USA > Ohio > Seneca County > A centennial biographical history of Seneca County, Ohio > Part 20
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John
Neikik
Yarah & Neikik.
1
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one of signal integrity and honor. He reclaimed his farm from the virgin forests and lived to enjoy the fruits of his years of toil and endeavor, being revered as one of the sterling pioneers of the county.
On the old homestead John Neikirk was reared to maturity, early becoming familiar with the strenuous work pertaining to its develop- ment and cultivation and securing his preliminary educational discipline in the common schools. This was effectively supplemented by a course of study in the academy then maintained in the village of Republic, and thereafter he became a teacher in the schools of the county, devoting * his attention to successful pedagogic work during the winters of 1856 and 1857. In 1859 occurred his marriage, and after this important event in his career Mr. Neikirk rented a tract of land near the old home and continued its cultivation for a period of four years. In March, 1864, he located on a farm of eighty acres in Adams township, and this continued to be his home until 1888, in March of which year he returned . to the old homestead, where he has since been successfully engaged in general farming and stock-raising, having a well improved place of seventy acres.
In May, 1864, Mr. Neikirk tendered his services to the Union by enlisting as a private in Company G, One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which regiment his brothers David, William and Samuel, as well as his, brother-in-law, Dorsey Hardsock, were also members. The regiment was sent to aid in the defense of the national capital, and there our subject was in service for a period of one hundred days, at the expiration of which he received his honorable discharge. He still manifests his interest in his old comrades by retaining member- ship in the Grand Army of the Republic, being identified with Robinson Post, No. 135, at Republic. In politics he has ever given his support to the Republican party, taking a proper interest in public affairs of a local nature and keeping well informed on the questions and issues of the hour.
On the 6th of October, 1859, Mr. Neikirk was united in marriage DEMALL
to Miss Sarah E. Noel, who was born in Afler county, Indiana. the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Ensley) Noel, who removed from
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Seneca county, Ohio, to Dekalb county, Indiana, in 1839, where the father died at the age of forty-seven years, his widow still maintaining her home in that state and having attained the advanced age of eighty- five years (1902). They became the parents of seven sons and four daughters, of whom five are living at the present time, namely: Philip, who served in the Thirtieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war, is a resident of Dekalb county, Indiana; Sarah E. is the wife of our subject; Solomon is a resident of Knob, Shasta county, California ; and Perry and Samuel are residents of Indiana. Those deceased are. George, who died at Memphis, Tennessee, during the Rebellion, having been a soldier in the One Hundredth Indiana Volunteer Infantry ; Susan, who became the wife of John Long; Lucy, who married Holmes Link; Eliza, who became the wife of Joseph Rechtenwald; and two who died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Neikirk are prominent and influential mem- bers of the English Lutheran church, with which our subject has been identified for forty years, having served as elder and deacon. Our subject and his wife have no children of their own, but have reared one girl from the age of eight years, Clara Elnora Redfox, now a young lady.
GEORGE W. FITZ.
Among the honored veterans of the war of the Rebellion is num- bered Mr. Fitz, who accorded to his country the loyal and patriotic serv- ice of a true son of the republic, and whose life has been such as to com- mend him to the respect and good will of his fellow men. He is one of the enterprising and successful farmers of Adams township, Seneca county, having purchased his present fine homestead in 1886.
The old Keystone state figures as the place of Mr. Fitz's nativity, since he was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, on the 4th of July, 1842, being the son of Henry and Sarah ( Harbaugh) Fitz, both of whom were born in that state, of German lineage. His father was engaged in agricultural pursuits, and thus our subject was reared under
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the invigorating discipline of the old homestead, receiving his educa- tional training in the common schools. At the age of twenty-two years, on the 19th of September, 1864, Mr. Fitz signalized his patriotism by enlisting as a private in Company M, Seventeenth Pennsylvania Vol- unteer Cavalry, with which he proceeded to West Virginia, taking part in the engagements at Cedar Creek and Gordonsville, the regiment being attached to Sheridan's command, in the Army of the Potomac. In the battle at Gordonsville Mr. Fitz was wounded, receiving a minie ball in the right arm just below the shoulder, but he was not long incapacitated for active duty and continued in the service with his regiment until victory had crowned the Union arnis, when he received his honorable discharge, having made a record as a faithful and valiant soldier in the ranks.
After the close of the war Mr. Fitz returned to Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1867, when he came to Ohio, locating in San- dusky county, where he was employed as a day laborer for one year, after which he came to Seneca county and turned his attention to farm- ing, renting land until 1886, when he effected the purchase of his present farm, which is located two and one-half miles southeast of Green Spring, in Adams township, and which comprises one hundred and ten acres. having formerly been known as the Benner farm. The place is well im- proved and is of marked fertility, while to his operations our subject has brought to bear so much discrimination, energy and good judgment that he has gained a place as one of the substantial farmers of the county, his place being a model farm and giving evidence of the care bestowed in keeping everything in the best condition and in securing the maximum returns from its cultivation. Mr. Fitz has not failed to take a proper interest in public affairs of a local nature, and the confidence and esteem in which he is held in the community has been shown in his official preferment, since he served with ability as township trustee. His political proclivities are indicated in the stanch allegiance which he gives to the Republican party, in whose cause he has contributed his efforts and influence. He keeps in touch with his old comrades in arms
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by his identification with the Grand Army of the Republic, being a popu- lar member of Potter Post, No. 105, at Green Spring.
On the 25th of December, 1867, Mr. Fitz was united in marriage to Miss Ethel Donaldson, who was born in Adams county, Pennsyl- vania, the daughter of Andrew J. Donaldson. Our subject and his wife have no children, but he has made a home for her niece, Flora Fowler, from her childhood, and she remains as a member of the family. Mrs. Fitz is one of the active members of the Woman's Relief Corps, main- tained as auxiliary to Potter Post, G. A. R.
IRA H. LEPARD.
Ira H. Lepard, one of the prominent and successful agriculturists of Seneca county, is a native son of Venice township, his birth having here occurred on the 5th of March, 1858. He is a son of John and Harriet (Hoyle) Lepard. The father is also a native of the Buckeye state, where he was born in Lancaster, February 23, 1828, a son of Isaac and Nancy (Huffman) Lepard, natives, respectively, of Pennsyl- vania and Maryland. When two years of age, in 1830, the son John was brought by his parents to Seneca county, the family locating on the south line of Reed township, where the grandfather entered eighty acres of land, and, after clearing a sufficient space, built a cabin thereon. During the erection of this round-log dwelling the family lived in wagons. He at once began the arduous and difficult task of clearing and placing his land under cultivation, and there his life's labors were ended on the 21st of January, 1848, when he had reached the fifty- first milestone on the journey of life. Some years after his death his widow removed to Attica, and there she was called to the spirit world September 11, 1892, at the age of ninety-three years. They were among the earliest residents in Reed township, there having been but two houses in Attica at the time of their arrival, and Tiffin, then called Fort Ball, was a small hamlet of about a dozen houses.
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John Lepard, their son and the father of our subject, received but limited school advantages, and after his father's death he assumed the management of the home farm. One year after his marriage he located on a rented farm one mile west of the old homestead, where he made his home for about nine years, and on the expiration of that period, in 1864, he purchased the farm of one hundred and twenty acres where his son Ira now resides. As time passed, however, he increased his landed possessions by adding a forty-acre tract, thus making him the owner of one hundred and sixty acres. From the age of two years his entire life was spent in Seneca county, and he therefore witnessed its growth from a wilderness to its present improved conditions. His political support was given to the Democracy, and although not a member of any religious denomination he was an attendant and liberal supporter of the Baptist church and was ever active in any movement tending to promote the welfare of his fellow men. He died on the 7th of October, 1893, at the age of sixty-five years.
On the 8th of October, 1854, Mr. Lepard was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Hoyle, who was born in the state of New York March I, 1827, a daughter of Horace and Grizella (Holcomb) Hoyle, the former, a native of Providence, Rhode Island, and the latter of New York. After their marriage the parents removed to Lorain county, Ohio. Their daughter Harriet became a successful teacher at sixteen, and after coming to Seneca county was the first teacher in the Attica schools, in 1852, where she taught up to the time of her marriage. She is still living on the old home farm, and is well preserved in all her mental faculties. She has ever shown a decided interest in educational work, being thoroughly informed on all lines of literature and takes special delight in the study of the Bible. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Lepard were born six children who grew to years of maturity, namely : Mary, who died at twenty-six; Eunice, who has been an invalid for thirty- four years ; Ira, the immediate subject of this review ; Emma and Hattie, also at home: and Flora, the wife of A. N. Kelly of Chicago, Illinois, and who was a teacher for three years.
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Ira H. Lepard acquired his primary education in the district schools near his home and later attended the Attica high school. He worked with his father on the home place until 1886, and in that year began farming a portion of the old homestead on the shares, thus continuing until his father's death, when he assumed the entire management of the place, besides fifty acres of his own purchase. Throughout his entire business career he has been industrious, energetic and successful, and he has won for himself an honorable name in trade circles, while at all times he has received the unbounded confidence of his fellow men.
Mr. Lepard was married on the 3d of September, 1887, to Miss May Neikirk, a native of Adams township, Seneca county, and a daugh- ter of D. J. Neikirk. She passed away on the 27th of February, 1898, and on the Ist of January, 1902, our subject married Miss Jennie L. Alter, a native of Middletown, Ohio. Her parents, John K. and Emma E. (Bainbridge) Alter, removed to Dakota in 1883, and there the daugh- ter attained to womanhood. After completing a common-school edu- cation she received a course in the high school of Ellendale, North Da- kota, and later in the Manual Training School at the same place. At the age of seventeen she began teaching, and for a period of ten years taught in the country schools, in the Mound City schools of South Dakota and in the Ellendale schools, in North Dakota, resigning from the latter school to get married. She is one of the correspondents of the "West Land Educator," the official teachers' bulletin of North Dakota, which is a journal founded to assist teachers, and in the conduct of which she retains an interest. At the time of her marriage, however, she endeavored to withdraw her correspondence, but her resignation was not accepted.
Mr. Lepard gives his political support to the Republican party, and is frequently a delegate to the conventions. In his social relations he is a member of Venice Lodge, No. 197, I. O. O. F., in which he served as a noble grand for seven terms; is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Good Templars, in which he has held office for the past fifteen years ; and during the past year was master of Honey Creek Grange, No. 1314, P. of H. His religious preference is indicated by
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his membership in the Baptist church, in which he has been an office- holder for twenty years, and throughout his life he has been an active worker in the cause of Christianity.
JAMES LEROY LAKE.
Reed township, Seneca county, Ohio, includes among its repre- sentative farmers and respected citizens James Leroy Lake, who is a native son of this township, his birth here occurring on the 27th of May, 1846. His father, Joshua Lake, was born in Cayuga county, New York, May 6, 1805, and there he was reared to years of maturity. About 1833 he came to Seneca county, Ohio, locating on an eighty-acre tract in Reed township, but in 1862 he sold this place and removed to the farm on which our subject now resides, there purchasing one hundred and ten acres, which continued to be his home until his life's labors were ended in death, in his seventy-ninth year. He gave an unfaltering support to the Democratic party, and for many years he served his township as a justice of the peace, as treasurer and assessor, holding the latter position when there were but fifteen families in the township. He later filled various other township positions. He was a leading mein- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. As a companion on the journey of life Mr. Lake chose Miss Lydia Thatcher, who was born in Tompkins county. New York, December 4, 1818, and her death occurred on the 21st of August. 1899, when she had reached the age of eighty-one years. She. too, was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Unto this worthy couple were born four children, but only two now survive. our subject and Dr. O. A. Lake, of Green Spring, Ohio.
James Leroy Lake enjoyed the educational privileges afforded by the common schools of his neighborhood during his youth and early manhood, and at the age of twenty years he began the business of stave- making, which was a very profitable occupation at that time. While thus engaged he made over three thousand staves, and at the same
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time he also carried on agricultural pursuits during the summer months. As the years have passed by and prosperity has rewarded his well di- rected efforts he has purchased land and is now the owner of his pres- ent fine homestead, located in Reed township, Seneca county. In addi- tion to farming he does considerable work as a stone mason. In political matters he has followed in the footsteps of his father and also gives a stanch support to the principles of the Democracy, and for four years he served his township with efficiency as a justice of the peace. He has also held the offices of township trustee and assessor, and in all these positions he has discharged his duties with promptness and fidelity. In his social relations he is a member of Lodi Lodge, No. 493, I. O. O. F., and is a charter member of Harmony Grange, No. 481, P. of H.
In February, 1868, Mr. Lake was united in marriage to Miss Samantha Insley, but this union was soon terminated in death, for the wife was called to her final rest on the 15th of September, 1869. For his second wife he chose Miss Helen Hakes, but this union was also terminated in death, April 5, 1893. On the 15th of April, 1896, Mr. Lake married Miss Elsie M. Wilhelm, a native of Stark county, Ohio, and a daughter of David and Margaret ( Brillhart) Wilhelm, a prom- inent farmer of Reed township. They have one child, Irvin Leroy, who was born July 15, 1898.
JOSEPH M. BEVER.
Upon the roll of the representative members of the legal profession in Seneca county, Ohio, consistently appears the name of Joseph Milton Bever, who is a native son of the county and a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of the state. In no profession is there a career more open to talent than in that of the law, and in no field of endeavor is there demanded a more careful preparation, a more thorough appreciation of the absolute ethics of life, or of the underlying principles which form the basis of all human rights and privileges. Unflagging
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application, mature judgment and a determination to fully utilize the means at hand, are the concomitants which insure personal success and prestige in this great profession, which stands as the stern conservator of justice, and it is one into which none should enter without a recogni- tion of the obstacles to be overcome and the battles to be won, for sucess does not perch on the falchion of every person who enters the competitive fray, but comes only as the legitimate result of application and unmis- takable ability. Possessing the qualifications of the able lawyer, Mr. Bever has attained marked precedence in his chosen profession and has high standing at the bar of his native state,-a bar that has been graced by the transcendant abilities of many of the ablest men in the annals of the nation. He has been actively engaged in the practice of his profes- sion in the city of Fostoria for nearly a quarter of a century, has been concerned in much important litigation and is known to be thoroughly informed in the science of jurisprudence, an able attorney and a safe and duly conservative counsel, while his personal integrity and honesty of purpose have begotten an objective confidence and esteem of no equivocal order. In a work touching those who have been concerned in the public and civic life of Seneca county it is clearly incumbent that specific men- tion be made of Mr. Bever.
Joseph Milton Bever was born on a farm in Eden township, Sen- eca county, Ohio, on the 9th of December, 1853, being the youngest of the six sons of Rev. Joseph and Elizabeth ( Knouse) Bever, the former of whom was born in Virginia and the latter in Pennsylvania, she being of stanch old Pennsylvania German stock. Rev. Joseph Bever was one of a family of thirteen children who accompanied their parents on their emigration from Virginia to Ohio, in the year 1822, and within the following year they located about five and one-half miles south of Tiffin, Seneca county, where they made their home in the almost un- broken wilderness. Seneca county was not then organized, and this family endured, with other hardy pioneers, the labors and privations incident to life in the sylvan wilds of this section. One of the early teachers of Rev. Joseph Bever was Mr. Burlingame, father of Hon. Anson Burlingame, late minister to Russia, but his early scholastic dis-
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cipline was confined to a period of about nine months' duration, the popular appreciation of educational training at that time being greatly subordinate to that of developing a capacity for arduous toil. The youth, however, realized to no slight degree to how great an extent his sphere of usefulness would be circumscribed through lack of proper mental training, and through every means possible he sought earnestly to increase his store of knowledge, reading the few books which he could secure in the frontier settlement and undoubtedly thus applying himself by the light of the open fireplace or the flickering candle, since it is not to be thought that he would or could be released from his share of the arduous daily toil incident to the reclaiming of the farm in the virgin forest. His determination, however, proved sufficient to insure his con- tinuance of study and reading and he developed marked intellectual strength and became a man of no inconsiderable scholastic attainments. As a young man he felt himself called to preach the gospel, his nature being intrinsically fervent and spiritual, and thus he identified himself with the United Brethren church, by which, in due course of time, he was licensed to preach, forthwith entering upon the active work of the ministry. His first circuit comprised many of the counties of north- western Ohio,-a section then traversed by few roads, and those of the most primitive type, while few of the streams were spanned by bridges of any sort, thus making the field far from inviting. His zeal and de- votion did not falter by reason of these and other obstacles, and he con- tinued in the active work of the Master for the greater portion of his life, as pastor and presiding elder, being one of the revered pioneer clergymen of his denomination in this section. He removed to Fostoria from the old homestead, which he had aided to reclaim, in 1871, and he did not withdraw from: pastoral work until about 1882, when his ad- vanced age caused him to resign to a considerable extent his active labors. He continued to make his home in Fostoria until his death, which occurred in November, 1896, his devoted wife having passed away in 1883. Of Rev. Joseph Bever it may well be said that he was a "friend to truth, of soul sincere, in action thoughtful and in honor clear ; who broke no promise, served no private end; who gained no title and
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who lost no friend." Six sons survive him, namely : Captain Russel H., of Tiffin, is now deceased; M. A., of Marion; D. M., of Tiffin; L. O., of Kenton ; J. T., of Bowling Green; and Joseph M., the subject of this sketch.
To the district schools of Eden township Joseph M. Bever is in- debted for his early educational training, and there he continued his studies, also assisting in the work of the old homestead, until he had attained the age of seventeen years, when he accompanied his father on his removal to Fostoria, which has ever since been his home. In 1873 he was matriculated in Otterbein University, at Westerville, Ohio, where he was graduated in the centennial year, 1876, with the degree of Bach- elor of Science. Shortly after his graduation Mr. Bever entered the office of W. J. Rigby, in Fostoria, and there began the technical reading and study which were to fit him for his chosen profession, his devotion to his work and his excellent assimilative powers being such that he became eligible for and was admitted to the bar of the state in 1878. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession in Fostoria, where he has ever since continued. His years of close application and his reli- ability and talent in the various branches of his professional work have eventuated in a definite and worthy success, giving him prestige as one of the leading members of the Seneca county bar, while his hold upon the confidence and esteem of the local public has been shown in the prefer- ments which have come to him in official capacities. In 1878 he was elected city solicitor of Fostoria and was again chosen as 'incumbent of this office in 1880. Two years later he was appointed city clerk, to fill a vacancy, and at the regular election following, in 1883, he was chosen to fill out the unexpired term in this office. In 1884 came to him the dis- tinction of being elected to the chief executive office of the municipal government, and that his administration met with popular approval is manifest when we revert to the fact that he was re-elected mayor in 1888, and for a third time in 1891. In January, 1897, Mr. Bever was appointed city solicitor, to fill a vacancy, and was retained in this office by popular election in April of the same year, while he was re-elected in 1899. He has ever taken a deep and active interest in educational mat- ters and served for twelve years as a member of the city board of school
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examiners, while he was also a member of the first board of trustees of Fostoria Academy. In politics Mr. Bever gives his allegiance to the Republican party, of whose principles and policies he has been an able advocate.
In connection with that noble fraternal organization, the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, Mr. Bever has attained the most dis- tinguished preferment in the gift of his brothers in the order, being at the present time grand master of the grand lodge of the state of Ohio, within whose jurisdiction are found seventy thousand members. He became identified with the order in 1881 and has been one of its most honored and enthusiastic devotees, having been frequently a representa- tive to the grand lodge and having served in other official capacities. He holds his membership in Fostoria Lodge, No. 305, in his home city.
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