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 3
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JAMES R. DUNLAP .- One of the venerable and honored pioneer citi- zens of Hardin county, where he has maintained his home from his boyhood days to the present time, Mr. Dunlap has been long and prominently identified with the great basic industry of agriculture, in connection with which he has so ordered his course as to achieve definite snceess and independence, being one of the substantial citizens of the county and the owner of a finely improved farm, located in Marion and Roundhead townships. He is a man of strong mentality and much administrative ability and has served in various positions of distinctive trust and responsibility-a preferment indicating the high esteem in which he is held in the community where he has long lived and labored to goodly ends.
Mr. Dunlap finds a due measure of satisfaction in reverting to the fine old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity, and the name which he bears has been identified with the annals of this favored common- wealth for more than three-fourths of a century. Ile was born in Weathersfield township, Trumbull county, Ohio, on the 2d of March. 1835, and is a son of JJohn A. and Susanna (Mulholland) Dunlap, both natives of Ireland, where they were reared to maturity and where their marriage was solemnized. the father having been born in the year 1800. In 1832 they immigrated to America, and their first child, the only one born in the Emerald Isle, died on the voyage, being buried at sea. Soon
R. Dunlop yas
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after their arrival in the United States they came to Ohio and took up their residence in Trumbull county, where the father followed farming until 1844, when he removed with his family to Hardin county and purchased a traet of land in Marion township, where he reclaimed a productive farm and passed the residne of his life, an honest, earnest and industrious citizen and one who ever commanded the high regard of all who knew him. He died in 1882 and his devoted wife and help- meet passed away in 1868, both having been members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They became the parents of five children, of whom four attained to years of maturity and of whom three are living. Joseph A. sacrificed his life in the service of his country, having enlisted in June 1861, in response to President Lincoln's first call, as a member of Company H. Thirteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and having been killed in the sanguinary battle of Stone's River. Of the three living children the subject of this review is the eldest; Ellen is the widow of Allen F. MeArthur and resides in Kenton, Ohio; and Rachel is the widow of Alexander Dempster, and resides in Roundhead township.
James R. Dunlap secured his rudimentary education in the common schools of Trumbull county and later continued his studies in the schools of Hardin county, to which his parents removed when he was about nine years of age. He was reared to the discipline of the pioneer farm and did his share in reclaiming the land and in the other arduous work demanded in the early days and but dimly realized by the young men of the present generation in the same locality, now marked by opulent prosperity and manifold advantages. Mr. Dunlap finally initiated his independent career as a farmer, scenring a small tract of land from his father and later adding to the same by purchase of ad- joining land. He has made his one of the model farms of the county and the same comprises twelve hundred and sixty acres, located in Marion and Roundhead townships. The buildings are of the best type, including the modern residence, which he erected in 1893 and which is the finest house in Marion township. Mr. Dunlap now relegates the active work of the farm to other and younger hands, though he finds pleasure in giving a general supervision to his farm and to directing the various details of its operation, in which connection he brings to bear long and practical experience and much discrimination in a business way.
Mr. Dunlap has ever been progressive, loyal and public-spirited as a citizen and has given his aid and influence in support of all measures and enterprises projected for the general welfare of the community. He was one of the organizers and is still a stockholder of the United Farmers' Telephone Company, which affords the best grade of service to a large number of patrons, and is a member of the directorate of the Old National Bank at Lima, Ohio. In polities he is found arrayed as a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the Republi- can party stands sponsor, and he has taken an active interest in the promotion of its cause. In 1863 he was captain of a militia organiza- tion constituting a part of the Home Guard, organized for service during the progress of the Civil war. ITis eligibility for public office
Vol. II-2
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has not failed of due recognition, and he served six years, with marked ability and acceptableness, as a member of the board of county com- missioners, which incumbency he retained from 1873 to 1879. In 1893 he was chosen one of the four members of the state board of road com- missioners. This appointment was conferred by the lamented President MeKinley, who was at that time governor of Ohio. He and his family hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church at Pleasant Hill, and the home is a center of gracious hospitality.
On the 13th of April, 1870. was recorded the marriage of Mr. Dunlap to Miss Viola L. Roberts, who was born in Westminster township, Allen county, Ohio, a daughter of the late J. B. Roberts, who was a representative farmer of Allen county at the time of his death. In conclusion is entered a brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap: Rhoda, who was graduated in Oberlin College, is the wife of William II. Miller and they reside in the city of Cleveland; Joseph Wilber is engaged in farming in Marion township ; Thomas Reed Dunlap is a resident of Alger, where he is engaged in the grain business ; Miss Mabel, who is now at the parental home, was graduated in Oswego Normal School of Oswego, New York, and later in Columbia University, in New York City, from which historie institution she received the degree of Bachelor of Arts; Donald D. and Josiah died in childhood ; Nellie, who was a student of Oberlin College, is the wife of C. R. Holmes and they reside in San Bernardino, California ; James R., Jr., is a mem- ber of the class of 1910 in the Normal School at Ada, Ohio; and Ruth is attending high school in the city of Cleveland, being a member of the class of 1910.
JOHN WILLIAMS, a merchant of Ridgeway, Ohio. was born April 1, 1848, in Hale township. Hardin county, and is a son of Jonathan and Betsy Elizabeth (Snoddy) Williams. Jonathan Williams was born in North Carolina, in 1798, and came with his parents to Hillsboro, Ohio, with a team and wagon ; later they removed to Logan county, Ohio. His father, John Williams, eame to America from Wales, and followed farm- ing all his life. Jonathan Williams took up farming after finishing his edueation, settling first in Logan county and later removing to Hardin county; in 1829 he purchased a farm of one hundred aeres in Hale township, in 1840 returned to Logan county, and came back to Hardin county in 1851. His wife, a daughter of Ahner and Margaret (Hall) Snoddy, died in 1870, at the age of sixty-one years. Besides John, their children were: Brice, living retired in Mount Victory ; Wait, in the timber business in California; Hannah, widow of John Wildon ; and Tillie, wife of A. J. Johnson of California. Jonathan Williams was a member of the Methodist Protestant church : in politics he was a Republican, and he was the first trustee elected in Hale township.
John Williams attended the public schools, and at the age of eigh- teen years took up farming with his father ; he also operated a threshing machine and worked at teaming and similar ocenpations. Mr. Williams has been a resident of Ridgeway since 1865, and is one of the leading and most respected citizens. Ile is a Republican in politics, and in 1900
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took the census of Hale township. In 1905 Mr. Williams opened a grocery, restaurant and bakery establishment, which he is still carrying on.
On August 20, 1864, Mr. Williams enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Eightieth Ohio Volunteers. He was sent to Tennessee under Schofield's army, in the Twenty-third Corps; he went to North Carolina and took part in the four days' battle at Kingston, and later was with Sherman's army until the surrender of Johnston. After Lee's surrender they were discharged, May 12, 1865, at Charlotte, North Caro- lina. Returning home, he took up his residence at Ridgeway, and is one of the oldest residents. He is a charter member of the local branch of the Grand Army of the Republic. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, and has passed through the chairs. He is a public-spirited citizen, and well known throughout the county where he has spent his entire life.
In 1873 Mr. Williams married Margaret, daughter of John and Sarah (Pierce) Davis; John Davis, a merchant of Ridgeway, is a native of Maryland. Mrs. Davis died January 9, 1895. Mr. Williams and his wife became the parents of children as follows: Emma, Raymond and Sallie. Emma. wife of J. S. Smith, lives with her father; they have three children, Martha, Kennon and Catherine, and their fourth child. Leo, was accidentally killed by a playmate with a pitchfork. Raymond is a railroad conductor and lives at Richmond, Indiana ; he married Kate Gerlach and they have one child. Sallie, wife of George Grimes, a gardener of Harbor Springs, Michigan, has one child.
JACOB SIEG, now retired from active life and residing at Ridgeway. Ohio, was born in Hale township, Hardin county. September 2, 1843. He is a son of Jonathan H. Sieg, born in 1815, in Augusta county, Virginia, who was a son of Jacob Sieg. a native of Pennsylvania. Jacob Sieg. the grandfather, was born May 19, 1774, and died November 5. 1855 ; he married Lydia Haines, who was born JJanuary 8, 1793. and died in 1879. They moved to Logan county, Ohio, in 1828, and in 1836 settled in Taylor Creek township. Hardin county, and there built a log cabin ; they cleared a woodland farm of one hundred and thirty acres. Ile was a member of the Presbyterian church and politically was a Democrat.
Jonathan H. Sieg remained with his parents until his marriage. January 12, 1837, to Lydia Hopkins, born in Logan county, Ohio, Janu- ary 28. 1817, and still surviving. probably the oldest lady resident of Hardin county, and she still retains her mind and faculties. She is a daughter of Archibald Hopkins, a native of Delaware; he settled in Pickaway county, Ohio, in 1806. Archibald Hopkins was a soldier in the war of 1812; his parents were John and Martha Elsie Hopkins. Jonathan II. Sieg settled on a farm in Logan county, Ohio, after his marriage, and in 1840 settled in Hale township. Hardin county, In 1853 he removed to Ridgeway, where he died February 9, 1868: he was also engaged in the lumber business, and for five years carried on a dry goods business in Ridgeway. Ile sold out his store, but was engaged
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in the lumber trade until his death. His children were: Jacob; A. H. Sieg, of Butte, Montana; one son deceased; and Eliza I., widow of George F. Parrett. of Adams county, Ohio. Mr. Sieg was a member of the Christian church and politically was a Democrat until the break- ing ont of the rebellion, after which he was a Republican. He was elected to the legislature in 1861 and served two terms. He served many years as a justice of the peace. In 1862 he removed to Cincinnati and joined the "Squirrel Hunters," but on account of his age never saw active service.
Jacob Sieg received his education in the public school and afterward taught school ; at the age of twenty he began farming with his father. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company F. Thirteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, joining the Army of the Cumberland. He participated in many battles and was wounded at Murfreesboro and sent home. He received his discharge in March, 1863. Returning to Ridgeway he engaged in teaching and farming, which he continued until 1873. when he began to carry on the home farm. From 1886 until 1891 he was one of the owners of the mill at Ridgeway, since which he has been retired from active business. He is one of the most highly respected and popular citizens of Ridgeway, and is actively interested in public affairs. Politically Mr. Sieg is a Republican, and from 1873 until 1904 served as a justice of the peace. Ile was mayor of Ridgeway three terms, and has frequently been clerk and a member of the school board. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republie of Ridgeway, of which he is now adjutant. This post was named after his brother, Robert K. Robert K. Sieg was born in 1838, and in 1861 enlisted in the same com- pany as his brother ; he was first promoted to the rank of second lieuten- ant, was wounded while elimbing Missionary Ridge. after which he was promoted to first lieutenant, and later captain. Ile is now deceased.
In 1875 Mr. Sieg married Victoria Crow, born November 23, 1857. in Wyandot county, Ohio, daughter of E. B. Crow, a physician still practicing his profession at Ridgeway. Mr. Crow married Isabel Hudson. Mr. Sieg and his wife became the parents of five children : two deceased; R. Carl, managing his father's farm, and is unmarried; Kate, born in 1886, is teaching school ; and Laura is living at home, and is prominent in literary circles.
WILLIAM GRANT BUTLER is prominently numbered among the busi- ness men of Mount Victory, a manufacturer and a poultry shipper. H was born in this eity on the 6th of June, 1868, a son of Daniel and Leah (Ansley) Butler, both of whom were burned to death on the 14th of November, 1907, and they died within four hours of the terrible accident. The father was then seventy-three years of age. He was born in 1836, in Logan county, a son of Benjamin Butler, who came as a boy to Logan county, where he farmed all his life. . Benjamin Butler was a Quaker and he died in 1872, at the age of sixty-eight. His wife was Eliza Diekinson, who was a daughter of Thomas Dickinson a native of Virginia. Mr. Dickinson lived to the patriarchal age of ninety-three years. His daughter, Mrs. Butler, died in 1888, when seventy-seven.
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After his school days were over, Daniel Butler engaged as a farmer and a stock raiser. ITe came to Hardin county in 1860, and settled on a farm near Ada. Later he moved near to Mount Victory and in 1880 he retired from farming and came to the city, where he was engaged in the real estate business up to the time of his death. He married Leah Ansley in 1858. She was a daughter of Joseph and Lydia (Johnson) Ansley and was born near Russellville, Logan county. in 1842. Joseph Ansley was born in Maryland and when a youth emigrated to Kentucky, where he married Lydia Johnson. Later he and his wife and child came to Logan county, Ohio, on horseback. His wife was a daughter of a Kentucky planter and slave owner. Joseph Ansley died December 26, 1876, aged seventy-five, and his wife died the previous year, on the 30th of March, at the age of sixty-nine. In the family of Daniel Butler and wife were the following sons and daughters: Henry C., of Englewood, Kansas, a farmer and stock man; Orra O., engaged in the harness busi- ness in Mount Victory; Lydia A., the wife of H. Perry, a stockman at Hutchinson, Kansas; William Grant, mentioned more at length below ; Viola, the wife of M. Richards, a farmer in Buck township, Hardin county ; Etta, wife of John Buck, a banker and stockman at Englewood, Kansas; and Mollie, the wife of William Wagner, of Pittsburg. Daniel Butler and his wife were members of the Disciples church and he be- longed to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Mount Victory.
After leaving school at the age of seventeen years William G. Butler pursued a course in bookkeeping at Mansfield, Ohio, during one term, and then entering the employ of Dickinson and Wallace, Mount Victory, he continued as their salesman for three years, while during the following fourteen years he was engaged in the grocery business. Selling out his interests in that business in 1906 Mr. Butler built and equipped a creamery at Mount Victory, placing in it the latest and most improved steam and gas machinery, and he manufactures both butter and ice eream, making on an average twelve hundred pounds of butter weekly. He is in business with a partner, the firm name being Butler & Richards, and they are also extensive dealers in and shippers of poultry. They are men of well known ability, and their firm is one of the most promi- nent of the business corporations of Mount Victory.
Mr. Butler married on the 4th of September, 1896, Estella Williams, born December 14, 1872, a daughter of Warneck and Huldah M. (Reams) Williams, the father born on the 6th of April, 1845, and the mother on the 5th of April, 1851, and they are living in Dudley township, Hardin county. Mrs. Butler is a granddaughter on the paternal side of Jesse Williams, born April 4, 1804, and of Hannah Sutherland, his wife, born September 2, 1807. Mr. Butler is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, Mount Victory Lodge No. 735. In his political affiliations he is a Republican, and he has been honored with publie office, serving as treasurer of the township and six years as corporation treasurer, and he has also served as a member of the Mount Victory school board. He is one of the representative citizens and business men of his city.
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ORVA OTIS BUTLER represents a family that has been identified with the interests of Mount Victory and of Hardin county for many years, prominent in both its business and agricultural life, and Orva O. Butler is well known as a dealer in buggies and harness and as a sheep raiser and shipper. Ile was born in Mount Victory on the 18th of March, 1882, a son of Daniel and Leah ( Ansley) Butler, both of whom were burned to death on the 14th of November, 1907, and they died within four hours of the terrible accident. The father was then seventy-three years of age. (Further ancestral history will be found in the sketch of William G. Butler.) In their family were the following sons and daughters: IIenry C., of Englewood, Kansas, a farmer and stockman there; Orva O., mentioned below ; Lydia A., the wife of II. Perry, a stockman at Hutchin- son, Kansas; William Grant, a prominent manufacturer and poultry shipper living in Mount Victory ; Viola, the wife of M. Richards, a farmer in Buck township, Ilardin county ; Etta, wife of John Buck, a banker and stockman at Englewood, Kansas; and Mollie, the wife of William Wagner, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
Orva O. Butler from the age of ten to eighteen years was engaged in the dairy business with his mother, and graduating from school at the age of eighteen he with the money he had saved as a dairyman bought a half interest in his brother's grocery store in Mount Victory, and after four years there became associated with his father-in-law, T. J. Boyd, as a buggy and harness merchant. Ile has thus continued to the present time, and has become well known and prominent as a business man and citizen. Ile is also quite extensively engaged in raising sheep, feeding on an average of five hundred head. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, Mount Victory Lodge No. 735, and has served the order as master of exchequer. He is a Republican in his politieal affiliations, and at the present time is presiding officer of the election board.
Mr. Butler married Lela J. Boyd, who was born August 30, 1882, a daughter of T. J. and Deborah (Marmon) Boyd. T. J. Boyd is a Mount Victory merchant, where he is living at the age of sixty years, and his wife is fifty-four years of age. They have two children, a son and a danghter, and the former, Clarence Boyd, is also living at Mount Victory. Mrs. Butler is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and she is also associated with the Foreign Missionary Society and with the Ladies Aid of that denomination. A son, Gordon Boyd Butler, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Butler in 1905.
CLARENCE D. HINDALL .- The thriving little village of Alger is fortunate in having as superintendent of its public schools so able and enthusiastic an educator as Professor Hindall, who has held this ineum- bency since 1907 and who has brought the schools up to a high standard of efficiency, the same being on the accredited list of the leading institu- tions of higher academic education in the state. The schools under his direction consist of six departments, including the high school, and employment is given to five teachers in addition to the superintendent. The facilities and methods are of the best modern type and the work of
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all departments is conducted with utmost harmony, insuring the best results in the instruction of students and economy and precision in the carrying out of the prescribed curriculum.
Professor Hindall finds a due mede of satisfaction in reverting to the old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity. He was born on the homestead farm of his father, in Perry township, Logan county, Ohio, on the 5th of September, 1882, and is a son of Robert W. and Melissa (Powell) Hindall, who still reside in that county, where they hold a secure place in popular confidence and esteem. They are devoted mem- bers of the Christian church and in politics the father gives his allegiance to the man and not to the party. Of the three children, all of whom are living, the subject of this review is the second in order of birth.
Professor Hindall was reared on the home farm and as a boy he began to contribute his quota to its work, in the meanwhile continuing to attend the district school through the winter terms until he had attained to the age of fifteen years, when he entered the high school at West Mans- field, where he completed the prescribed four years' course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1901. Shortly afterward he as- sumed the position of shipping clerk in the wholesale grocery establish- ment of Williams & Hedman, of Columbus, Ohio, for which concern he later became a traveling salesman. With this firm he continued em- ployed for two years, though in the meanwhile he taught two winter terms in the district schools of his native county. In 1903 he was matriculated in the theological department of Hiram College, at Hiram, Portage county, his intention being at the time to prepare himself for the ministry of the Christian church. He continued in the divinity school for two years, at the expiration of which he transferred to the classical course in the academic department, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1907, receiving from this historic and well ordered institution the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the autumn of the same year he was chosen superintendent of the public schools of Alger, where he has since given most efficient service in this executive and educational office and where he has gained a high place in popular confidence and esteem, both as an educator and as a loyal and public-spirited citizen.
In politics Professor Hindall votes independent of party ties, and has had no desire to enter the arena of "practical politics." He is affiliated with Ada Lodge, No. 344, Free and Accepted Masons, at Ada, Ohio, and both he and his wife are zealous and valued members of the Christian church.
On the 27th of July, 1909, was solemnized the marriage of Professor Hindall to Miss DeBretto L. Martin, who was born at Ada, Hardin coun- ty, Ohio, and who was a resident of that village at the time of her marriage. Her father, C. L. Martin, died at Canton, Ohio, when the daughter was about two years old. Mrs. Hindall is a graduate of the Ada high school, also of the school of music and art of the Ohio North- ern University in her native town and is a graduate of the National Park Seminary, Washington, D. C.
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FRANK W. LYDICK is prominently known in Hardin county as a wire fenee merchant, and his home is at Mount Victory. He was born at Dunkirk of this county October 7, 1877, and his father, Samuel B. Lydiek, was a earpenter there for many years, but finally embarking in the undertaker's business he continued the latter vocation until his death, on the 13th of April, 1903. Hle was one of the prominent and well known residents of Dunkirk. He married in his early life Miss Martha E. Beartche, and their children are: James, engaged in the livery busi- ness in Dunkirk; Isaac, also a liveryman there; Joseph, a contractor at Union City ; Harry, a clerk in the postoffice at Fort Wayne; and Mollie, the wife of Eder Ebert, of Fort Wayne.
Frank W. Lydick, also one of the above family, graduated from the Dunkirk high school at the age of seventeen years, and then learning the confectionery and eandy making business he was thus engaged for six years in Fort Wayne. Coming then to Dunkirk he was in the livery business for fifteen months, and in 1906 he embarked in the wire fence business in Mount Victory, being also interested in the livery business here.
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