USA > Ohio > Richland County > A centennial biographical history of Richland county, Ohio > Part 33
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By Mr. McBride's first marriage four children were born, of whom two are now living. Franklin Elmer, the eldest son, was a graduate of the National Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio, and of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of Chicago. He died in Kalgan, China, where he had gone as a medical missionary, his death occurring July 6, 1890, at the age of twenty-eight years, four months and twenty-nine days. William S., born October 12, 1864, died March 3, 1888. Lilly A. is the wife of John M. Van Tilburg, a farmer of Madison township. Lora E., the youngest daughter, is the wife of Ezra Kuenzli, a farmer of Wyandot county, Ohio. The mother died January 22, 1873, and Mr. McBride was again married December 17, 1874, his second union being with Miss Mary A. Au, a daughter of Jacob Au, one of the well-known farmers of Mifflin township, who came to the county in 1855, but is now deceased. By the second marriage ten children have been born: Margaret E. was born February 5, 1876, and is a student in the Western Female College, at Oxford, Ohio. Maria May was born May 8, 1878, and is attending the Western Female College. Charles Wash- ington was born May 27, 1880; Curtis G., November 16, 1882; Nettie G.,
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December 11, 1885; Mary I., October 3, 1888; Thomas F., November 24, 1890; Hubbell R., May 1, 1892; Chester W., November 17, 1894; and Arthur A., September 26, 1896.
Mr. McBride votes with the Republican party, and in 1893 was its nominee for the position of county treasurer, but Richland county is strongly Democratic and in consequence he was defeated. He has several times served as a member of the school board and in other local offices. He holds mem- bership in the First Congregational church of Mansfield, and is not slow to give his support to interests which contribute to the moral, material, social and intellectual welfare of the community. He is a man of action rather than theory. While others might argue in debate he goes to work and practically demonstrates his position, which in almost every instance is cor- rect. His success has been well and worthily won, and his fellow citizens of Richland county entertain the highest regard for Washington McBride.
WILLIAM H. WEAVER.
William H. Weaver is a well-known farmer and stock-raiser of Richland county and a member of the firm of Weaver Brothers, whose reputation in the line of their chosen vocation is both wide and commendable. He is a man of excellent business and executive ability, who forms his plans readily and is determined in their execution. He carries to successful completion whatever he undertakes if it can be accomplished by honorable methods, and as a representative of the great department of agriculture he is well known. The farm is located on section 26, Sharon township, near Vernon Junction.
Mr. Weaver was born in Wyandot county, Ohio, September 4, 1866. His father, John Weaver, was born in Crawford county, Ohio, June 12, 3835, a son of John D. Weaver, a native of France. The last named was born in 1804 and when a young man crossed the Atlantic, locating in Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania. He followed the butcher's trade and was among the pioneer settlers of Richland county, who from the government entered eighty acres of land, for which he paid a dollar and a quarter per acre. He was married in Pittsburg to Miss Magdalene Ball, a native of France, and they became the parents of twelve children, eight sons and four daughters. They lost one son and one daughter in childhood, but nine of the family are now living; and of this number, with one exception, all are married and have families of their own, and most of them are farming people. The grand -. parents of our subject began life in limited circumstances amid humble sur-
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roundings, but by industry and economy they prospered. The grandfather died in 1880, and his widow passed away in 1892, at the age of eighty-one years, their remains being interred in the Congregational cemetery in the Shelby settlement.
Having arrived at years of maturity, John Weaver was married, in the fall of 1861, to Miss Mary B. Remlinger, who was born in France in 1840, and during her girlhood was brought to America by her parents, Martin and Barbara Remlinger, who went to Buffalo, New York. They were farming people and had a family of ten children, eight of whom reached mature years and are now married and have families. Soon after his marriage John Weaver was drafted for service in the Civil war. He began farming on one hundred and twenty acres of land in Richland county, owned by his father, and four years later he removed to Wyandot county, where he carried on agricultural pursuits for six years. His children are as follows: Will- iam, of this review; Frank J., who is in partnership with his brother; John E., who is married and resides in Shelby; Rosa, the wife of Will Gosser, of Crawford county, Ohio, by whom she has three children ; Anna, the wife of Peter Keller, by whom she has two children; and Charles D., who is living on the home farm. The first three children were born in Wyandot county, and three upon the old homestead in Richland county.
The farm here comprises one hundred and twenty acres of land, belong- ing to the widowed mother. The sons, William and Frank, are the owners of one hundred and ninety-six acres of land on section 31, Shannon township, and upon this farm a tenant resides. They are now extensively engaged in buying and shipping hogs, sheep and cattle, William Weaver attending to this branch of the business, while Frank operates a profitable sawmill, pur- chasing tracts of timber land from which he cuts the trees, converting them into lumber.
William Weaver was married April 30, 1893, to Miss Mary E. Fry, a native of Richland county and a daughter of Conrad Fry, who was of Ger- man lineage. By this marriage three children have been born: Edward. who was born April 24, 1894; Wilfred, born August 31, 1896; and Norbert, born April 2, 1898.
Mr. Weaver is a Democrat, and has served for two years as a township trustee. He and his family are connected with the Catholic church. He believes in having good roads and is a stanch advocate of the pike system. In the last three years fifteen miles of pike have been laid, the residents being greatly benefited thereby. Public spirited and progressive, Mr. Weaver
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withholds his support from no measure which he believes would prove for the general good, and is a valued citizen of his community. In business affairs he is energetic, prompt and notably reliable. Tireless energy, keen perception and earnestness of purpose are numbered among his strong char- acteristics, and have been the means of winning him a place among the sub- stantial citizens of Richland county.
JOHN W. HAFER.
John W. Hafer, contractor and builder of Shelby, Ohio, who resides at No. 188 West Main street, was born in Sharon township, Richland county, Ohio, April 28, 1858. His father, Frederick Hafer, was born January 2, 1831, in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, removing thence in 1852 to Canton, Ohio, driving the entire distance with a team of horses and wagon. By trade he has always been a carpenter, and has followed the business of con- tractor and builder for many years, but removed to Shelby in 1854. About this time he was married, in Mansfield, to Margaret Meeks, who died in 1880, the mother of eight children, five of whom grew to mature years. Dora, the youngest of the family, married Curtis Willis, and died at the age of twenty-four, leaving three children. The five that still live are as follows: Emma, the wife of Marion Taylor, living in Springfield town- ship and having one son and two daughters; John W., the subject of this sketch; Alva, living in Shelby, and having five daughters; Elsie, living in Cleveland, Ohio, and having two sons and one daughter; and Frederick J., living in Shelby, unmarried. The father is now living with his third wife, but has no other children than those named above.
John W. Hafer was well educated in the common school, attending until he was fifteen years of age, when he began to learn the carpenter's trade with his father. In 1880 he established himself in the building busi- ness, and has been thus engaged ever since, most of the time alone, but from 1890 to 1895 he had as a partner a Mr. Slaybaugh. December 23, 1880, he was married to Miss Emma Wagner in Salem Center, Steuben county, Indiana, by whom he had one son, born March 28, 1884, and now a bright young man in school. Mrs. Hafer died October 12; 1887, at the age of thirty-one. Mr. Hafer married for his second wife Ida May Taylor, of Franklin township, a daughter of Robert Taylor, and by this marriage he has three children, viz .: Nellie, who died at the age of seven years; a Democrat, but so far has succeeded in escaping office, with the single Ray, a boy of seven years, born April 14, 1893; and Carl, born November
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7, 1896. Mr. Hafer is a member of the National Union, and in politics is exception of county commissioner. His present large frame residence he erected in 1876; and he has erected most of the blocks and public buildings in Shelby and has had numerous contracts in other places. At different times he employs from five to fifty men, according to the work he has on hand, his father and one of his brothers working for him. Mr. Hafer is one of the self-made men of his county, has made by his own exertions what property he now owns, and though not wealthy is well-to-do and carries on a prosperous business. He is well known to many and well thought of by all that know him.
DAVID L. COCKLEY.
In this enlightened age when men of energy, industry and merit are rapidly pushing their way to the front, those who by individual effort have won favor and fortune may properly claim recognition. That the plenitude of satiety is seldom attained in the affairs of life is to be considered as a most grateful and beneficial deprivation, for where ambition is satisfied and every ultimate aim realized-if such is possible-there must follow individual apathy. Effort would cease, accomplishment be prostrate and creative talent waste its energies in supine inactivity. The men who have pushed forward the wheels of progress have been those to whom satiety lay ever in the future, and they have labored continuously and have not failed to find in each transition stage an incentive for further effort. Mr. Cockley belongs to this class of men and his activity in the business world has not only gained for him a handsome fortune, but has also been the means of contributing to the general welfare and the substantial growth and improvement of the community with which he is associated.
He is numbered among the native sons of Richland county, his birthi having occurred in Lexington on the 8th of June, 1843. His parents were Benjamin and Fannie (Winterstem) Cockley, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. They had three sons and two daughters. Of their sons, W. W. was born in 1840, and Allen was born in 1847 and died in 1882. Of the sisters, one died in infancy, while the other, Mrs. L. A. Corbus, is still living, now sixty-two years of age.
Under the parental roof Mr. Cockley, of this review, spent his early boyhood days, and at the age of seventeen years enlisted in the Fifteenth Ohio Infantry, in which he served for six months. He then enlisted for a three-years term, was with the Army of the Cumberland and went with
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Sherman on the celebrated march to the sea. He joined the service as a private, but was promoted through the various ranks until he became the captain of Company D, of the Tenth Regiment of Ohio. He received a special medal of honor from Congress for leading a charge at Waynesboro, Georgia, on the 4th of December, 1864, and in August, 1865, he was mus- tered out with a very creditable military record.
After the war Mr. Cockley engaged in buying cattle in Texas, driving from Dallas to St. James, Missouri, and sending from one hundred to one hundred and fifty head in a drove. After his marriage, in 1867, he was engaged in the lumber business for two years and then became connected with a wholesale house, that of Hart, Bliven & Mead, wholesale hardware merchants of New York. About that time he established a retail store at Shelby, but traveled for the wholesale store for seven years. He also con- ducted the hardware business for about twelve years, when he sold the store to the firm of Seltzer & Steele. He then purchased a controlling interest in the Shelby Mill Company, of which he was the president for five years, and during that period he organized the Shelby Steel Tube Company, of which he was for six years the president and manager. It was incorporated for one hundred thousand dollars and became the largest establishment of the kind in the world, employing seven hundred and eighty workmen. Its financial affairs were capably conducted by Mr. Cockley and thereby the success of the concern was largely insured. In 1893 he established the Shelby Cycle Manu- facturing Company, which was incorporated with a capital stock of one hun- dred thousand dollars, but recently the business has been sold to the American Bicycle Company. In 1898 Mr. Cockley was instrumental in forming what is known as the Rib Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of umbrella ribs and other articles in that line. The business was incorporated for one hundred thousand dollars and work is now furnished to sixty employes, one-third of whom are women and girls. The enterprise has proved a profitable one, its trade from the beginning constantly increasing. The plant is splendidly equipped with first-class machinery and the output is satisfactory in quality, Mr. Cockley's name always being the guarantee in that line. He is a man of splendid business and executive ability, resourceful and enterprising. and has been a leading factor in many concerns which have contributed in a large measure to the progress and prosperity of this section of the state. He is now the president of the First National Bank of Crestline, Ohio, is a director in the Perrysville Banking Company; the Snow Fork & Hocking Valley Railroad Company ; the Toledo Cash Register Company. of Toledo, and the Railway Cycle Manufacturing Company of Hagerstown, Indiana. He carries to
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successful completion whatever he undertakes, and his judgment is so sound and unerring that his counsel carries weight in all business conferences.
In 1867 Mr. Cockley was married to Miss Eunice L. Palmer, of Mans- field, Ohio. Their eldest son, Willard A., was born April 25, 1869, and is now traveling for the Magnolia Metal Company, of Philadelphia. Harry was born in 1872 and is secretary of the Shelby Steel Tube Company. The daughter, Fanny L., was born in 1880. Willard completed his education in the Shelby high school; Harry, in Oberlin College; and Fanny has been a student at the People's and Thompson's College in New York. Mr. Cockley is a trustee of the Toledo State Hospital. He served as a colonel and aid-de- camp on the staff of Governor Bushnell for four years and has taken consider- able interest in local politics, but has never had the time nor inclination to seek public office.
He is a member of the Masonic order, in which he has attained the Knight Templar degree. He has also attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish rite in the Cleveland consistory. He is held in the highest respect by those who know him best, including Colonel C. A. Vaughn, of Chicago. who says that he was ever ready for duty and never shirked an order. The same fidelity has characterized his actions in every walk of life and he sus- tains an unassailable reputation in business, and in social circles is well known for those qualities which endear a man to his fellow men. He enter- tains broad, liberal views, inspires strong personal friendships and commands the respect of all with whom he is associated. His career clearly illustrates the possibilities that are open in this country to earnest, persevering young men who have the courage of their convictions and are determined to be the archi- tects of their own fortunes. When judged by what he has accomplished, his right to mention among the representative citizens of Shelby cannot be questioned.
J. W. PORCH.
For many years this gentleman was actively identified with the business interests of Mansfield. He is one of the most prominent and influential members of the Odd Fellows fraternity in this state, and has taken a very active part in its work.
Mr. Porch was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1834, a son of David and Catherine (Hess) Porch and a grandson of David Hess, all natives of the Keystone state. His grandfather became one of the most prosperous and successful farmers of Knox county, Ohio. On leaving Penn- sylvania, in 1836, his father, with his family, moved to Holmes county, Ohio,
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in 1844, took up his residence in Knox county, and in 1874 came to Mans- field, where he died in 1895, at the ripe old age of eighty-six years. He was a farmer by occupation, and was well known and highly esteemed. The Democratic party found in him an active supporter of its principles, and he efficiently served as justice of the peace in Knox county for many years.
On leaving the home farm J. W. Porch went to Fredericktown, Knox county, where he attended high school, and then learned the joiner's trade, at which he worked in that place from 1852 to 1864. In the latter year he came to Mansfield, which has since been his home and from 1868 to 1896 was in the employ of the Aultman-Taylor Company in their wood de- partment, being foreman of the framing department. Since then he has lived retired.
At Fredericktown, Knox county, Mr. Porch was married, in 1859, to Miss Mary Jane Baxter, a daughter of David Baxter, a well-known auctioneer of that county. By this union were born two children: Lola D., the wife of J. H. Krause, a grocer ; and Annie J., the wife of Milton W. Conley, a druggist,-both of Mansfield.
By his ballot Mr. Porch supports the men and measures of the Demo- cratic party. Since 1856 he has affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; served as scribe of the local encampment for a quarter of a century ; and was three times elected to office on the state ticket, being grand junior warden in 1872; grand high priest in 1875; and grand patriarch in 1877. The last named is the highest state office in that fraternity. As an officer and representative he attended the grand encampment of the state for about thirty years, and by that body was presented with a gold rope chain and jewel as a memento. No man in the state is better posted on the laws of the order, and he has made a splendid record in the lodge. He is widely and favorably known, and those who know him best are numbered among his warmest friends. He also filled the office of township clerk two terms twenty-three years ago; for a number of years was a member of the Mansfield board of education, and in April, 1899, was elected trustee of Madison township for a term of three years.
CHARLES H. HUSTON.
Richland county, Ohio, has been singularly fortunate in the personnel of her professional men, who have stood for honor and integrity of char- acter and for exceptional ability in their chosen fields of endeavor. An able representative of the legal fraternity in the county is he whose name intro-
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duces this paragraph. He is a member of the well-known firm of Laser & Huston, who control a representative clientage as identified with the bar of the county, with headquarters at Mansfield.
Charles Henry Huston is a native son of Richland county, having been born in Butler township, in the year 1870. The year subsequent to his birth the family removed to Blooming Grove township, where his father, James Huston, now resides, aged fifty-eight years. He also claims Richland as his native county, his birth having taken place in Franklin township, on the 18th of February, 1841. He devotes his attention to the basic art of agri- culture, carrying on operations on an extensive scale and being recognized as one of the leading and influential farmers of the county. James Huston has taken a public-spirited interest in all that has conserved the progress and prosperity of the county, and he has figured as one of the leading factors in the local ranks of the Democratic party, of whose principles and policies he has been a stalwart advocate.
Jesse Huston, the grandfather of the immediate subject of this review, was of good old Scottish stock and was a native of the Keystone state, emi- grating from Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, to Ohio, when a young man of twenty years, locating first in Weller township, Richland county, and later removing to Jackson township, where he was a successful agriculturist for many years. He married Margaret Thrush, and his death occurred in the year 1879, at which time he had attained the venerable age of seventy-five years. Jesse and Margaret Huston were the parents of two sons and four daughters, James, the father of our subject, being the youngest in order of birth. The others are noted as follows: Ira Huston, of Blooming Grove ยท township; Mary, the wife of David Bowls, of Mifflin township; Maggie, the wife of David Sampsel, of Butler township; Nancy, the wife of John Wolfe, of Cass township; and Elizabeth, who married Shannon Weaver, of Blooming Grove township, now deceased.
The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Dorcas Zeigler, and she was born in Butler township, this county, on the 25th of January, 1842, the daughter of Henry and Margaret ( Miller) Zeigler, who came here from Pennsylvania in an early day. Mrs. Huston entered into eternal rest in 1880, aged thirty-six years, leaving four sons and two daughters, of whom Charles H. was the second in order of birth, a brief record of the other members of the family being here incorporated: Carrie is the wife of Jesse Esbenshade, of Ashland county, Ohio; Rufus married Miss Sadie Oswalt, of Greenwich, this state; Ransom married Miss Maggie McCormack,
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and is a resident of Blooming Grove township, he being the twin brother of Rufus; and Jesse remains on the old homestead. In 1882 James Huston consummated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Mary E. Latti- more, a daughter of James and Nancy Lattimore, of Blooming Grove town- ship, and of this union two children have been born,-Bertha and Ora, both of whom are still at the parental home. James Huston served in the trans- portation corps, at Nashville, Tennessee, during the war of the Rebellion, and in the same great struggle a brother of his first wife was an active par- ticipant, being taken prisoner and sacrificing his life in Andersonville prison.
Charles H. Huston grew up under the sturdy and invigorating discipline of the farm, receiving excellent educational advantages. He secured his pre- liminary scholastic discipline in the common schools, completing the prescribed course in the high school at Shiloh, after which he put his acquirements to the practical test by teaching school for five terms,-covering a period from 1889 to 1892,-being successful in his pedagogic work. His desire for a more advanced education led to his matriculation in the Tri-State College, at Angola, Indiana, in the scientific department of which institution he gradu- ated, as a member of the class of 1894. Having determined to make the legal profession his life work, he began reading law under the preceptorship of J. C. Laser, of Mansfield, devoting himself so assiduously to his studies as to secure admission to the bar of the state in 1897. He at once entered upon the active practice of his profession, associating himself with his former preceptor Mr. Laser, under the firm name of Laser & Huston, and the clientage of the firm is of a distinctively representative order, the ability and professional prestige of the interested principals insuring the constant expansion of their business.
The inherent patriotism of Mr. Huston was signally exemplified at the outbreak of the late Spanish-American war, when he enlisted as a member of Company M, Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, proceeding with his regiment to Camp Bushnell, at the state capital. Thence they went to Camp Alger. Virginia, where Company M was detached and assigned to guard duty and clerkships in the quartermaster's and commissariat department at Dunlow- ing station. They left camp July 5, 1898, and embarked on the cruiser St. Paul, at New York, on the following day. On the Ioth of the month Company M and three other companies of the First Battalion landed at Siboney, fourteen miles from Santiago, and on the following day were or- dered to the fighting line in the trenches, but owing to the swollen condition of the San Juan river did not reach their assigned position until the 12th, on
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