Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 68

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 68

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blood and highest grade; indeed everything on his place suggests the care and pains- taking effort characteristic of the first-class agriculturist, who believes in prosecuting his labors by the most advanced methods and is satisfied with nothing but the largest results. Mr. Block's home is admirably situ- ated and is a model of neatness as well as comfort, his residence being well built, beautiful in appearance and with its attract- ive surroundings it impresses the passerby as the dwelling place of a man of intelligence and enterprise, who is prosperous and satis- fied with his lot. The farm is a valuable one and every dollar which it represents, to- gether with the liberal amount of personal property and the private capital in his pos- session, is the legitimate fruit of his own toil, as he began life poor and by sheer grit and long continued effort forced from for- tune the favors which that fickle goddess would not otherwise have bestowed.

Like all good citizens, Mr. Block takes a lively interest in public affairs and believes that every true lover of his country should to some extent be a politician. He reads much, keeps himself well informed relative to current events and the great questions upon which men differ and parties divide. and ever since attaining his majority he has been a zealous Democrat and a fearless ad- vocate of the principles which he upholds. In party circles he has been a judicious counsellor. a good organizer and an effect- ive and untiring worker in campaign years. and though never an office seeker nor an aspirant for leadership. he has been twice elected trustee of his township. the duties of which position he discharged in an emi- nently satisfactory and business-like man- ner. He has always been an ardent friend

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and earnest advocate of education, his in- terest in behalf of public institutions lead- ing the people of his township some years ago to elect him a member of the school board. While identified with that body, he served in the capacity of presiding officer, clerk and treasurer, and it fell to him to hold similar positions on the board in charge of the special school at Port Union. Mr. Block is a believer in organized meas- ures for the promotion of charity and benevolence, and secret fraternal societies, if founded upon correct principles and properly conducted, also have his endorse- ment and support. Indeed, any laudable movement having for its object mutual helpfulness, the alleviation of distress and the moral good of man is sure to enlist his hearty co-operation, as all such organiza- tions are agencies for the uplifting of hu- manity and in his judgment should be en- couraged by every lover and well wisher of his kind. For some years past Mr. Block has been a member of Lodge No. 552, Knights of Pythias, at Port Union, in which he now holds the title of past chan- cellor, and which he has represented on two occasions in the grand lodge of Ohio, the first time at the session held in Springfield, the second when the body convened in the city of Cincinnati.

Mr. Block and wife are respected and consistent members of the St. John's Evan- gelical church in the city of Hamilton, and are deeply interested in its various lines of religious and benevolent work, also liberal contributors to the support of the congre- gation and all missionary and other activities under the supervision thereof. Their marriage has been blessed with seven chil-

dren, whose names in order of birth are Freddie, Otto, Rhea, Bernice, Wilmore, Harlin and Edna, all living at home.

FRANK HAMMERLE.

Frank Hammerle, councilman at large in the city of Hamilton, was born in Bavaria, Germany, April 11, 1838. At the age of six years he was left an orphan, and three years later he was brought by his brothers, John and Frederick, to America. Two sisters accompanied them and two other sisters had arrived three years pre- viously. It is sad to relate that this family was never afterward all together. The younger ones found homes among strangers and were reared amid hardships and pri- vations. The older brothers went west, the sisters married, and Frank knew but little of his family after arriving in America. For a number of years he lived with a family in Dearborn county, Indiana. His education was acquired largely by reading and study after he grew to young manhood. He be- lieves that he is now the only survivor of his family. There were eleven children, of whom he was the youngest. Mr. Ham- merle knows but little of his family geneal- ogy. He remembers that his father's name was John and his mother's .Elizabeth.

At the age of fifteen years Mr. Ham- merle began an apprenticeship to the gun- smith's trade, in Harrison, Ohio, and this has been his life work. On the 13th of March, 1862, he came to Hamilton, and was employed by the United States government in the remodeling of arms and in making

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birth are il'ilmore je.

n at large bom in ;8. At the orphan, and ght by his o America n and two : years pre- : this family ether. The ng strangers ips and pri- ent west, the ew but Erk merica. For 1 a family in is educatie g and study wod. He be survivor of children, of Mr. Ham- mily gerea !- ather's name lizabeth. s Mr. Ham- to the gun- lio, and this the 13th ới ton, and was government d in making

' new guns for the army, he being four years der of United Workmen. The religious employed in this work.

On the 15th of October, 1863, Mr. Hammerle married Miss Catharine Meyer. who was born on the 7th of October, 1842, in the house which has since been her home. She is a daughter of Henry and Eva Myers. the former a native of Switzerland, and the latter born in Bavaria. Both are long since deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Hammerle have a family of three sons and one daughter. The eldest is Henry, a trusted employe of FREEMAN COMPTON. the Second National Bank in this city. He Freeman Compton, a well-known busi- ness man of Hamilton, was born on a farm in Hamilton county, Ohio, on the 21st of May, 1831. The family from which he is descended has been represented in southern Ohio for considerably more than a hundred years. It was established in Cincinnati by also served several years in the mail service, in Hamilton, being assistant postmaster for two years. He married Miss Grace Sheley. Frank learned the gunsmith's trade with his father, but is now in mercantile business. His wife was Miss Etta, daughter of Frank Brown, of Morning Sun, Ohio. Louisa be- came the wife of Allison Grover, a me- chanical engineer in Milwaukee. Fred M. the paternal grandfather of this subject as is a civil engineer by profession and lives at home with his parents.

Mr. Hammerle has achieved success in his life work and has attained to a position of prominence in social and political affairs. He began his official career as trustee of St. Clair township, West Hamilton, being then under the township system. He served four years in that capacity. He was a member of the Hamilton board of education for six- teen years without intermission. In April, 1903, he was elected councilman at large for the city, and is now serving in that capacity. Mr. Hammerle has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for thirty-five years, and has passed all the of- ficial stations both in the subordinate lodge and the encampment. He is a member of the Knights of Honor and the Ancient Or-

home of the family is with St. John's Ger- man Evangelical church. In political views Mr. Hammerle has been a lifelong Demo- crat and has taken an active interest in po- litical affairs, both local and general. He is a pleasant, agreeable old gentleman, well- informed upon current events, and well and favorably known in the county.

early as 1796, Jacob Compton being the founder of the family on Ohio soil. He came across the mountains from New Jersey by the then only available route. While passing through Kentucky, en route from New Jersey to Cincinnati, Abraham, the father of the subject, was born, his birth occurring on the 29th of February, 1796. The family located in Cincinnati, little dreaming that it would ever become the metropolis of Ohio and the Queen City of the West. The exploits of Boone and Si- mon Kenton were more a subject of discus- sion among the few residents than the pos- sibilities of a great city, while the "dark and bloody ground," the daring deeds of the few adventurous white settlers, and the murder- ous treachery of the Indians were themes familiar to all. Jacob Compton located with

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his family among the early pioneers of Cin- cinnati, and there followed his trade, that of a cooper, until his death.

His son Abraham learned the carpenter's trade in young manhood and followed that business throughout his life. He married Miss Abigail Phillips, with whom he set- tled on a small farm near Mt. Pleasant, at which place he died at the age of eighty- seven years. His wife survived him a few years, and died at the age of ninety years. They were the parents of five sons and five daughters, most of whom have passed to the other shore. Their names were Cather- ine, Oliver P .. Orminah, Sarah, Freeman, Alvira. Alfred. John A., Spencer P. and Hannah. Two of the brothers, Oliver P. and John A., lost their lives in the Civil war. The former died in the hospital at Keokuk, Iowa. as a result of exposures at the battle of Shiloh. John .A. was color bearer of the Sixty-ninth Ohio Infantry, and was killed in the battle of Resaca. The post of the Grand Army of the Republic in Hamil- ton bears the name of this martyr to the cause of union and liberty, an honor to his memory most worthily bestowed. Freeman Compton, of this review, spent his early life in Mt. Pleasant and acquired a common- school education at the Pleasant Run school house, in the vicinity of his birthplace. IIe became apprenticed to the carpenter's trade in Hamilton, and began his mechanical career on a salary of eight dollars for his first month's services, and fifty cents per day for the second month, the recompense increasing as greater efficiency was dem- onstrated. It was in the fall of 1852 that he came to Hamilton, where he worked at his trade for about four years. But the spirit of emigration was abroad in the land

and he decided to cast his fortunes with the new West. In 1856 he took up his residence in Keokuk, Iowa, and there began his life work in general contracting. After three years spent there, he returned to his native town and continued his mechanical oper- ations there for several years. In 1864 he enlisted at Mt. Pleasant as a member of Company F. One Hundred and Thirty- eighth Ohio Infantry, rendering worthy service to his country, the duration of his term being short, owing to the early ter- mination of hostilities. After an absence of ten years, he returned to Hamilton in 1866 and has since been a continuous resi- dent of this city. Since 1867 Mr. Comp- ton has conducted a very extensive business as a building contractor, and since 1884 he has operated in connection a large and lu- crative lumber business. He has long been recognized as one of the leading contractors in the city, and many of the finest buildings, both public and private, bear the marks of his handiwork. He was the original con- tractor for the erection of the county in- firmary building. which cost eighty-five thousand dollars, also for the Butler county court house, which cost over three hundred thousand dollars, on each of which Mr. Compton had the contract for the entire work. Many of the handsomest and most elaborate residences of the city were also constructed by him and his corps of skilled workmen. . It would be impossible to enumerate within the confines of the nar- rowed space afforded all of the evidences of Mr. Compton's superior skill as a work- man, thorough-going mechanic and safe and reliable business man. Suffice to say that there has never been any necessity for his seeking contracts abroad and all his labors

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have been confined to Butler county. He of local Odd Fellowship. On their de- gives employment, in season, to a large nun- ber of wage earners, therein contributing materially to the support of many worthy families, as well as to the advancement and growth of his home city.

Mr. Compton has been twice married. his first wife being Miss Josephine Smith. of Mt. Pleasant, Ohio. She died on the 16th of July. 1886, leaving two sons, George .1. and Charles L. Three daughters born to this union died in infancy and early child- hood. In February. 1889. Mr. Compton was united . in marriage with his pre-ent companion, who in maidenhood was Miss Marietta Lashhorn, a native of Hamilton. For many years they occupied a beautiful home situated on Campbell avenue, one of the handsomest and best-kept thoroughfares in the city, but at present the family resi- dence is on Williams street. The home is elaborate and evinces the taste and archi- tectural skill of its designer. But the do- mestic happiness, peace and tranquility which emanate from the home fireside are vastly more pleasurable than the environ- ments of a loveless home, however elegant.

Mr. Compton has been a member of the Odd Fellows fraternity for fifty years and takes an active interest in the deliberations of that time-honored body. The motto of the order has a meaning to him throughout all his associations with men. Mr. Comp- ton is the sire of Odd Fellowship in this section of the state. On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his initiation the fra- ternity in Hamilton made it an event of merry making and good fellowship. They gave Brother Compton a surprise in token of their brotherly regard and spent an even- ing long to be remembered in the annals

parture. the brotherhood left tangible evi- dence of their high appreciation of Brother Compton and his long-continued adherence to the principles of the order. Fifty years of continuous membership in a fraternal or- der give unquestioned evidence of the con- scientious appreciation of the persisting member and is an achievement to which very few men ever attain. But the followers of Wildey and Fidgeley, and their three as- sociates, in establishing this beneficent as- sociation on American soil are imbued with the cardinal principles of the fatherbood of God and the brotherhood of man.

In religious affiliation Mr. Compton is prominently associated with the Christian church. He was a member of its first of- ficial board, and has always taken an active interest in religious work. His parents were devout members of the Old-school Baptist church, in which faith their lives were spent.

In political views Mr. Compton adheres to the principles of the Republican party. In Butler county this means ostracism from po- litical honors, since the opposing party is largely in the ascendancy. It is truly re- freshing to find a man whose political prin- ciples are founded on the basis of fire-tested Republicanism and in open defiance of the allurements of political preferment.

Mr. Compton is a man devoted to his business interests, but not to the exclusion of the social and domestic endearments of life. He exercises a broad philanthropy, is generous and open-handed in the relief of worthy distressed humanity, and public- spirited and enterprising in the advancement of the city's interests. As a citizen, no man sustains a more exalted station among Ham-

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ilton's corps of prosperous business men than Freeman Compton.

The sons are engaged in business, George A. being associated with his father. He is married and has one son, Clarence. Charles L. is employed in the office of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad in Chicago. He is married, and has two children, Florence and Isabelle. .

Mr. Compton was the nominee of his party for the office of county commissioner in 1903, and received a majority of the votes at the polls, as his friends believe and have often expressed their views unequivocally. The process by which his opponent secured the office is unexplained, except that the re- turns from two precincts which went de- cidedly for the Democratic nominee did not appear for consideration of the election board until some time after due there.

PROF. EDWARD PAYSON THOMPSON.

Among the many illustrious educators of of Ohio few have achieved as honorable dis- tinction as Prof. Edward Payson Thomp- son, of Oxford. In the hearts of his fellow citizens the name will ever occupy a con- spicuous place, and for generations to come his record is destined to be handed down from parent to child as the exemplification of success in his chosen field of endeavor and an example eminently worthy of emu- lation.

Professor Thompson is a native of De- Kalb county, Illinois, and the son of Rev. Samuel Findley Thompson, now living at Redding, Iowa, and Eleanor Kerr Given

Thompson, who departed this life at Tarkio, Missouri, in February, 1891. The father, long a leading minister of the United Pres- byterian church, has served congregations in different states and, though not as active as in former years, is still engaged in the noble work to which his life and energies have been consecrated. He was pastor of the church at Lawrence, Massachusetts, for a number of years, and from New England moved to Illinois, where he served the con- gregations at Ross Grove, Zion and other places, subsequently being transferred to Dickson, Tennessee, where he labored with great acceptance until called to another field in the Northwest. The mother of Professor Thompson, a lady of beautiful character and super-intellectual attainments, was of Scotch-Irish lineage and a direct descendant of Joseph Dixon, of Dublin, who fought with distinguished bravery in the siege of Derry and was also a grenadier in the army of William III at the battle of the Boyne in 1690, later serving with the noted Ennis- killen Dragoons, which took such a con- . spicuous and distinguished part in the bloody engagement at Aughrim on July 12, 1691. Mrs. Thompson was born in the town of Cullybackey, County Antrim, Ireland, and in 1844, when fourteen years of age, ac- companied her parents to the United States, settling at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, where she grew to maturity. After a thorough educational training she engaged in teach- ing, which profession she followed for a number of years, spending the five years im- mediately preceding her marriage in the public schools of Allegheny, a woman of no- ble aims and high ideals. Mrs. Thompson early impressed upon the minds and hearts of her children the necessity of correct liv-

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ing, and to her wise and judicious instruc- tion they are largely indebted for the in- spiration, refined tastes and honorable tend- encies by which their subsequent lives were characterized.

Edward Payson Thompson was born .on May 4, 1858, and spent his early life in his Illinois home and also in Tennessee, receiv- ing his preliminary education in the public schools of those states. A naturally strong and inquiring mind, combined with an ar- dent desire to rise superior to a common school training, early led him to lay plans for a future of usefulness, accordingly, in 1875, he entered Monmouth College, Il- linois, where he pursued the studies of the regular classical curriculum until his gradu- ation, four years later, achieving an honor- able record in all of his studies, especially in mathematics, for which he always mani- fested peculiar aptness and talent and which he has since followed as a life pursuit. Shortly after completing his collegiate course Professor Thompson decided to de- vote his life to teaching, as educational work to one of his tastes and training afforded the most obvious and promising openings; ac- cordingly he began his labors in this line by taking charge of a country school about four miles south of Biggsville, Illinois, where he had the usual opportunities and valuable ex- periences which come to almost every peda- gogue in his first attempts at imparting in- struction and administering discipline. He succeeded admirably with this school and at the close of the term accepted the chair of mathematics in Geneva College, at Beaver

University. In the fall of 1891 Professor Thompson removed with his family to New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, to teach mathe- matics and chemistry in Westmoreland Col- lege, an institution under the auspices of the United Presbyterian church, where he re- mained for two years, during which time he added greatly to his reputation as a profound mathematician and successful instructor. Receiving a call to the chair of mathe- matics and astronomy in Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, at the expiration of the time noted, lie severed his connection with West- moreland College and, entering the latter in- stitution in the fall of 1893, has continued a member of the faculty to the present time, his labors the meanwhile winning the con- fidence and respect of associate professors and students, besides earning for him much more than local repute as a profound and erudite scholar in the branches to which. his abilities are being devoted. Professor Thompson prepared himself for his life work by long, arduous study and painstak- ing research, availing himself of every op- portunity to increase his knowledge and add to his skill and efficiency as a teacher. To these ends he took the special course in Johns Hopkins University referred to in a preceding paragraph, and in addition thereto attended several summer terms at Harvard and Cornell Universities, where, under the direction of some of the most distinguished specialists of the day, he received the train- ing which has since made him so efficient in his class work and earned him the honor- able reputation which he now enjoys among

Falls, Pennsylvania, where he taught con- . the leading educators of the Buckeye state. tinuously for a period of ten years, resign- As a mathematician Professor Thomp- son has few equals and no superiors in this country, and his methods of teaching the ing his position in 1890 for the purpose of taking a year's course in Johns Hopkins

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most exacting of the sciences, many of them original, are as clear, explicit and successful as his knowledge is profound. He was led to the especial field from taste and afforded opportunities and, as already indicated, he has accompanied his work with constant ef- fort at self-improvement. In addition to the responsible and exacting duties of his pro- fessorship, he has done considerable special work, besides publishing two technical books, one a laboratory guide on qualitative analysis in chemistry, the other a collection of problems in mathematical physics. Pro- fessor Thompson aims to be practical in his teaching and to this end has done consider- able teaching, surveying and civil engineer- ing in connection with his class work, taking his students with him on these expeditions so as to give them the benefit of actual ex- perience as well as of theoretical knowledge. Quite a number of his former pupils are now occupying useful public and professional positions in different parts of the country. and wherever located, their services have proven eminently satisfactory, thus reflect- ing credit upon their alma mater, and es- pecially upon the tireless and obliging pro- fessor who spared no efforts to fit them for the profession in which they have achieved such signal honor and usefulness.

Professor Thompson has always been a close student and as such keeps in close touch with the trend of scientific and general educational thought, being a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Mathematical So- ciety, and the National Teachers' Associa- tion, having attended two sessions of the last- named body, besides meeting with the Na- tional Congress of Mathematicians at Paris, France, in the summer of 1900, during his dustry and rapid progress and it is emi-

visit to the great international exposition of that year.

Professor Thompson was married, at Biggsville, Illinois, on June 23, 1881, to Miss Mary Eleanor Rankin, whose father. Samuel S. Rankin, a representative of a sturdy Scotch-Irish family, settled in Indi- ana in an. early day. removing thence to western Illinois shortly after the close of the Black Hawk war. The Rankins have long been noted for sound, practical intelligence and business capacity, one of the best known of the name being David Rankin, of Tarkio, Missouri, who for many years has been one of the wealthiest farmers and most ex- tensive stockmen in the United States. Professor and Mrs. Thompson are the par- ents of six children, namely : Harriet Elea- nor, born at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, Oc- tober 21, 1882, and Harry Somerville, whose birth occurred at the same place on the 19th of February, 1885, and who died there Feb- ruary 22. 1887; William Howard and Samuel Edward were also born at Beaver Falls, the former on the 26th of May, 1887, the latter November 4, 1889; Riba Geneva was born June 8, 1892, at New Wilming- ton, Pennsylvania, and Caroline Rankin, the youngest of the family, first saw the light of day at Oxford, Ohio, on April 8. 1902. The Professor has an interesting family and, be- ing a man of domestic tastes, takes great pride in his home. His wife has been his true helpmeet and wise counsellor all the days of their married life and they are spar- ing neither pains nor expense in training their children to lives of honor and useful- ness.

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Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 68

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