked and therefore could never be visited by the family.
The father of our subject was reared in the pioneer home amid the wild scenes of frontier life and early became familiar with the arduous task of clearing and cultivating the fields. In 1844, after his marriage, he removed with his family to Wood county, where he leased a tract of forest land, built a log cabin home and in the succeeding four years cleared about forty acres, deriving considerable income from the sale of the wood as well as from his farming operations. In 1848 he came to Crawford county, settling in Lykens township, where he followed agricultural pursuits until 1859, when he re-
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moved to Huron county, where his death occurred two years later. He was a consistent member of the Presbyterian church and the Democracy received his political support. In early manhood he married Miss Rebecca Welch, who was born in Virginia about 1808 and a daughter of James and Esther ( Ada ) Welch, both of whom were of Irish extraction. They went to Columbiana county, Ohio, early in the nineteenth century and there the maternal grand- father of our subject built the first double log house ever erected on the site of Wellsville. For many years he conducted a tavern there, entertaining the pioneer settlers. Both he and his wife died in that county. For over a half century he was a ruling elder of the Presbyterian church. He was the only member of the family to remove to the eastern part of the state, becoming actively connected with its upbuilding and promotion. His father was the first white settler to locate in Seneca county, Ohio, south of the Sandusky river, his nearest neighbor at the time being twenty-three miles distant. One of his sons, John Welch, served as a representative in the state legislature and another son, Hugh, was judge of the county court, while Martin was a Methodist minister. These sons had but meager educational privileges, being self-made men and exercised a strong influence for good in the community where they resided. Albert G. Welch, a brother of Mrs. French, and an uncle of our subject, could not write his own name when he left home, but the am- bition, determination and energy so characteristic of the family enabled him to advance steadily in knowledge and prominence. Later he became a state senator, was also sheriff of Columbiana county, Ohio, and subsequently was deputy warden of the Ohio State Penintentiary. Mrs. French was a lady of sterling worth and ability and proved to her husband a faithful companion and helpmeet on the journey of life. Her death occurred in the year 1875. She was the mother of ten children, but only four are now living, namely : John W., Joseph, who resides in Kansas City, Missouri : Elizabeth, widow of Martin Corbet, of Chicago; and Esther, the widow of Levi Leonard, of Huron county, Ohio.
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