Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 106

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others
Publication date: 1905
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1149

USA > Ohio > Butler County > Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio > Part 106

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James G. Reed, the immediate subject

of this review, has passed his entire life in Butler county, and is one of the prominent, representative and highly esteemed farmers of Lemon township. He was born on the old homestead farm, in this township, the date of his nativity having been April 30, IS57, while it may be said that he was the second in order of birth of the two chil- dren of Thomas C. and Rachel (Gordon) Reed, the former of whom was born in the same township, in 1797, while the latter was born in New Jersey in 1824, being a daugh- ter of James and Mary (Slack) Gordon. who were likewise pioneers of Butler county. The father was summoned into eternal rest in 1874. and the mother lived to attain the age of seventy-two years, her death occur- ring in 1896.

The subject of this sketch was reared on the old home farm and has never lapsed in his allegiance to the great basic art of agri- culture. which he has found altogether worthy of his best efforts and through the medium of which he has attained distinc- tive prosperity and temporal success. He received his educational training in the pub- lic schools of his native county, having com- pleted a course in the high school at Amanda, where he was graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1874. He owns a quarter section of most arable land, and to the im- provement and cultivation of this place he has given his undivided attention since 1888, when it came into his possession. His farm is well improved and is devoted to di- versified agriculture, while he also gives considerable attention to the raising of live stock. In politics he is a stalwart adherent of the Republican party, with which he has been affiliated from the time of attaining his

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legal majority, and he and his entire family are members of the United Presbyterian church. Mr. Reed is a man of progressive ideas and liberal views and takes a consistent interest in the questions and issues of the hour and in public affairs of a local nature, though he has never sought official prefer- ment. He has been a warm friend of the cause of education and has been influential in the securing of the best possible ad- vantages in the line for his township, being at the present time a member of the school board of his district.

On the 20th of November, 1879. was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Reed to Miss Geraldine S. Conover, who was born in St. Luke's Place, New York city, on the 3d of November. 1856, being a daughter of Samuel C. and Mary Conover. both of whom died when she was a mere child. and she was reared in the home of her uncle, John L. Schenck. in Butler county. Her father was for a number of years superin- tendent of the Eaton & Richmond division of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Rail- road. Mr. Roberts was an elder in the United Presbyterian church for the long period of forty years, was a man of fine men- tal gifts and well-fortified convictions and was an able and effective public speaker. Mrs. Reed received her educational dis- cipline in the public schools of Hamilton, and there attended Professor Starr's high school for three years, while she also at- tained marked proficiency in music. She was a woman of noble character and gentle and gracious presence, endearing herself to all who came within the sphere of her in- fluence, while her beautiful attributes of character shone most resplendent in the sa- cred precincts of her own home, where her

devotion to husband and children was un- measured and unselfish in the extreme. She was summoned into the life eternal on the 20th of April, 1890, and in her death came the great loss and bereavement of the sub- ject's life. She was survived by her six children, the youngest being at the time but six months old. Mr. Reed managed by great care and solicitude to keep his mother- less children together in the home and has given them the best of educational advan- tages available, while five of the number still remain with their father on the old home- stead. Verna is now the wife of Charles I. Wykoff. an employe of the Big Four Railroad; and the names of the other chil- dren are as follows : Robert R., Harold T., Gordon J., Rachel M. and Wallace W.

JOHN D. CRIST.

The gentleman of whom the biographer writes in this connection is at the head of one of the leading life insurance agencies of Middletown, and his success in the busi- ness has brought him prominently to the notice of the public, not only in the city of his residence, but throughout the large ter- ritory over which he exercises jurisdiction. His life has been one of signal usefulness, and in addition to the sphere of activity in which he is engaged. he has contributed to the material growth and well-being of the community in various ways, besides using his influence at all times for the advance- ment of his fellow men, along social, educa- tional and moral lines. John D. Crist is a native of Butler county. and one of the eleven children of Allison B. and Phoebe

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(Maddock ) Crist, the father born in In- and spent his early years on the home farm diana, the mother in Ohio. The subject's in Wayne township, entering at the proper age the district schools, which he attended during the winter months until becoming a student of Earlham College, Richmond, In- diana. at the age of nineteen. After pur- suing his studies in that institution for a period of four years he engaged in the gro- cery business at Middletown. where in due time he built up a lucrative patronage, and to this line of trade he devoted his attention from 1884 to 1886, inclusive. In the latter year he contracted a matrimonial alliance with Miss Mary Beirne, of Middletown, and immediately thereafter moved to a farm in Wayne township, where he fol- lowed agricultural pursuits during the en- suing three years. disposing of his interests at the expiration of that time to engage in the life-insurance business at Middletown, Ohio. paternal ancestors in this country were Pennsylvanians and of German extraction, and his mother's people were among the pioneers of North Carolina, moving thence to Butler county shortly after this part of the Buckeye state was opened for settle- ment. Allison B. Crist was born and reared in Franklin county. Indiana, and in his young manhood began life for himself as a pork-packer, which calling he continued in his native state for a number of years. Thinking to better his condition in Ohio, he subsequently transferred his business to Butler county, and shortly after his arrival here he was united in marriage with Miss Phobe Maddock, following which he set- tled in Wayne township. where he still re- sides, at the ripe old age of seventy-eight years. After devoting some years to pork- packing he turned his attention to agricul- ture, which he followed until acquiring a competency, and he is now classed with the successful and well-to-do farmers of the county. being not only in independent cir- cumstances, but the possessor of a fortune which entitles him to a conspicuous place among the wealthy men of his community. Allison B. Crist has long been a man of high character and strong influence, and his fam- ily is widely known and greatly respected throughout the township of Wayne and other parts of Butler county. He has been thrice married, his last wife dying in the year 1898, since which time his children have ministered to his comforts, although he still manages his various business in- terests with the judgment and vigor of his more active days.

John D. Crist was born June 19, 1861,

Mr. Crist's career in the insurance busi- ness has been eminently creditable and he is now with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York, one of the largest and most successful companies of the kind in the United States. Since taking charge of his present field he has greatly extended the scope and influence of the company's operations and the business which he today commands is second in magnitude to that of no other underwriter in the territory under his jurisdiction. Mr. Crist is essen- tially a business man and, as such, enjoys in a marked degree the confidence of the public, which fact accounts very largely for the series of continued successes that has marked his career from the beginning to the present time. He has taken pains to familiarize himself with every detail of life insurance, keeps in touch with its wide and

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constantly growing interests and as an agent exercises the sound judgment, resourceful- ness and tact which characterize the skillful judge of human nature and the natural leader of men.

In addition to his chosen sphere of labor, Mr. Crist has also interested himself in politics. Since his twenty-first year he has been an earnest and unswerving Republican, firm in the support of his principles, and an active participant in party councils, also an indefatigable worker and successful cam- paigner, but never an aspirant for public honors or the emoluments of office. Re- ligiously he subscribes to the Episcopal faith, himself and wife being active and in- fluential members of the Holy Trinity church of Middletown, and in addition to the liberal support he gives his own congre- gation. he is a generous contributor to all worthy charitable and benevolent enter- prises, while other religious bodies have fre- quently profited by his financial assistance.

Mrs. Crist, whose birth occurred in the year 1863, has presented her husband with six children, namely : Gertrude, born July 2, 1889; Marguerite, June 30, 1892; John, February 22, 1894; Thomas, August 27, 1899; Elwood, May 6, 1901, and Bertha Leah, who was born on May 5, 1903. all living.

REV. CHARLES A. HERMANN.

Not to a work of this nature is the privilege of entering more than incidental record concerning the great and all-pervad- ing influence which the preachers of the gospel of Christ have exerted in connection with the history of Butler county and yet

from no compilation which touches the generic history of this section of the Amer- ican Union can there be eliminated fre- quent and appreciative references to those noble emissaries of the Divine Master who have here lived and labored for the salva- tion of souls and the furtherance of the Master's cause; who have lived lives of high consecration and utmost usefulness, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, distributing to the necessity of saints. given to hospital- ity," and with the utmost self-abnegation giving themselves and their lives to the work which stands for the only ultimate good in human life and human accomplish- ment.

Charles Adolph Hermann was a native of the fatherland, having been born in Reut- lingen, Germany, on the 21st of May, 1835, the son of Gottlieb and Nane (Zenneck) Hermann, natives of Germany and descend- ants of an old French-Huguenot family. The father was a soldier in the regular army, serving the required period, and later in life acquired considerable prominence, hav- ing served for some years as judge of a court at Reutlingen. His death occurred at the latter place in 1876, at the age of sev- enty years. His wife long survived him. The subject's paternal grandfather, Gott- lieb Hermann, was a minister in the Ger- man Evangelical church, and never left the fatherland. dying there at the age of about seventy years. The subject's maternal grandfather. Christian Zenneck, was also a minister of the German Evangelical church, as were a son and son-in-law ; he lived to an advanced age and was active to the last, preaching a few weeks prior to his demise.

The subject of this sketch was educated

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primarily in the public schools of his na- tive land, and made marked progress there- in. His parents had long desired that he should devote his life to the work of the ministry, to which wish he was not indiffer- ent; consequently, he attended the theo- logigal school at Tuebingen, with the definite purpose in view of preparing him- self for the ministry, the wisdom of his deci- sion having been abundantly approved in his later experience. Realizing that in America lay wider opportunities and en- larged possibilities, he, in 1853, emigrated to this country, one of his fellow travelers on that voyage having been the afterwards noted statesman, Carl Schurz. One of the marked characteristics of the Teutonic race is energy, and this was exemplified in a marked degree by the subject, who upon landing in this country at once sought em- ployment, being first engaged in work in a brickyard on Long Island, New York. Sub- sequently he was employed by a Dutch farmer, with whom he remained for some time. While at the latter place, he played on a piano one evening at a party and evinced such skill as to arouse curiosity, which led the family to inquire of him re- garding himself. His superior ability was soon manifest and, as opportunity offered, he began preaching soon afterward, his first regular charge being in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

The somber clouds of civil war were hov- ering over the country and in April, 1861, when President Lincoln issued his call for seventy-five thousand volunteers to aid in suppressing the rebellion, Mr. Hermann at once responded, enlisting in the Eighth Regiment, New York Infantry, his term of enlistment being for three months. Upon

the completion of his term of enlistment Mr. Hermann received an honorable dis- charge at Louisville, Kentucky, and at once accepted a call to the pastorate of a church in that city, having previously resigned his pastorate in Pittsburg. He remained in charge of the church in Louisville until 1866, when he came to Hamilton and as- sumed the pastorate of St. John's church, which position he filled until 1876, when he removed to Cleveland, Ohio, thence to Steubenville, Ohio, thence to Pittsburg, re- turning to Hamilton and St. John's in the spring of 1889, and continued as pastor of that church until his death, on Thursday, September 10, 1903. The following resume of his subsequent career and achievements is from the pen of one who knew him well and is thus well qualified to speak :

"Not only was the Rev. Hermann hon- ored by the upbuilding of the great church with which his name was so long connected, but the denomination of which St. John's is a member has seen fit to honor the be- loved pastor. He held many offices in the denominational affairs of the church. being for a great length of time president of the Cincinnati district of the German Protestant Evangelical church and the work he per- formed in that capacity earned him recogni- tion over a wide extent of territory.

"The Rev. Hermann was a man of marked educational attainments and that fact was recognized by his serving for many years as a member of the city board of school examiners. He became genuinely and thoroughly identified as a member of that body in connection with the schools and ever took a deep interest and pride in the condition and the welfare of the schools. "As a member of fraternal organiza.

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tions Rev. Hermann was widely known and frequently honored. For over thirty-nine years he was a member of the Masonic or- der and of the Odd Fellows and for many years was a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and had served on four or five occasions as a representative to the grand lodge of that order. He had served as supreme master of the American Protes- tant Association and was a warm and pro- gressive advocate of the principles of rec- ognized fraternalism.

"In July. 1861, Rev. Hermann was united in marriage with Miss Ann Bowers. of Catskill, New York, a daughter of Chris- tian and Christina (Hempftling) Bowers. To this union were born six sons and five daughters, as follows: Carl. Gustav A .. Theodore. John. August, Adolph. Louisa. Caroline. Anna. Catharina and one that died in infancy.

"The mental attainments of the Rev. Hermann were of the highest type and of the most substantial character. He was an eloquent public speaker. His utterances were filled at will with the most extensive classical references and he spoke with that force which could be expected of a man of his marked strength of character combined with the qualifications of the man of letters. No man in the history of any church in southern Ohio ever gained the love and es- teem of his congregation as the Rev. C. A. Hermann possessed that of his flock. At the age of sixty-eight years he bore the ap- pearance of a man of twenty years less than that term of life. He was all that the world could ask in a man-kindly. charitable in spirit and deed. a strong man, and in a word a man whom the world could look upon with love and confidence. His last words. 'I have done my work: my church is fin-

ished: I can die in peace,' exemplify the spirit which animated him even unto death. The church over which he presided for so many years was almost the dearest thing on earth to him, and to it he gave the best of his thought. strength and endeavor."

PROF. DARRELL JOYCE, A. B.

The superintendent of the Hamilton public schools is a native of Butler county, born at Venice, Ross township. March 12, 1874. Very few young men have made as rapid advancement in the educational field as Professor Joyce. His success is due largely to his own unaided efforts, being en- dowed from early youth with those truly American characteristics, independence and self-reliance.

Darrell Joyce is a son of Col. Robert Toyce, who was born in Hamilton county. Ohio, on the 6th of December. 1830. He received a liberal education in his youth, and in young manhood was a mechanic by occupation. At the outbreak of the Civil war he organized a company of volunteers for the Ninety-third Ohio Infantry, and en- tered the service as a captain. By subse- quent promotions during his term of three years at the front he reached the rank of lieutenant colonel of his regiment.

Since the close of the war Colonel Joyce has been almost entirely employed in the government service. For fourteen years he was United States deputy collector at Ham- ilton. and subsequently held a similar posi- tion at Cincinnati, which position he held until his death. on May 15, 1904. During the opening to settlement of the Indian lands in Oklahoma territory, he served two or

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three years as one of the commissioners of experience as an instructor he entered Miami the United States land office.

The mother of Professor Joyce was, in maidenhood, Miss Isabel Townsend, who was born at Moscow, Rush county, Indiana, on the 11th of June, 1832. The family home has been located at Venice, Butler county, for many years. These were the parents of nine children, six of whom are now living.

Darrell. of this sketch, is the youngest of the family. Two of the children died in early childhood, and Robert P., a promis- ing young physician, died at the age of thir- ty-four years, on the IIth of December, 1896. He was a young man of bright pros- pects for future prominence and usefulness. He was graduated from the National Nor- mal University of Lebanon, Ohio, and from Ohio Medical College, at Cincinnati. Dr. Robert P. was the third child in order of birth. The eldest of the family is Alfred R., at present engaged with a school-supply company, but formerly was a prominent teacher for a number of years. Ella. the second born. is the wife of Ellis N. Demoret, a prosperous farmer at Atchison, Kansas. Gwendolyn is the wife of Walter Burnham, of Cincinnati. Sheridan is a farmer and fruit grower in the state of Washington. Walter is manager of a lumber company at Mulhall, Oklahoma. The subject of this re- view received his elementary education in the public schools of Venice. his native town. At the age of eighteen he began teaching in the country schools and after three years' experience in the "poor man's college" he was elected superintendent of the schools of Venice. During his previous teaching, and also while employed in his native village, he pursued a systematic course of study in preparation for college. After six years'

University at Oxford, Ohio, and his thor- ough preparation enabled him to complete a four-years classical course in two and a half years. During his last term in the uni- versity he was elected principal of the Co- lumbian school in Hamilton, and entered upon the discharge of his duties in that con- nection in April. 1903. Two months later he received his diploma from Miami, con- ferring the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In .August. 1903. Professor Joyce was elected superintendent of the city school in compe- tition with a number of distinguished edu- cators. He entered upon the discharge of his duties with the beginning of the present school year, succeeding to the position made vacant by the death of Prof. S. L. Rose. In the administration of his official duties Pro- fessor Joyce has charge of one hundred and nine teachers and a total school enrollment of four thousand pupils. In the discharge of his onerous duties, the efforts of Profes- sor Joyce are seconded by an able corps of assistants in the teaching force of the city. The schools are under excellent discipline and all seem to be working zealously to the desirable and commendable end-universal education.

Darrell Joyce was united in marriage August 30. 1898. when he chose Miss Hen- rietta Clay Bedinger as his life companion. She is a lady of exalted educational attain- ments and many charms of person and char- acter. Mrs. Joyce is a native of Ross town- ship and a daughter of Benjamin F. and . Harriett (Cilley) Bedinger. She was edu- cated in the public schools, at Bellewood Seminary. Anchorage, Kentucky, and grad- uated from Miami University in the same class with her husband.

Mrs. Joyce is a Presbyterian in her re-

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ligious affiliations, that church being the re- ligious home of her parents. In like man- ner Professor Joyce is a Methodist, through a long line of ancestors of that religious faith. His father and the renowned Bishop Joyce, of the Methodist Episcopal church, were cousins. The only social fraternity with which the Professor is now connected is the Knights of Pythias.

CALVIN S. HUNTER.

Distinctively one of the notable men of his day and generation in Butler county, and for many years a leader and authority in lines of endeavor requiring wide intelligence, mature judgment and a high order of busi- ness talent, it is fitting that the career of Calvin Symines Hunter be outlined in this connection and that a tribute to his worth as a citizen be accorded him. The Hunter family is of Scotch-Irish origin and was first represented in the United States by the subject's grandfather, who came from Scot- land in an early day and settled in southern Ohio when Butler county was considered on the western boundary of civilization. His wife's maiden name was Jane Noble, daugh- ter of the merchant, William Noble, who erected the first row of four-story buildings in Cincinnati. William Noble Hunter, fa- ther of Calvin S. Hunter, was born in this county and spent his life within its borders. He was a thrifty farmer and a leading citi- zen, took an active interest in public affairs and for many years was an influential fac- tor in the Democratic party, but after the nomination of John C. Fremont he changed his political views and became a zealous Re-

publican. Esther Symmes, who became the wife of William N. Hunter, was a member of an old and distinguished English family, the genealogy of which is traceable in a di- rect line to one William B. Symmes, who lived in Canterbury, England, as long ago as the beginning of the sixteenth century. Some years later the family immigrated to America and settled on Long Island, New York, where the name subsequently be- came prominent in local as well as general colonial affairs. Among the most noted of this family was John Cleves Symmes, who was born on Long Island in the year 1742, and who served as delegate to the conti- nental congress in 1785, being at that time one of the most learned and distinguished jurists on the American continent. He served as judge of the Northwest territory and in 1788 obtained from congress a grant of a million acres of land between the Ohio and Miami rivers on which he afterwards established the settlements of North Bend and Cincinnati, having been the founder of those two cities and a number of other places which are now among the most flour- ishing of Ohio's prominent industrial and business centers. Mr. Symmes was not only one of the notable jurists of his day, but as the leader of civilization in a new and prom- ising country, and the originator of large and important public enterprises for the devel- opment of the same, was perhaps without a peer in the early history of the West. He took an active interest in the growth of Cin- cinnati and shortly after founding the town moved to it and there resided until his death, on February 26, 1814.

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Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 106

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1149

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others
Publication date: 1905
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1149