USA > Ohio > Hardin County > A twentieth century history of Hardin County, Ohio : a narrative account of its historical progress its people and principal interests, Vol. II > Part 16
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The childhood of Alonzo Lynch was spent on his father's farm, and when he grew old enough he helped with the work of carrying on the farm. He engaged in the stock business as a young man and during the war he bought horses for the government. Later he engaged in contract work for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, building culverts and bridges. He was a good workman and became well informed in con- struction work. IIe also took contracts for building pike roads in Hardin and Hancock counties, building the first pike in the latter county. He has probably built more of these roads than any one else in Hardin county, and was well known for the superior quality of work he accom- plished. As a boy he carried United States mail two times a week from Bellefontaine to Findlay, making the trip on horseback. He became a prominent and well known citizen, and stood well in the community.
In March, 1853, Alonzo Lynch married Charlotte Rush, daughter of Job and Ruth ( Williams) Rush, who came to Hardin county from Uniontown, Pennsylvania, about 1850. Mr. Lynch inherited the old homestead, which comprised two hundred aeres and he lived until 1881 near Dunkirk, owning several different farms during those years of his active life. He then rented his farm and moved to Kenton, where he embarked in the livery business on the south side of the square. Here he conducted his business a number of years, then rented it, and in 1894 sold his interest. However, he still continued in the stock business, and being an excellent judge of horses, he bought a good many thoroughbreds and shipped from Kentucky, building up a good business in this line. IIe also purchased a large number of shorthorn cattle each year and dis- posed of them in Hardin county and other parts of the state. He did a great deal to introduce pure blood stock into the county, and in this did a good service to farmers and stockmen. About four years ago Mr. Lynch retired from business and sold his farm. He is a stanch
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Republican and has always taken an active interest in public affairs. He and his wife became the parents of seven children, of whom six survive. Mrs. Lynch died in 1896, at the age of sixty-one years. Both she and her husband made many friends and became highly respected and esteemed. Mr. Lynch earned his success in life through his own efforts and ambition, taking advantage of every opportunity offered him for business success and advancement, and has well earned the rest he now enjoys.
THOMAS ESPY .- The late Thomas Espy was one of the most promi- nent and influential citizens of Hardin county, and was interested in many enterprises. Mr. Espy was born in New Darlington, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, May 12, 1837, and was a son of John and Jane (Anderson) Espy, both also natives of Pennsylvania. The progenitor of the Espy family in America emigrated from the north of Ireland in colonial days.
John Espy moved to Hardin county, Ohio, in 1838, when his son Thomas was but one year old. In 1840 he located in Kenton, and three years later erected the first steam flouring mill in the town, on the present site of the T. & O. C. railroad depot. Ile became one of the lead- ing citizens and was a successful business man. Mr. Espy died in 1878; his widow survived him many years and passed away in 1907.
Thomas Espy received his early education in Kenton schools, and in 1856 took a commercial course at Northwood, Ohio, and in 1861 entered the Cincinnati Law School and was afterwards admitted to the bar. However, he did not enter npon the practice of his profession, preferring a commercial career, for which he considered he was better fitted. In 1864 he began working with his father in the mill and in 1866, with William Ochs, built the present White flour mill, becoming president of the concern. In 1855 Mr. Espy was appointed deputy county treasurer, under Dr. U. P. Leighton, and assisted in taking the first tax ever col- lected at the present courthouse. In 1874 he became interested in the Paullucci Bank, and two years later became cashier of the Hardin County Savings Bank. In 1878, at the organizing of the First National Bank, Mr. Espy became a director.
Mr. Espy was one of the promoters of the Erie Railroad, and in 1868 became one of the promoters of a railroad to run from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to Huntington, Indiana, and to pass through Kenton, and when the road was completed he became one of the directors. He was connected with the road until it was purchased by the Erie system. He and General James Robinson built the connecting link between Marion and Kenton. Mr. Espy was also one of the promoters of the Kenton Gas & Electric Company, being its first president and actively connected with it until a few years since. Ile also became one of the pike commis- sioners, under whom the first pike in the county was constructed. He was also one of the promoters of the first water works system. For over twenty years he served as treasurer of Buck township. In 1902 Mr. Espy became identified with the Gas & Electric Company of Toledo, and became general manager of the same; they have plants at Tiffin, Delphos
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and New Bremen. In 1858 he became a member of the Masonic Order, and he helped build the Epworth Methodist Episcopal church in South Kenton, being a trustee of the organization. He always voted the Democratie ticket and took an active interest in publie affairs.
In 1870 Mr. Espy married Miss Sallie Johnson, who was then a teacher in the public schools of Kenton, a daughter of David E. and Jane (Pancake) Johnson, the former born at Chester, Butler county, near Cineinnati, and the latter in the village of Cross Roads, in Madison county, Ohio. Mr. Johnson was a descendant of Sir Peter Johnson, of colonial times. Mr. Johnson was married in September, 1846, in Madi- son county, and in 1861, the day Fort Sumter was fired upon, he and his wife settled about two and a half miles from the town of Kenton, where they lived a number of years and then located in the town, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Mr. Johnson died on November 11, 1900. His wife, who was born July 25, 1827, died on April 3, 1907, and with her death the family of Joseph and Jane Pancake, her parents, became extinet. Mr. Pancake was a participant in the war of 1812. His wife was a daughter of William and Martha Wilson, who kept the White Horse tavern near Philadelphia, at Catamisa, where General Washington stopped several times. Mr. Pancake was born Deeember 19, 1789, in Romney, Virginia, a son of John Pancake, a slave-owner, and he died September 14, 1853 ; his wife died July 30, 1864.
Thomas Espy and his wife became the parents of three children, namely : Miss Anna, a teacher at Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts ; Frank, of Tiffin ; and Jesse, of Kenton. Mr. Espy was one of the enterprising and publie-spirited citizens of Hardin county, and contributed a large share towards the progress and development of the town of Kenton, as well as many other parts of the state. He became interested in a large number of enterprises, and his keen business judgment and intelligence were widely appreciated. He was well informed on many topics and was one of the best known and most highly esteemed men who ever lived in Kenton. He had a large circle of friends and his memory is cherished in the hearts of many. He was always ready to lend his sup- port to worthy causes, and was a charitable, kindly-disposed member of society. His success in life was attained through his own efforts and ambition, and he spent a busy, useful life, whose deeds will not soon be forgotten.
JOSEPH EBERHART is prominently numbered among the agrieultur- ists of Washington township, Hardin county. He is a representative of a prominent old German family who formerly wrote the name "Eberhardt." and he is a descendant of the crown heads of the Father- land. The ancestry of this illustrious family is traced back to the year 1445 and to the Dukes of Wurtemberg, and in the United States their history goes back to 1727, when Peter and Michael erossed on the old "Friendship," John Davis master. Landing in Philadelphia on October 16, 1727, they located in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, and they formed the beginning of a large settlement of their countrymen there. George and Elizabeth (Hull) Eberhart, the parents of Joseph and Sarah Ann,
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were born in Stark county, Ohio, and but two of their eleven children are now living, and Joseph is the only one in Hardin county.
Ile was born in Stark county, Ohio, September 24, 1836, and was reared and educated there and also learned the carpenter's trade, a vocation which he has followed more or less throughout his business eareer. Moving to Hancock county in 1863 he bought a farm of one hundred and five acres, and in 1866 came from there to Hardin county. Here he owns one hundred and sixty acres of valuable land in Washing- ton township, which he purchased the year of his arrival here, but at that time there was only twenty acres of the place cleared. Since then he has made vast improvements in land and buildings, his land being all under a fine state of cultivation, his home a substantial and commodious struc- ture, and at this writing he is erecting his third barn, the first having been burned in 1893, while the second was struck by lightning in June of 1909 and also burned, the first structure having been insured for nine hundred dollars and the second for twelve hundred. Mr. Eberhart is a practical farmer and has a most desirable home.
He married Rebecea A. Kamp in 1858, and seven children have been born to them, namely: Alice, deceased; Sidney. Clement, Alexander, Clarence, May and Charles L. They also have eighteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Mrs. Eberhart was born in Stark county, Ohio, October 17, 1839, a daughter of Jacob and Sarah Kamp, the former from England and the latter from Pennsylvania. Their children were twelve in number, but only three are now living, and Mrs. Eberhart is the only one living in Ilardin county. The Eberhart family are representative citizens of Hardin county.
PARLEE C. ROBINSON, of the firm of Robinson & Gage, dealers in lumber, coal, etc., Kenton, Ohio, is one of the enterprising business men of the town and is well known throughout the county.
Mr. Robinson was born in Kenton, September 15, 1859, youngest of the three children of James S. Robinson, a prominent citizen of Ohio, who filled the office of state secretary from 1886 to 1890, and who early in life came to IIardin county and took up his residence at Kenton. He was a native of Richland county, this state. Parlee C. in his youth had the advantage of a good education. He took a four years' course in the Ohio State University, where he made a specialty of engineering, after- ward taking up civil engineering as a business and spending several years in railroad work. For three years he was employed in this capacity on what is now the Chicago & Erie, and subsequently was assistant chief engineer for the construction of the Ohio Central Rail- road and the Kanawha & Michigan, this latter being now a part of the Hoeking Valley Railroad. About this time his father having been elected to the office of state secretary. young Robinson went to Columbus and served as deputy in that office, remaining there during the whole of his father's term. In 1897 the firm of Robinson & Gage was formed. and has since operated a planing mill and dealt in lumber, coal, ete., and to this business Mr. Robinson has given his personal attention. Also he has other interests in the county, including bank stock and farm
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property. Hle is one of the directors of the First National Bank of Ada. Fraternally he is identified with both the Masons and the Elks, being especially active and influential in the latter organization.
T. J. DICKINSON .- One of the successful and prominent farmers of Hardin county, Ohio, who has spent all his life in this occupation is T. J. Dickinson, who is well known throughout most of the county. Mr. Dickinson was born in Andrew county, Missouri, in 1845, and is a son of Nelson and Mary A. (Corwin) Dickinson, both natives of Logan county, Ohio, who were married in 1838. In 1842 Nelson Dickinson and his wife moved to Andrew county, Missouri, where they spent about eight years and then returned to Logan county. In 1860 they removed to Hardin county, settling north of Ridgeway, where Mr. Diekinson purchased a farm of eight hundred and seventy-five aeres, paying twenty-seven dollars an acre for the land, with the machinery and stock included. They lived here abont eight years and then returned to Logan county, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Mr. Diekinson died at the age of seventy-nine years and his wife died in 1894, aged seventy-four years. They were the parents of twelve chil- dren, of whom all survive save one son, George, who died in January, 1910, at the age of sixty-nine years.
T. J. Dickinson has always followed farming and stock raising, and has also bought and shipped stock extensively, being the oldest stoek- man in Hardin county. Some five years since he rented his farm and purchased a handsome residence on West Carroll Street in Kenton, and two years later he sold his one hundred and sixty-five acre farm. How- ever, he has continued to buy and ship stock, and some two years since purchased a three hundred and twenty aere rice farm in Matagorda county, Texas. He rents this farm and has raised one erop on it, from which he reaped a very handsome profit. He was also interested in one of the local banks of Hardin county, but has since sold his interest. He is one of the enterprising, representative men of Kenton, and is recog- nized as a man of sound judgment and good business principles. He takes an active interest in public affairs and is a Republican in political views. He served one term as county commissioner, and at the expira- tion of this term was appointed to fill a vacancy.
In 1867 Mr. Dickinson married Caroline Bird, of Union county, Ohio, daughter of Gorum and Arsidola (Scott) Bird, the former a native of New York state and the latter of Ohio. After their marriage Mr. Bird and his wife moved to Union county, in 1834, where they lived the remainder of their lives. Mr. Diekinson and his wife became the parents of six children, namely: Arsodillo, deceased; Wilson E., now living in the state of Washington ; Emma, now the wife of W. T. Eaton ; Delpho, the wife of llarry Tittsworth ; the fifth child died unnamed; and Bertha, now the wife of William Me Ellheny. The family attend the Methodist Episcopal church.
ADAM BROWN .- Among the most extensive farmers of MeDonald township, Hardin county, Ohio, is Adam Brown, who owns a fine farm of
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two hundred and fourteen acres, where he carried on general farming and has met with excellent success. Mr. Brown is one of the influential, representative citizens of the county, is well known and universally esteemed. He was born in Union county, Ohio, October 13, 1858, a son of Josiah M. and Margaret Jane (Basil) Brown, the former born on Big Darby in Unionville, Ohio, August 25, 1835, and the latter born in Lincoln county, September 12, 1833. Josiah M. Brown was a soldier in the Civil war, enlisting in the One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio, in 1861, as private. Ile served as private throughout the war and was mustered ont in 1865. Ile and his wife moved to Hardin connty immediately after the close of his service, July 4, 1865, locating in Taylor Creek township, where he purchased forty-eight acres. Three years later he removed to Hickory Grove. He died on May 6, 1882, and his widow died on March 3, 1893. They were married January 10, 1856, and to them were born nine children, including George A., Hester Jane, William, Charles, Aaron, Samuel and Mary Lizzie.
George A. was
born September 28, 1861, and died March 30, 1874, being killed by a falling tree at the age of thirteen years, six months and twelve days. Hester J. was born Jannary 8, 1866, and died June 15, 1909. Charles was born December 28, 1870, and resides in Zanesfield. Aaron, born November 27, 1872, lives in Taylor Creek. Samuel, born April 20, 1875, died in infancy. Mary L., born June 3, 1876, lives in Taylor Creek township.
The boyhood of Adam Brown was spent in Taylor Creek, and he attended the district school of his neighborhood. He afterward took up the trade of carpenter, beginning to work at the same in 1881, and he followed the trade twenty-seven years in connection with farming. Politically he is a Democrat, and he never aspired to public offiee, though he takes an active interest in public affairs.
On June 21. 1881, Mr. Brown married Tabitha C. Kissling, daughter of Hiram Kissling, who resides in Hardin county, and his wife, Mary Ann (Spencer) Kissling, deceased. Mrs. Brown is one of seven children namely: John, Mary, William, Alta J., Nettie M., and Gertrude (oldest of the family and half-sister to the others). To Mr. and Mrs. Brown fourteen children have been born, as follows: Floyd II., born September 14, 1882, married Eva Arbogast, and they reside in Logan county ; Grover C. of MeDonald township, born September 9. 1884, married Carrie Fleece, and they have one child. Albert J. ; Frank K., born Devem- ber 12, 1886, is nnmarried and lives at home, where he assists in the duties of the farm; Alta J., born March 1. 1888, married Chester Deardorff. who was killed at Bellefontaine JJuly 9, 1909, by a street car, leaving one child, Herbert ; Carrie M., born May 19, 1889, unmarried and living at home; Blanch, born March 26, 1891. living at home; Emma V., born July 5, 1892; Mary L., born October 25. 1893; Opal C., born December 26, 1894; William J., born March 18, 1897; Mattie C., born September 20, 1898; Golda, born June 3, 1900, died November 26, 1900, aged five months and twenty-three days; Ruth, born October 23. 1901: and Edgar E., born January 21, 1904.
Mr. Brown first purchased forty aeres in Union county, which he
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owned and conducted for ten years, then traded it for ninety-three acres in Logan county, which he owned four years, then traded it for his present farm in Hardin county.
PROFESSOR CHARLES B. WRIGHT .- Talented and cultured, and the possessor of much business and executive ability, Professor Charles B. Wright, corresponding secretary of the Ohio Northern University, has been connected with the educational institution for a score of years, and is numbered among the more prominent and influential citizens of Ada. A native of Ohio, he was born, June 1, 1866, in Licking county, He near Johnstown, coming from honored New England ancestry.
remained on the home farm until seventeen years of age. He after- wards attended school two years, and then, until 1888, taught in the public schools of his native county. Going then to Bucyrus, Mr. Wright attended Baldwin Academy a year, taking a special course in bookkeeping and commercial studies. Taking up his residence in Ada on August 13, 1889, Mr. Wright entered the Ohio Northern University, where he continued his studies two years. In 1891 he entered the commercial department of the university as an instructor, and in 1904 was made corresponding secretary of the institution, a position which he has since filled most ably and acceptably, in the meantime having also charge of all the advertising connected with the university.
Professor Wright has been twice married. He married first, December 25, 1895, Ione Dukes, a daughter of Eli Dukes, and a niece of the donor of Dukes' Building. She died in 1903, leaving two children, Robert and Helen. The Professor married for his second wife, in 1905, Gladys Cartwright, and they have one danghter, Ethelind. A Repub- liean in politics, Professor Wright is a member of the board of education of Ada, of which he has been president four years. Fraternally he is one of the more prominent and active members of Richie Lodge, No. 241, K. of P., which he represented as a delegate in the Grand Lodge for six years, for five years serving as chairman of the mileage and per diem committee. Religiously he is a consistent and valued member of the Methodist Episcopal church. The Professor has accumulated a good property, owning a fine home in Ada and a farm of two hundred aeres near MeComb, Hancock county.
DARLINGTON B. NOURSE, of the firm of Nourse & Caine, dry goods merchants of Kenton, Ohio, was born in Fairfield county, this state, February 11, 1858. The Nonrses were Maryland people. Charles Nourse and John D. Nonrse, grandfather and father respectively of Darlington B. came from Sharpsburg, Maryland, to Ohio when the latter was a youth of twelve years, and settled at Rushville in Fairfield county. There he grew to manhood, and married Miss Catherine Berry, a native of New Salem, that county. By profession he was a physician and surgeon, and was in active practice for nearly fifty years, up to the time of his death, which occurred at the age of seventy years. His wife also lived to be seventy. They were the parents of four children, two of whom reached maturity and are still living, the subject of this sketch and John H., a traveling salesman, of Lancaster, Ohio.
George E. Cran - -
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Darlington B. Nourse was reared in Reynoldsburg. Ohio, receiv- ing his education in the academy of that place. At the age of twenty he began life as a clerk in the dry goods store of A. Stutson, of Lancaster, and remained with him about five years; afterward. for eleven years, was with Green Joyce & Company, of Columbus, Ohio, one year as house salesman and ten years on the road. In 1893 he bought an in- terest with H. E. Becker & Company, dry goods dealers of Lancaster, and was there until 1901. That year he sold out and in August came to Kenton. Here, in partnership with Mr. J. W. Caine, he bought ont H. C. Koller's dry goods store, and under the firm name of Nourse & Caine has continued to do a prosperous business. Since taking up his residence in Kenton he has shown himself to be a public spirited man and has identified himself with various interests, including the Home Telephone Company, of which he is a stockholder and director.
In 1887 Mr. Nonrse married Miss Margaret Pickering, a native of Lancaster, Ohio, and a daughter of Samuel and Susan (Osenbaugh) Pickering. They have three children, Catherine, John D. and Joseph C. Mr. Nonrse is an active member and trustee of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Kenton.
GEORGE E. CRANE .- As one of the representative members of the bar of the historic state of Ohio Mr. Crane is well entitled to recognition in this publication, and further consistency in according such consider- ation is that implied in the fact that he is a scion of one of the old and honored pioneer families of the state of Ohio, though he himself is a native of New York City, where he was born on September 9, 1858. He has been engaged in the practice of his profession at Kenton, the at- tractive judicial center and metropolis of IIardin county, for a quarter of a century, and is known as an able and versatile member of the har of Ohio.
George E. Crane is a son of Samuel Ingham Crane and Sophia Charlotte (Buck) Crane, the former of whom was born at Florence, Erie county, Ohio, on the 20th of December. 1832, and the latter of whom was born in New York City on the 26th of April, 1854. The founder of the Crane family in Ohio was Joel Crane, great-grandfather of him whose name initiates this article. This worthy ancestor and pioneer came from Southbury, Connecticut, and settled in Erie county. Ohio, in 1817. He was a direct descendant of Jasper Crane, of New Haven, Connectient, some of whose descendants had settled at Newark, New Jersey. whence Joel Crane moved to Southbury, Connectient, where. in 1804, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Olive Mitchell, granddaughter of Eleazar Mitchell, who was a member of the committee of safety during the war of the Revolution and who had commanded a militia company at Fort Ticonderoga in the French and Indian war. In the Revolutionary war he held a captain's commission and served under General Washing- ton. Eleazar Mitchell was of the fifth generation in line of direct descent from Matthew Mitchell, who was born at Halifax. Yorkshire. England, in 1590, and who came to America and settled in Boston in 1635, and whose son, Rev. Jonathan Mitchell, was the third minister at
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Cambridge, Masachusetts, 1649-1677, having been graduated in Harvard College in 1647.
George E. Crane passed his boyhood and youth in New York, New Jersey and Norwalk, Ohio, where he received his preliminary educational discipline in the public schools. Thereafter he continued his studies in Oberlin College, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1877, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. After his graduation Mr. Crane turned his attention to the pedagogic profession, and it is a matter of record that he gave most effective service in the educational field, having been principal of the high school at Kenton, his present home, from 1878 to 1885, and having in the meanwhile taken up the study of law under effective preceptorship. He was admitted to the bar in 1885, and has been continuously engaged in the practice of his profession at Kenton since that year. In 1879 and 1881 he made extended foreign tours, and in 1899 he again traveled abroad, for rest, recreation and pleasure. He is an able trial lawyer, having been identified with many important litigations in the state and federal courts, and is, through his broad and comprehensive knowledge of juris- prudence, especially well fortified as a counselor. In 1898 he was appointed referee in bankruptcy, of which office he has since continued incumbent, and he is also a member of the board of education of Kenton, having held this position since 1897. In polities he is a stalwart advocate of the principles of the Republican party, in whose cause he has given active service, and he was the candidate of his party for the office of judge of the circuit court in 1898, as well as in 1908, being defeated on each occasion through normal political exigencies. Mr. Crane is affiliated with the Masonie fraternity, in which he has attained the chivalric degrees, indicated by his membership in the commandery and Knights Templars, and he is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Both he and his wife are zealous members of the First Presbyterian church of Kenton.
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