Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 66

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 66

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Citizen to Charles W. Stivers, of Liberty, Indiana, and in July of this year he returned to his old home in Hamilton. In May, 1892, he became editor and business manager of the Paulding (Ohio) Democrat. The paper was owned by Hon. N. R. Hysell, ex- speaker of the lower house of the general assembly, and Hon. M. F. Eggerman, ex-

representative of Hardin county. Mr. Cone and Tom Law were the founders of Talawanda Council, No. 266, Royal Arca- num, of Oxford, Ohio, where he still retains his membership. Mr. Cone's first literary effort was in 1878, when he wrote a series of seventeen articles for the Butler County Democrat on "The Early Condition of This Valley" (the Miami). He has recently be- come a life member of the Ohio Archeologi- cal and Historical Society, for literary work furnished.

To the subject of this review belongs. the distinction of being the oldest physi- cian in Middletown, and it is also a fact worthy of note that there is now but one can claim a continuous residence in the city since the year 1849. Dr. Charles S. Barnitz is descended paternally from Ger- man ancestry, but the family has been rep- resented in America for several generations, his forefathers having come to this country in colonial times and settled in the south- eastern part of Pennsylvania. The Doctor

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is a native of the Keystone state and was born in the old historic county of New York, on March 23, 1830. By reason of the wealth and high social standing of his parents, he enjoyed excellent educational advantages, and after receiving his early training in private schools he completed an academic course, thus laying broad and deep a sub- stantial foundation for his future career in

the professional and business world. A brother and two sisters of the subject hav- ing settled in Butler county, Ohio, he paid them a visit when a young man and while here decided to remain and take up the study of medicine. Accordingly he entered the office of his brother-in-law, Dr. G. E. Wampler, of Middletown, where he prose- cuted his studies and researches until be- coming a student of the Pennsylvania Medical College. Philadelphia, from which institution he was graduated in the year 1854. Immediately after receiving his de- gree he opened an office in Middletown and engaged in the practice of his profession and later became identified with various local enterprises, including among others the Globe Paper Company, which he helped or- ganize and of which he subsequently be- came secretary and ultimately one of the proprietors. About the year 1877 he en- gaged in the drug business, which he car- ried on in connection with his profession and other interests for a period of ten years, and at the same time looked after a large and lucrative insurance agency which he es- tablished in 1866.

Dr. Barnitz has led a very active life and his career presents a series of continued successes, which have made him one of the most enterprising and prosperous men in the city of his residence, also one of the

most widely known and popular. To the extent of his ability he has aided the progress and advancement of Middletown and Butler county, faithfully performing the duties of citizenship and discharging with commendable fidelity every trust re- posed in him by his fellow men. He has given his encouragement and support to every laudable undertaking for the public welfare and his position in the esteem and friendship of the community has given him prestige and influence such as few of his contemporaries exercise. Originally the Doctor was a Whig, but when that old party accomplished its mission and ceased to exist, he gave his support to its successor and has ever since been an earnest and zeal- ous Republican. Fraternally, he belongs to the Knights of Honor, being a charter mem- ber of the organization in Middletown, and in religion is a Presbyterian, holding at this time the position of deacon in the congrega- tion with which he is identified.

In the year 1855 Dr. Barnitz contracted a matrimonial alliance with Miss Anna L. Brashear, who was born and reared in Butler county, the marriage resulting in the birth of five children, two sons and three daughters, the oldest being Bertha, whose birth occurred in December, 1855. C. G. Barnitz served in the late Spanish-American war as a member of the Fourteenth United States Infantry, rose to the position of sergeant of his company and died in the Philippine Islands on December 26, 1901. Gardener E., the second son, was born in the month of February, 1866. Bertha, who married R. M. Wirt, lives in Pennsylvania, as does also Mary R., the second daughter, and Mrs. Clara Guchel, the youngest of the family, makes her home in Middletown.

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WALTER W. WHARTON.

The family of which the subject of this review is an honored representative has been identified with Butler county since the pioneer period and prior to that time was well known in Sussex county, Delaware, where the remote ancestors settled before the war for independence. Benjamin Wharton, father of the subject, was born in the latter county and state, and when a youth of eighteen came to Butler county, Ohio, where he soon afterward married Miss Sarah Drullinger, who was born near Fort Union and whose parents were among the pioneer settlers of what is now Union township. Benjamin Wharton came west, poor in this world's goods, but rich in those sterling attributes of manhood which lie at the foundation of every successful career. Industrious, energetic, and possessing sound practical intelligence, he soon overcame the difficulties by which he was surrounded, and in due time judiciously invested his earnings in lands which could then be pur- chased in Union township for five dollars per acre. In the course of a few years he found himself the possessor of one hundred and thirty acres, the greater part of which he cleared and otherwise improved, and the farm he developed became one of the most productive and valuable not only in the township of Union, but in Butler county. Benjamin Wharton was a man of enterpris- ing spirit, a model farmer, and met with financial success such as few of his neigh- bors attained. He and his good wife spent the greater part of their lives on their town- ship farm and died on the same a number of years ago, leaving a family of six children, five of whom are living, the majority resi-

dents of the county and state in which they were born and raised.

Walter W. Wharton, the eldest of the children of Benjamin and Sarah Wharton, is a native of Butler county, Ohio, born on the farm in Union township which he now owns, July 1, 1833. Being the eldest of the family, he early learned the lessons of in- dustry and frugality. and as soon as able to be of service he took his place in the fields, and it was not long until he could do a man's part at almost any kind of farm labor. He helped clear a goodly part of the land, and, while still a youth, assumed much of the responsibility of its cultivation, the meantime, of winter months, attending the schools of the neighborhood until acquir- ing a full knowledge of the training taught.

Mr. Wharton remained at his home until the breaking out of the great rebellion, when, with many other loyal young men throughout the country, he exchanged the implements of husbandry for the death- dealing weapons of warfare. On August 6, 1862, he enlisted in Company I, Eighty- third Ohio Infantry, and immediately there- after proceeded to the front, experiencing his first baptism of fire at the battle of Ar- kansas Post, following which he partici- pated in a number of bloody engagements, including the siege and capture of Vicks- burg, thence to New Orleans, where he joined Banks' ill-fated expedition up Red river and after taking part in all the fight- ing connected therewith accompanied his command through various other campaigns, closing his active service in the battle of Blakely, Alabama. Mr. Wharton gave three of his best years to the service of his country, during which period his military experience was not only active, but exceed-

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ingly arduous and dangerous, as is attested by the fact of his regiment having mustered one thousand men strong at the time of enlistment, of which number there were only two hundred and eighty survivors at the close of the war. In July, 1865, he left Galveston, Texas, for Camp Dennison, Ohio, where he received his discharge, after which he returned home, and the day fol- lowing his arrival found him at work in the harvest-field, a kind of labor to which he had been long unused.

Mr. Wharton remained on the home farm assisting in its cultivation and man- agement until he engaged in agricultural pursuits upon his own responsibility, in due season purchasing one hundred and sixteen acres of land in Williamson county, Illinois, which he improved and on which he resided during the twenty years following. At the expiration of the time noted he disposed of his real estate and other interests in Illinois and returned to Butler county, purchasing the old homestead, which was endeared to him by so many fond recollections and ten- der associations, and on which he has since lived and prospered. Mr. Wharton's farm, consisting of one hundred fine acres of fer- tile and valuable land, is well situated for agricultural and live-stock purposes and ranks with the best improved and most pro- ductive places in the township of Union. Since taking possession he has added many substantial improvements, his buildings of all kinds being first-class and up-to-date, and no reasonable pains or expense have been spared to make the home beautiful and at- tractive in all the terms imply. As an agri- culturist, Mr. Wharton stands in the front rank, being energetic and systematic in his management, and his present comfortable

circumstances and the ample competence which he has laid by for his declining years speak well for his progress and success as one of the enterprising, independent farmers of today.

In state and national issues Mr. Whar- ton is a Republican, but in matters purely local he not infrequently rises above party and gives his support to the best qualified candidate. He is first of all an American and exceedingly proud of his citizenship, under a government for which he has ever manifested an intense loyalty and for the preservation of which he experienced so many hardships and dangers while follow- ing the flag throughout the Southland. His is indeed a true and lofty patriotism and in times of peace, as well as in war, he keeps this spirit alive, considering the love of country. and willingness to defend it, his highest duty, and everything else subordin- ate thereto. He joined the Grand Army of the Republic while living in Illinois, and has ever since been a zealous member of the organization, nothing pleasing him better than to meet in the local post the old com- rades who, in the days that tried men's souls, stood shoulder to shoulder, under the folds of the stars and stripes, and successfully withstood and drove back the armed hosts of treason which were bent upon the de- struction of what every true American pa- triot holds dear and sacred.

Some years ago Mr. Wharton estab- lished a ceremony of decoration akin to the regular Decoration Day exercises, but purely local in its character, being confined to the adorning of soldier graves in his own community alone. The first of these exer- cises was held at his home, and a great many people were present, the day being

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pleasantly spent in recounting incidents of the past, recalling to memory the beloved dead, the ceremony being interspersed with eloquent speeches and appropriate music, making a day long to be remembered. Since then many such meetings have been held at his place, the last of which was on the Sunday following Decoration Day, 1903, at- tended by an immense concourse of people, over one hundred of whom were enter- tained at his own table in a gratuitous and mutually happy and agreeable feast. Mr. Wharton manifests a pardonable pride in these anniversary occasions and spares no time nor expense in making them answer the purposes for which instituted, procuring fine music and popular orators, besides pro- viding many other features calculated to keep in memory the fallen heroes, arouse sentiments of patriotism and add to the general feeling and appropriate enjoyment of the day. He is seldom absent from any meeting of the Grand Army of the Republic post to which he belongs, and only sickness or some unavoidable exigency is permitted to keep him from attending the national en- campments, be they far or near.

more respected in the social circles. His career has been eminently honorable, and in the future as in the past, his patriotism will be extolled, his conduct commended and his life be pointed to as an example worthy of emulation.

D. D. DENEEN, M. D.

A representative of one of the honored pioneer families of Butler county and known as one of the skilled and popular young members of the medical profession in the state, Dr. Deneen is successfully established in practice in Oxford. He was born on the homestead farm, in Reily township, this county, on the 14th of March, 1873, being a son of Alfred and Emma (Hancock) Deneen. Alexander Deneen, grandfather of the subject, was born in Cincinnati, this state, and when a mere boy came with his parents to Butler county, the family locating in Reily township, where he was reared to maturity, there passing the remainder of his life in agricultural pursuits. He was a man of influence in public affairs, having been a stanch Democrat in his political proclivities and having been at one time elected county auditor, for which office he refused to qualify. His son Alfred, father of the Doc- tor, was reared on the old home farm and continued to be identified with agriculture in his native township for a number of years, finally removing to Boone county, Indiana, thence to Topeka, Kansas, the Doctor being their only child.

Mr. Wharton is a man of wide intel- ligence and has read much, being well in- formed upon a great many subjects, es- pecially the history of his country and the leading questions and issues of the day. He has strong convictions and decided opinions, the soundness of which he defends with tenacity when necessary, yet he is tolerant of the opinions of others, and ever ready to accord the same privileges of private judg- ment which he reserves for himself. Few men in the county are as widely and favor- Dr. Deneen was fifteen years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Kansas, ably known and none stand higher in the confidence and esteem of the public or are and he was later matriculated in Washburn

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College, in the city of Topeka. In 1893 he entered the National Normal School, in Lebanon, Ohio, where he was graduated in 1894, with the degree of Bachelor of Sci- ence. Shortly afterward he began his tech- nical education by entering upon a course of study in the Kansas Medical College, at Topeka, Kansas, and in 1896 he became a student in the Ohio Medical College, in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1897, receiving his coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine. Shortly after his graduation Dr. Deneen established himself in practice at Reily, in his native county, and there remained three years, at the expiration of which, in 1900, he removed to Oxford, where he has since been successfully engaged in the work of his noble profession, attaining prestige as a thoroughly skilled and discriminating physician and surgeon and enjoying marked personal popularity. He has devoted special study and labor to surgery, and in 1903 took post-graduate work in this line in various of the leading medical institutions in the city of Chicago. He is assistant surgeon for the Cincinnati. Hamilton & Dayton Railroad at Oxford, and is local medical examiner for the Hartford Life Insurance Company, also of the Canada Life Assurance Association, while he holds membership in the American Medical Association, the Union District Medical Society and the Butler County Medical Society. The Doctor and his wife are valued and active members of the Methodist Episcopal church in Oxford, and he also is a member of its official board. Fraternally, he is identified with Oxford Lodge, No. 67, Free and Accepted Masons. In politics he gives his allegiance to men or party that he believes to be in the right.

On the 11th of April, 1900, Dr. Deneen was united in marriage to Miss Laura R. Rentz, who was born in Cincinnati, Hamil- ton county, this state, on the 25th of August, 1872, being a daughter of Fer- dinand and Rebecca Rentz. Mrs. Deneen is an accomplished musician, having at- tended the Cincinnati College of Music, of Cincinnati.

PIERSON CORY CONKLIN.

The subject of this review is a native of Butler county and a descendant of one of the early established families in historic Reily township. His birth occurred on the 24th of January, 1833, and he has been a resident of his native county during his en- tire lifetime. Mr. Conklin is a man of deep learning and broad culture and has been a close student from choice rather than neces- sity. and has thus chosen books for his com- panions instead of the allurements of clubs, lodges and politics. Mr. Conklin laid the foundation of his liberal education in the public schools of Reily township and when quite young took a course at the Farmers' College, at College Hill, Hamilton county. This was supplemented by a classical course at the Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, where he was an associate of Benjamin Har- rison and was intimately acquainted with other noted men and women who claimed Miami as their alma mater and who have attained national renown in the world of affairs. After his graduation from Miami, in 1853, Mr. Conklin took up the legal pro- fession as his life work and prosecuted his studies with the same zeal and devotion which had characterized his college life.

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He was admitted to practice in 1856, and at once established his office in Hamilton, where by close application to professional duties he soon achieved success. For many years past Mr. Conklin has been considered one of the ablest lawyers at the Butler county bar. He is only a lawyer, and de- sires to be nothing more. His qualifications would readily have placed him in line for political preferment, and in the race for supremacy he stood an equal chance with the most talented men in the city or county, but he persistently refused to enter politics or to foresake his chosen calling. In the performance of his professional duties Mr. Conklin is careful and painstaking, his counsels are conservative and deliberate, and his decisions accurate and in accordance with the best interests of his clients, who seek doubtful satisfaction at the end of a law- suit. He is far-seeing and sagacious and thoroughly conversant with law, while his desire for professional honors is modulated by a keen appreciation of justice and right. As a trial lawyer Mr. Conklin does not as- sume to sway judges and juries by appeals to prejudices, and flowery speeches, but makes his pleas by a plain, comprehensive statement of the evidence, backed by the law upon which his premises are taken. He is always fair and honorable in his claims, ' and this characteristic in his nature is fully recognized and commands respect from courts, juries and attorneys. He is prompt to take advantage of any weaknesses upon the part of opposing counsel, but tolerant and obliging in the correction of legal er- rors. He believes in "equal and exact jus- tice to all, special privileges to none." Mr. Conklin is a man of domestic habits who finds more pleasure around his home fire-

side than elsewhere, and has, throughout his life, divided his time between his home cir- cle and his place of business. He has never become identified with any secret organiza- tion nor taken more than ordinary interest in political or social affairs ..

The subject was married on the 23d of April. 1861, choosing for his companion in life Miss Margery, daughter of the late Dr. William H. Scobey, of Hamilton. Mrs. Conklin was born in Butler county in 1839. She was educated in the Hamilton public schools and at Oxford Female College. The only child born to this union was Miss Jessie, who was reared and educated with tender care : but as she reached the period of young womanhood, when the promises of life were greatest, she was stricken with disease and passed to the other shore. This was a ter- rible blow to the fond and loving parents, whose hearts were centered in the prospects of a long life of usefulness and happy com- panionship for this cherished daughter.

Pierson C. Conklin is a son of Pierson and Hannah ( Marsh) Conklin, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter born in Pennsylvania. Both parents ended their lives in Reily township and are interred in the Reily cemetery. The subject is the youngest child and only survivor of his fam- ily. He had one brother, Joseph M., the eld- est of a family of five, but who died in ma- ture life at Jerseyville, Illinois, leav- ing a wife and children. The second born was Hannah M., who died at the age of about twenty-four years, in 1841; Rebecca Ross, a married lady, died at Topeka, Kansas, in 1900; Sarah Gray died in Hamilton in 1864, the wife of David Gray. The subject's parents were married in Pennsylvania and came to

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Walnut Hills, Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1806, coming from New Jersey. The father died at the age of eighty-two years and the mother at the age of sixty-eight years.

GEORGE A. VAN DE GRIFF.

This well-known contractor and builder in Hamilton is a native of Cincinnati, born on the ed of March, 1845. His early years were spent in the schools of his native city, but at the age of thirteen he accompanied his parents to Hamilton, and the family home was established at Lindenwald. Here he again entered school, but, like many others of the youth of his day. his higher education was sacrificed for the perpetuity of the national union. He had scarcely passed his nineteenth birthday when, on the 14th of May, 1864, he enrolled as a member of Company F. One Hundred and Sixty- seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His term .of service was short and decisive, but oc- curred during a period when there was ac- tive work at the front. The Civil war had been in progress, with varying fortunes, for of the nation. In recognition of his interest and ability, he was appointed, in 1894, as a member of the soldiers' relief commission, and the wisdom of this selection was fully . emphasized by his reappointment, in 1895. for a term of three years. He was chosen secretary of the commission, and in this ca- pacity proved his efficiency and capability by the fullness, accuracy and completeness of his official records in the office. This appointment was made, as provided by law, through the judge of the common pleas court, and Judge Griffin conferred a merited honor in the selection of George Van De

three years, and the character of the na- tional foe had been demonstrated on many bloody fields; hence it was no experimental stage when the young man, too young to go earlier, responded to the President's call in 1864. Fortunately, however. the war was soon at an end, and the survivors were permitted to return to their homes in the full consciousness of duty well performed. Their loyalty and devotion to country were fully exemplified by the prompt response to the call, ignorant as they were of the pos- sibilities of the future. 28

Then young Van De Griff returned to his home and engaged in farming until 1867. But the life of a farmer was not congenial to his tastes, and he left that employment and took up the carpenter's trade. His in- structor was William D. Blackall. under whose capable tutorship the foundation of this practical and popular trade was laid. . Mr. Van De Griff continued the work alone. and soon launched out as a contractor on all classes of wood-work. This has been his life business until recently, in which he at- tained unvarying success. His handiwork is shown on many of the handsome and substantial buildings in Butler and adjacent counties, and he is recognized as a skillful and thoroughly reliable mechanic. But Mr. Van De Griff has not confined his labors alone to his profession. He early mani- fested an interest in the welfare of his late comrades in arms, and promptly allied him- self with the Grand Army of the Republic. in which he has ever shown an active in- terest in behalf of the "boys in blue." He served the local organization in various ca- pacities in prominent offices, and is ever ready to relieve the worthy distressed wards

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Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 66

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