USA > Ohio > Fulton County > A standard history of Fulton County, Ohio, an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and county, Vol. II > Part 2
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
his majority. Ile then bought a half interest in some land near Archbold, and was engaged in farming on his own account for eight years. In 1908 he went to Archbold and bought a third interest in the business which was being conducted under the firm name of Rowe & Rupp. Four years later the Rupp brothers purchased Mr. Rowe's interest in the busines, which since that time has been conducted under the style of Rupp Brothers Furniture and Under- taking Company. In 1909 Edward Rupp entered the Cincinnati College of Embalming, where he took a complete course in that art and was graduated in due time with honors. He has given his special attention to the undertaking phase of their business and has been very successful in everything to which he has applied himself.
In 1909 Edward Rupp was married to Ida Miller, the daughter of Christian P. and Catherine Miller, of near Archbold. To them have been born two children. Catherine Magdeline, aged seven years, and Kenneth Edward, who died in June, 1915, at the age of two months. Politically Mr. Rupp is independent of party ties, but always supports every movement for the advancement of the eom- munity's best interests. He is a member of the Defenseless Mennon- ite Church.
Peter Rupp was born on December 17, 1888, and attended the country schools of his home neighborhood until sixteen years of age, when he entered Goshen College and, later, the Mennonite College, where he prepared himself for the teaching profession. After attend- ing three terms he began teaching in the publie schools of Fulton county, being employed for four consecutive terms in the schools of German township and gaining a high standing as a successful peda- gogue. He then entered the Fort Wayne Business College, where he took a complete commercial course, and also took a course and gradu- ated in the Cincinnati College of Embalming in view of the fact that he had previously bought an interest in the firm of Rowe & Rupp, which later became, and is still known as, the Rupp Brothers Furniture and Undertaking Company, the reorganization taking place in 1912. They carry a large and well selected stock of high- grade furniture and command a large trade over a wide radius of surrounding territory, and because of their fair dealings, courteous treatment and prompt service they are deservedly popular.
In 1914 Peter Rupp was married to Clara Vonier, the daughter of Christian and Mary (King) Vonier, of near Pettisville, this coun- tv. To their union have been born three children, Marguerite May, Evelyn June and Robert Lowell. Politically Mr. Rupp is independ- ent, voting for the men whom he considers best qualified for publie office regardless of their politieal alignments. He is a member of the Defenseless Mennonite Church and stands consistently for all that is best in the community life.
The Rupp brothers are well known throughout Fulton county, where their entire lives have been spent and because of their high personal qualities and their business success they have won the eon- fidence and respect of all who know them. In addition to their busi- ness at Arehbold they also conduct a braneh store at Stryker, Wil- liams county, Ohio, where they command a large trade. Edward also owns a half interest in the Stryker Dry Goods Company, at Stryker, and a quarter interest in the Nenhaser Dry Goods Com- pany at Ridgeville Corners, Ohio, while Peter Rupp is a stockholder in the Hoosier Condensed Milk Company at Bluffton, Indiana.
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
JOHN R. HOFFMIRE. It requires about as much painstaking effort to become a thorough veterinary surgeon as it does a general practitioner of medicine, and a proficient knowledge of the anatomy of the horse is by no means acquired by indolent methods; on the contrary, the man who becomes an expert in this line must spend much painstaking effort in study and research, and be naturally endowed with the necessary qualifications of the successful veteri- narian, such as patience, sound judgment, steady nerve, keen obser- vation and honesty of purpose. Dr. John R. Hoffmire, of Archbold, Fulton county, seems to be endowed with such attributes, for, though he is now retired from the active practice of his profession, he enjoys a wide reputation in this particular field of endeavor. This same personal description may also be applied to his son, Dr. Colenzo H. Hoffmire, who is in the active practice and who has exhibited not only professional ability of a high order but has also demonstrated his courage, loyalty and patriotism by a splendid record of efficient service during the recent World war.
John R. Hoffmire, who is descended from sterling old Holland Dutch stock and who is the scion of a family which has long been established in America, was born in Lucas county, Ohio, in 1845. He was born on a farm near Tedrow, which, though now in Fulton county, was then a part of Lucas county. His parents were Mar- shall P. and Elizabeth (Goodrich) Hoffmire, whose American pro- genitors had lived in New York State for a number of generations following their arrival in this country in the seventeenth century. They had as a family been connected with the banking business through several generations and attained to considerable importance in their community. Marshall P. Hoffmire came to Ohio and secured a tract of government land, which he cleared and put into cultivation, and there he devoted his life to agricultural pursuits. John R. Hoffmire attended the common schools of his home neigh- borhood until eleven years of age, when, his father having died at the age of twenty-six years, the son was compelled to devote the greater part of his time thereafter to the operation of the homestead. In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil war, and when only sixteen years of age, Mr. Hoffmire enlisted as a private in Company E, Sixty-eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, at Wauseon. He was sent to Camp Latta, near Napoleon, Ohio, where he remained until January, 1862, when he was sent to Camp Chase, at Colum- bus, Ohio. Shortly afterward he was sent to the front, his regiment being assigned to General Grant's army, and he took an active part in the historic campaign which included the terrific battles at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Pittsburg Landing and Shiloh. He was then taken ill and in July, 1862, was sent to Camp Denison Hospital. Later he returned home on a discharge furlough and as soon as he had recovered his health sufficiently he re-enlisted on August 15, 1862, at Wauseon, in Company I of the Sixty-seventh Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. They were sent to Suffolk, Virginia, where they became a part of the great Army of the Potomac, with which he served until May 10, 1864, when he was seriously injured in the action at Chester Station, which was a part of the great battle of Spottsylvania Courthouse, being shot through both hips. He was sent to David Island Hospital in New York harbor, in June, 1864, remaining there until receiving an honorable discharge on account of disability on March 20, 1865, when he returned home.
After his return home Mr. Hoffmire engaged in the jewelry busi- ness at Archbold, in which he was successful and with which he was
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
identified until 1886, a period of twenty years, when he sold out, and thereafter for a time was engaged in general business matters. He then took up the study of veterinary medicine and engaged in the practice as a veterinarian, in which he demonstrated unusual ability, enjoying a large and profitable practice over a wide range of country until his retirement from the active practice a short time ago.
Politically Doctor Hoffmire gives his earnest support to the Demo- cratic party, and during his younger years he took an active part in local public affairs, having served as mayor of Archbold for three terms, 1882-88. He served for many years as marshal of Archbold, and as a member of the board of cemetery trustees. He is a mnem- ber of Lozier Post No. 135, Grand Army of the Republic. He has been universally recognized as a splendid citizen, of lofty character and sturdy integrity, a man who has consistently given his support to every movement which had for its object the betterment of the community along any lines.
In 1869 John R. Hoffmire was married to Nancy Jane Scott, the daughter of John Scott, of Wauseon, and to this union were born three children, namely: Ella Maud, who is the widow of John M. Thrash and is living in Dallas, Texas. She became the mother of two children, Lawrence E., who died at the age of twenty-nine years, at Dallas Texas, leaving two children, and Claude O., who is married. Mr. Hoffmire's second child, Gertrude, is the widow of George O. Dix, of Archbold.
Colenzo Hegel Hoffmire, third child of John R. Hoffmire, was born at Archbold. Fulton county, Ohio, on February 8, 1889. He attended the public schools, graduating from the high school with the class of 1905. In that year he entered the Veterinary College of the Ohio State University, and was there graduated on June 24, 1908, with the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. He then re- turned home and was actively engaged in the practice in association with his father until May 12, 1917, when he entered the First Offi- cers' Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, In- diana. On August 15th he received a commission as second lieu- tenant of cavalry, and on August 29th he reported at Camp Sher- man, Ohio, where he was assigned to the Fourth Company of the First Training Battalion, Eighty-third Division. On September 25, 1917, he was transferred to Company C, Three Hundred and Twen- ty-second Machine Gun Battalion. On December 13th he was com- missioned second lieutenant of the Veterinary Officers' Reserve Corps, and on January 1st, 1918. he was assigned to the Eighty-third Di- vision at Camp Sherman, being there made brigade veterinarian of the One Hundred and Sixty-sixth Infantry Brigade. On January 7, 1918, he was transferred to Camp Upton. Long Island, where he was assigned to Veterinary Hospital No. 6, which was being made ready for overseas service, and on February 15th he was commissioned a captain in the Veterinary Corps. On March 22d, he was ordered overseas with Hospital No. 6, and on March 27th sailed on the steam- ship "Olympic," then known as Transport No. 527, which landed them at Brest, France, on April 4th. They proceeded to Camp Pomptamazon, near Brest, where they remained four days. On April 8th he was ordered to proceed to Neuf Chateau, Vosges, where he remained with Veterinary Hospital No. 6 until September 15th, when he was ordered to the A. P. O. 717, at Tours, where he was de- tailed as assistant to the chief surgeon.
Subsequently he was ordered to St. Nazarre, as base veterinarian on inspection service of veterinary hospitals, artillery training camps
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
and remount stations. On February 26, 1919, Captain Hoffimire was ordered to embark for the United States, sailing on March 8, 1919, on the Princess Matoika, and landing in the United States on March 20th. He proceeded to Camp Hill, at Newport News, Vir- ginia, thence to Camp Dix, New Jersey, where he was finally dis- charged from the service on March 22, 1919, after a record of duty faithfully performed and with credit to his ability as a veterinarian.
On December 7, 1914, Doctor Hoffmire was married to Lulu May Grime, the daughter of Alexander and Rose (Miller) Grime, of Archbold. They have two children, Gertrudella and Mary Jane. Personally, Doctor Hoffmire is a man of generous impulses and ge- nial disposition and enjoys to a marked degree the confidence and good will of all who know him.
GEORGE J. COLLINS has had a notable record as a merchant at Wauseon, where he has been located in one establishment for over a quarter of a century and having during that time provided the city and a large part of the surrounding country with staple and high class groceries.
Mr. Collins, who is thoroughly to be congratulated for the services of his sons in the World war, was born at Bellevue, in Huron coun- ty, Ohio, September 9, 1859, a son of James H. and Sophia (Slade) Collins. He is of English ancestry. His parents came to Wauseon when he was a child, and he grew up there and attended public schools to the age of seventeen. For a time he worked with his father as a painting contractor, and spent four years in the carpen- ter's trade at Wauseon. He was then employed for two years by the Toledo Pin Company, at Toledo. On returning to Wauseon he em- barked his modest capital in the grocery business in 1892, and has never changed his original location in the past twenty-eight years.
Mr. Collins is a republican, attends the Congregational Church and is a man whose public spirit can be depended upon always. In 1886 he married Mary L. Lord, daughter of George and Minerva (Pritchard) Lord, of Wauseon. They have three children: Jay Lord, born in 1888, now an Akron lawyer; Frank H., born in 1892, connected with the Duquesne Carnegie Steel Company; and Harold George, born in 1895. The oldest son left his professional business in December, 1917, to enlist in the Three Hundred and Twentieth Aerial Squadron. He was at Kelly Field, at Newport News, thence went overseas to Andover, England, and had intensive training with the British Royal Flying Squadron. He was mustered out with the rank of sergeant December 22, 1918, at Camp Sherman, Ohio. Harold Collins enlisted September 18, 1917, at Camp Sherman, where he spent nine months as corporal and company clerk. He went to France by way of England and was there six months. He had the honor of serving as one of President Wilson's Guard in Paris for seven weeks. He was returned to America and mustered out at Camp Sherman April 14, 1919, after spending eight months overseas.
CHARLES W. STRUBLE. One of the worthiest ambitions cherished by men is to be connected with a work and an institution that has every quality of performance as well as value of service to the com- munity. That ambition has been admirably realized by Charles W. Struble, who became connected with the People's State Bank early in 1890, a year after it was founded as a banking partnership, and only a few weeks after the bank opened for business. He has been its cashier ever since and the directors of the People's State Bank
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
paid him a deserved tribute when at the twenty-fifth anniversary of the bank they said: "His careful and efficient attention for nearly a quarter of a century has contributed materially to the continued growth and prosperity of the bank."
Through all these years Mr. Struble has been the man depended upon for the real administrative and technical handling of the bank's affairs. He has seen it grow from a private bank, one of three in Wauseon, until today it is the oldest bank in Fulton county and one of the largest in resources in northwestern Ohio. The People's Bank continued as a private banking firm until December, 1906, when it was incorporated as the People's State Bank. When Mr. Struble entered upon his duties as cashier the total resources were approx- imately a hundred thirty thousand dollars. These resources had reached the million dollar mark when he completed his twenty-fifth year and the bank has continued to grow ever since.
Mr. Struble was born and reared on a farm in Fulton county, a son of William and Elizabeth (Dickson) Struble. He attended country schools, also the Wauseon High School, to the age of eight- een, and had the experience of teaching one term in his native town- ship. For ten years he was a salesman in a general store at Delta, Ohio, and then spent a period in South Dakota for his health. Re- turning to Fulton county refreshed, he entered upon his duties as cashier in 1890.
Mr. Struble is a member of the Knights of Pythias, is a member of the Methodist Church, and is a republican in politics.
GEORGE J. OAKLEY. Practically the entire community of Fulton county knows and appreciates the mercantile service and career of George J. Oakley, who, beginning as a clerk, has risen to independ- ence and is head of George J. Oakley & Company, dealers in agri- cultural implements, one of the largest establishments of its kind in the county.
Mr. Oakley was born in Wauseon, August 20, 1872, a son of Joseph and Sophronia (Kolb) Oakley. He attended public school at Wauseon and at the age of sixteen started work as clerk for the Barnes-Harter grocery house. Two and a half years later he found an opening with Clarence Brigham in his hardware store, and re- mained there continuously in the business and advancing in experi- ence and personal efficiency for sixteen years. Then for two and a half years he was manager of the hardware department of Charles E. Rossman & Company, following which he engaged in business for himself with Ervin Heist. They bought the agricultural busi- ness of H. J. Baughman and continued under the name Oakley & Heist one year, at the end of which time, in 1909, Mr. Oakley bought out his partner and has since been sole owner. He handles many of the best and standard makes of implements, machinery and sup- plies used in the agricultural industry. His trade covers practically the entire Fulton county.
Mr. Oakley has also taken a commendable interest in local affairs and was elected a city councilman in 1917 on the republican ticket. In 1898 he married Ona Sanford, daughter of Edgar and Carrie (Kendall) Sanford, of Wauseon. They have one daughter, Fran- ces Louise.
ORIN STANDISH, who began his active career as a physician, and practiced medicine with success in Wauseon for six years, then gave up his calling to go into business, and has long been a member
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
of the firm of Eager, Standish & Hatt, a mercantile firm known throughout Fulton county, dealers in dry goods, carpets, shoes and women's furnishings.
Doctor Standish is a son of R. Clarke and Harriet (Smith) Stand- ish. He is of English Puritan stock, and is directly descended from the famous Capt. Miles Standish. Orin Standish was born in Fulton county, at Lyons, Royalton township, January 15, 1867. He grew up on a farm, acquired a country school education, and in 1887 graduated from the Fayette Normal College at Fayette, Ohio. He used his training to teach in the schools of Royalton township three terms, and largely with his earnings as a teacher paid his way through medical school. He entered the Homeopathic Hospital at Cleveland and later attended the Ohio State Medical College, enter- ing in 1889 and graduating M. D. in 1892. The following six years he was busied with a growing practice at Wauseon.
In 1897 Doctor Standish bought the interests of Mr. Green in the firm of Eager & Green, at which time the title became Eager, Stand- ish & Company. Doctor Standish has other business and local inter- ests in Wauseon.
In 1892 he married Miss Fannie Eager, daughter of W. H. and Mary (Clement) Eager. They have a son, Clement E., born in 1896, who was in the senior class of the University of Chicago when in May, 1917, he volunteered his services to the United States Army, joining the famous Base Hospital Unit No. 13, which recently re- turned after nearly two years of service in France. The unit went overseas in the spring of 1917, and made a distinguished record. Clement Standish became a sergeant in the organization.
Mr. Standish himself. true to the blood that flows in his veins, is a patriot to the core and made several efforts to get into the zone of fighting activity. He volunteered for the overscas department of the Red Cross, and later was accepted by the Y. M. C. A. for war service, but eventually was declared physically unfit. Mr. Stand- ish is a progressive republican and served two terms in the City Council and for fourteen years was a trustee of the Library Board. He is affiliated with Zenobia Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Toledo. Religiously he is a member of the Unitarian Church.
SAMUEL B. YODER, D. C., Ph. C., successful chiropractic physician of Wauseon, Ohio, has gone very deeply into the science of magnetic healing. He began with a course at Akron, Ohio; then followed extensive practice; next the course of the College of Chiropractic at Davenport. Iowa, from which he grad- uated in 1912, with the degree of Doctor of Chiropractic: then further practice; in 1914 a post graduated course in Natura- pathy, at Davenport, followed the next year by a course in the same branch at the Cleveland College of Naturapathy, and finally two courses at the National School of Chiropractic, Chicago, Illinois, from which he graduated in 1917, with the degree of Ph. C., Physi- cian of Chiropractic. He thus, in all probability, had little diffi- culty in creditably passing the state medical examination in 1917, by which he gained permission to practice his profession in Ohio.
He was born on a farm in LaGrange county, Indiana, in 1875, the son of Christian S. and Mary S. (Miller) Yoder. The family is of German origin, but has been long resident in the United States. As a boy Samuel B. attended the county school nearest to the family homestead, and during vacations did much to assist his father in the operations of the home farm. After leaving school he became ap-
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
prenticed to the trade of carpentry and followed that trade in his native county for eight years, assisting his father in farming opera- tions during the winters. He married in 1899, and for five years thereafter appears to have given his whole time to the management of his father's farm of one hundred twenty acres. In 1904 he moved to Pettisville, Ohio, where for two years he remained on the farm of one hundred seventeen acres belonging to his father-in-law. About that time a personal experience caused him to become interested in the science of magnetic healing, and he gave much time to the study. He received private tuition from an eminent physician of chiro- practic in Akron, Ohio, and after a comprehensive course which lasted one year he began to practice the profession in the Pettisville district. For three years he successfully followed such practice in Pettisville, and then was called to Topeka, Indiana, because of the death of his father. After closing the decedent's affairs he took up the practice of his profession in Topeka, and did well in that place for three years, then disposing of his practice and going to Pharr, Texas, where for about one year he gave his time mainly to farming. He was, however, too much interested in his profession to long remain out of practice. He came northward, to Davenport, Iowa, and attended the well-known College of Chiropractic at that place, graduating on June 1, 1912, with the degree of D. C., Doctor of Chiropractic. He came to Wauseon, Ohio, to enter into practice. Since that time Doctor Yoder has taken many specialist or post- graduate courses; in 1914, at Davenport, he graduated in Natura- pathy; in 1915 he studied at the Cleveland, Ohio, College of Natura- pathy; and in 1917 he graduated from the National School of Chiro- practic of Chicago, taking two courses and gaining the degree of Ph. C. in that professional school. He passed the Ohio state medical examination in 1917, and has had notable success in his practice in Wauseon, and is widely known within a radius of twenty-five miles of that city.
He of course gives his time mainly to professional matters. He is a good churchman, and has shown a worthy public spirit since he came to Wauseon, contributing generously to community projects.
In 1899 Doctor Yoder married Kate Nofiger, daughter of Chris- tian R. and Magdalena (Yoder) Nofiger, of Pettisville, Ohio. Two children were born to them: . Wilmer and Christian Louis.
HARRY H. HOUGH, a partner in the Fleming & Hough Auto Sales Company of Wauseon, is an energetic young business man who is making rapid progress in Wauseon. The com- pany has the agency for the Buick and Oakland cars, and for the Samson Tractors and Trucks, and their opening season, 1919, gives them promise of substantial success in future years. Mr. Hough has also taken some part in public affairs, and has manifested dis- tinct organization ability. He was supervisor of District No. 1, Ful- ton county, when only twenty-one years old, and during the last decade has been prominent in the affairs of the Ancient Order of Gleaners, being Supreme Vice Chief Gleaner of that order. For three years he was manager for the Northwestern Ohio district, and for one year was state manager of the order.
He is of English-Irish ancestry, born in Wauseon, Ohio, August 11, 1880, the son of Frank and Hattie (Mitchell) Hough. After the death of his mother, which occurred when he was only seven years old, Harry's home was in that of John Garman, a well-regarded farmer of Fulton county, his farm being situated about three miles
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
northeast of Wauseon. Harry was educated in the country school, No. 1 district, attending school during the winter months and work- ing on the Garman farm during the summer vacations. After leav- ing school he continued to work for Mr. Garman until he reached the age of twenty-one years, when he took over the whole opera- tion of the 105-acre farm, continuing to work it, on shares, until the death of Mr. Garman seven years later. In fact, he worked the property for two years more, until he was thirty years old. For some time prior to that Mr. Hough had interested himself actively in the affairs of the Ancient Order of Gleaners, a fraternal organiza- tion, its members being mainly agriculturalists. When he was thirty years old Mr. Hough gave up the farm management in order to take up the official connection, that of district manager for North- western Ohio, with the order. He went into Wauseon to live, and for three years thereafter was district manager, and one year served the order as state manager. He resigned in February, 1919, in order to form a partnership with Fred Fleming of Wauseon, to trade in automobiles and auto supplies in Wauseon and the district. The partners opened a place of business in Wauseon on February 15, 1919, trading as the Fleming & Hough Auto Soles Company, and, having some very good agencies, were soon able to develop a prom- ising business. Two months later the partners, with commendable enterprise, opened a branch establishment at Delta, Ohio, with good results. They have the Fulton county agency for the Oakland cars and good territory for the Buick car, and represent the Samson Trac- tor Company for the sale of farm tractors throughout Fulton county. And they have good understandings with tire manufacturers. There- fore, there is every probability that their business venture will bring the partners good returns. They are both energetic men of good business ability and wide acquaintance throughout the county, and both have good personal reputations.
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