USA > Ohio > Miami County > Troy > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 48
USA > Ohio > Miami County > Piqua > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 48
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FRANK E. D. KEPLINGER, secretary and treasurer of the Pioneer Pole and Shaft Company of Piqua, and addition- ally interested in other business enter- prises of importance, was born in 1867, at Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he was reared and educated.
Mr. Keplinger's first work was done in the supply department of the Pennsylva- nia Railroad, where he was employed for two years as a clerk, after which he was engaged for six years as bookkeeper in the First National Bank at Fort Wayne and subsequently for four years was as- sistant postmaster in that city. Mr. Kep- linger then served two years as traveling
auditor for the Fort Wayne Electrical Corporation. He then came to Ohio and embarked in the manufacture of poles and shafts, at Canton, where he owned a fac- tory in connection with his brothers, C. W. and W. E. Keplinger, and he continued there until he became Secretary and Treasurer of the Pioneer Pole and Shaft Company in 1903, when he came to Piqua. Hle is a stockholder and director in the Metropolitan Paving Brick Company, of Canton, and also a stockholder and direc- tor in the Imperial Rubber Company. He is a man of acknowledged business ability and occupies a prominent place in the commercial life of Pigna.
In 1890 Mr. Keplinger was married to Miss Clara Douglas Bond, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and they have one son, Living- stone Bond, who is a student in the Uni- versity of Wisconsin, at Madison. Mr. Keplinger and family are members of the Episcopal Church. He is identified with the Masonic bodies at Piqua and belongs also to the Piqua Club.
JAMES HARRISON ESTEY, general farmer and tobacco grower, residing on his fertile farm of seventy-two acres, which is situated in Section 25, Elizabeth Township, Miami County, was born near Conover, Miami County, Ohio, December 11, 1840. Ilis parents were Michael and Mary (Swindler) Estey.
David Estey, the grandfather, was an carly settler in Miami County. He en- tered 160 acres from the Government. get- ting a sheepskin deed for the same. This land was situated four miles northwest of Casstown and his life was spent in agri- cultural pursuits. He married Mary
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
Knoop and they had a family of nine chil- dren, as follows : Michael, James, Charles, George, William, Jotham, Mary, Lucy and Myra.
Michael Estey, father of James H., re- sided at home on his father's farm until after his wife's death. She left four chil- dren: Silas Virgil, who died while serv- ing as a soldier in the Civil War; James Harrison; Emily J., who married Silas French, and Alda Zera, who married Joseph French. In the spring of 1852, Michael Estey went to California and later to Montana, following mining for about two years, and then settled on a farm in Jasper County, Missouri, where he resided during the remainder of his life, being about eighty-five years old at the time of his death. He married a lady of Jasper County after locating there and the children of his second union still live in Missouri.
James H. Estey was a little boy when his mother died and he soon went to live with a Mr. Blaker, with whom he made his home until he entered the army. Ile first attended the Jones school, which was a log house in Lost Creek Township. and later had somewhat better advantages in the Lost Creek school, which was situated two and one-half miles north of Casstown. He had not much more than reached man- hood when the Civil War was declared and he enlisted in Company A, Forty- fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving for three years and ten months. lle took part in many important engagements, in- cluding Lewisburg, West Virginia, and Knoxville, Tennessee, in the almost con- tinnons skirmishing which was more dan- gerous than real fighting. He received a wound about his ankle, in one meeting
with the enemy, which not only prevented active service for about four months, but continued to afflict him for many years, never completely cured. When the war closed he returned to the old home above Casstown and remained there until his marriage in the spring of 1869, after which he went to Idaho and there followed min- ing for a year, after which he rented a farm in Boise Valley. Later he joined his father in Jasper County, Missouri, and re- mained there for some years, but subse- qnently returned to Miami County to make this section his permanent home. He pur- chased seventy-two acres of fertile land, with house and barn standing, from John Greer, and here Mr. Estey has been en- gaged ever since. A branch of the New York Central Railroad runs through his property. He has a fine orehard and his land will produce any erop, but he devotes the larger part of it to tobacco and has put up sheds to take care of it when har- vested. He has done quite a great deal of improving since purchasing this land and has a very valuable farm.
Mr. Estey was married in 1869, to Miss Debby Roe, a daughter of John and Mary Roe, and they have one daughter, Elsie M., who is the wife of William F. Bohlen- der, residing in Tippecanoe City. Mr. Es- tey and family belong to the English Luthern Church at Tippecanoe City, in which he has been a deacon for two years. Hle is also a member of the D. M. Rouser Post, G. A. R., of that place, which is two and one-half miles west of his farm. He is a stanch Republican in his political views but takes no active part in polities in his township, having no desire to hold office.
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SAMUEL MCCURDY is a prosperous farmer and well known resident of Con- cord Township, Miami County, Ohio. where he is the owner of two farms, con- sisting of 272 acres in all. He was born in Ireland in 1849 and is a son of Samuel and Eliza (Barr) MeCurdy.
Samuel MeCurdy, Sr., was born in Ire- land and there engaged in agricultural pursuits until about the year 1850, when he moved with his wife and children to the United States. They crossed the water in a sailing vessel, the voyage con- suming five or six weeks, and locating at Allentown, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Mc- Curdy was employed in the iron works for some three years. He then moved west to Troy, Ohio, before the days of railroads. making the trip down the Ohio River to Cincinnati, thence north by the canal to Troy. He there engaged in pumping water for the railroad, which had just been completed through Troy, and during the three years he was thus employed he missed but a day and a half. He bought a farm of eighty acres in Concord Town- ship, on which his daughter, Nancy, now lives, and with the help of his sons cleared the place. He farmed there until his death in 1894, at the age of eighty-eight years. His wife preceded him to the grave, dying at the age of eighty years. They were parents of the following chil- dren, all of whom were born in Ireland: Robert; Isabella, wife of Jolm Sype. both deceased; Eliza, who was the wife of Will- iam Fleming, both now deceased; Jane, widow of Robert Pearson; Margaret. widow of John Minton; Nancy; Samnel, whose name heads this record; and two who died in infancy.
Samnel MeCurdy. Jr., was abont one
year old when his parents came to this country from Ireland, and was quite young when they located on the farm in Concord Township. He has ever since lived with- in site of the old home, which place he helped to clear. He attended the public schools when not at hard work on the farm, and lived with his father until his marriage in 1871, then for a few years rented and farmed. He later bought a tract of forty acres. to which he added in time, but in 1890 he sold out and purchased his present home farm on the Troy and Covington Pike from the Correy heirs. He has made extensive improvements on the place and followed general farming with a high degree of success.
December 28, 1871, Mr. MeCurdy was united in marriage with Susan Correy, who was born and reared on the farm on which she now lives and is a daughter of Robert and Rebecca (Eaton) Correy, of Concord Township. They became parents of the following children: Charles, who died at the age of twenty-two years ; Sam- uel H., of Troy, who married Sarah Stew- art and has three children-Ralph, Myrtle, and Fred; John, of Concord Township, who married Ella Longendelpher, and has a daughter, Helen : Joseph ; Mary; Jennie; Rosa : Bessie; William, and Walter. Polit- ically Mr. MeCurdy is a Democrat.
DAVID W. TOBIAS, who has efficient- ly filled the arduous position of railway mail elerk for a period of fifteen years, is now employed as such on the Panhandle Railroad, between Indianapolis and Pitts- burg. He was born on a farm to the north of Covington, March 28, 1859, and is a son of Elias and Elizabeth (Wenrick) Tobias.
Elias Tobias was born in Berks County,
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
Penna. In boyhood he came to Ohio and lived for a short time in Montgomery County and then came to Newberry Town- ship, Miami County. He married Eliza- beth Wenrick, who was born in Franklin County, Penna., and accompanied her parent's to near Covington, Miami County, in girlhood. To this marriage four chil- dren were born, namely : Reuben, who died in infancy; Rebecca, who is the wife of George Rench, of Covington; David W .; and Samuel, who lives at Piqua. In 1867 Elias Tobias bought 102 acres of farm land at Greenville Falls, west of Coving- ton, and resided there until 1902, when he retired to Covington, where his death oc- curred May 12, 1908. His wife had died November 18, 1884. They were most wor- thy people, respected and esteemed by all who knew them.
David W. Tobias was educated in the public schools and in 1877 he graduated from the Covington High School, after which he engaged in teaching for some nine years and was considered an efficient instructor. During the next five years he traveled for a nursery, selling nursery stock and when he retired from that ac- cepted the superintendency of a creamery near Covington, for about a year. Then he entered the mail service and is now one one the best trained and most reliable men on the line. He owns a share in the home farm, which is still in his father's name.
October 31, 1880, Mr. Tobias was mar- ried to Miss Hulda Cassel, a daughter of John and Susan (Hartzell) Cassel, the former of whom was a farmer in New- berry Township, where he died February 24, 1887. Mrs. Cassel still survives, al- though she has outlived many of her con- temporaries. She was born February 23,
1819, and is one of the most venerable res- idents of Miami County. Mr. and Mrs. Tobias have two children : Erla, who mar- ried W. W. Chaffin, of Fort Wayne, In- diana, and has one son, Wendell Tobias; and Luther, who resides at Covington. Mr. Tobias belongs to the Order of Odd Fellows.
C. F. CLASS is a prominent farmer of Newton Township, Miami County, Ohio, and is the owner of 154 acres of valuable land, eighty-two acres of which is in the farm on which he lives. He was born near Trotwood, in Montgomery County, Ohio, February 22, 1857, and is a son of Jacob and Louisa (Klopfer) Class.
Jacob Class was born in Wittenberg, Germany, and was eighteen years old when he accompanied his parents to the United States. His father bought a farm near Trotwood, Montgomery County, Ohio, and also owned considerable land in Miami County. After his marriage, Jacob Class located on a farm in Randolph Township, Montgomery County, where he continued to reside until 1869, in which year he moved to the vicinity of the Fall Branch schoolhouse, in Newton Township, Miami County. He cleared a great deal of the land owned by his father, as well as his own farm, and continued to reside there until his death, in December, 1890. His wife died in October, 1868, and both were buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. He was married to Louisa Klopfer, a daugh- ter of John and Elizabeth Klopfer, and they reared the following children : Philip, C. F. (subject of this record), John, Jacob, Louisa, and Isaac. Religiously they were members of the Lutheran Church.
C. F. Class attended the Fall Branch
MRS. LAURA K. CLASS
C. F. CLASS
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school and continued to help his father on the home farm until he became of age, when he began working out by the month. After his marriage he farmed his father's place for one year, and then moved to his present home farm. He cleared about two- thirds of his land, which was heavily tim- bered, laid about 400 rods of tile for dram- age, and made other important improve- ments. He has a complete set of sub- stantial buildings on his land, all of which he has had built, as the place was entirely unimproved at the time of his coming. He is engaged in general farming and stock raising and devotes about thirty acres of his land each year to tobacco growing, at which he has met with much success. He is a substantial and progressive business man, and among his other interests is a stockholder in the Pleasant Hill Banking Company.
April 22, 1879, Mr. Class was joined in marriage with Miss Laura Kinnison, a daughter of George and Elizabeth Kinni- son, and they became parents of the fol- lowing children: Elsie, deceased; Pearl, wife of Howard Furnas, of Dayton; Ola, wife of Opal Rench; Goldie, wife of Sam- uel Evervine ; Sylvia ; and Ica. Religious- ly they attend the Lutheran Church. In fraternal affiliation Mr. Class is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Pleasant Hill. He is a Democrat in politics.
DR. WARREN COLEMAN, senior member of the well known medical firm of Coleman & Shilling, whose offices are lo- cated at No. 201 West Water Street, Troy, Ohio, was born in this city, September 22, 1865, son of Dr. Horace and Mary L. (Ald- rich) Coleman. His paternal grandfather
also, Dr. Asa Coleman, was a leading phy- sician in his day.
Dr. Horace Coleman, father of the sub- ject of this sketch, was a man of good edu- cation, and a graduate of the Medical Col- lege of Ohio in the class of '49. He began medical practice in 1850 at Logansport, Indiana, and remained there until Octo- ber, 1861, at which time he entered the Federal army. He served as surgeon of the Forty-sixth Regiment, Indiana Volun- teer Infantry, and subsequently of the One Hundred Forty-seventh Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, continuing until the close of the war. He afterwards set- tled in Troy, Ohio, where he became the leading physician and surgeon. He was also prominent in local politics and for a number of years was assessor of internal revenue for the Fourth District of Ohio. He also served on the City Council and was for some time president of the Board of Education. He was one of the board of directors, also, of the First National Bank of Troy. In 1868 he was a delegate to the Republican convention at Chicago, which nominated Grant and Colfax for president and vice-president of the United States. He has attained an advanced de- grec in the Masonic Order. At the present time he is residing in Washington, D. C. By his marriage to Mary L. Aldrich, which took place November 9, 1847, he became the father of seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the youngest.
Warren Coleman, M. D., the date of whose nativity has been already given, ac- quired his literary education in the gram- mar and high schools of Troy, Ohio. He subsequently graduated from the Medical College of Ohio in the class of '88 and began the practice of his profession in
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
Troy. In November, 1904, he formed the present medical partnership of Coleman & Shilling, which has proved a happy com- bination both from a business and a pro- fessional standpoint.
Dr. Coleman married Miss Francis Rinehart, a danghter of C. F. Rinehart. He is a member of the County, State, and American Medical Associations. In Pol- ities he is a stanch Republican. Mrs. Coleman is a member of the Presbyterian church. They have a pleasant home at the corner of Main and Adams Streets, Troy.
JOHN L. PRUGH, cashier of the Piqua Savings Bank and formerly treasurer of Miami County, has been a representative and useful citizen throughout his entire mature life. He was born in 1855, in New- berry Township, Miami County, Ohio.
Jesse Prugh, the father of John L. Prugh, was one of Miami County's promi- nent men and for many years was very active in all public affairs. He was a na- tive of Maryland and when he came to Ohio, in boyhood, lived first in Montgom- ery County and from there came to Miami County, settling in Newberry Township, where he cleared up a farm from the wil- derness. He was a strong Abolitionist and was one of the founders of the Republican party in this section, and when Civil War was declared, he gave his most earnest ef- forts to the raising of troops and pro- viding for the necessities of those families whose bread-earners left for the battle field. He was commissioned a recruiting officer with the rank of lieu- tenant colonel, and the county records bear testimony to the success of his efforts. He died in 1894.
John L. Prugh enjoyed the educational advantages offered by the common schools of Newberry Township and the Piqua High School and his first business associa- tion led him into the clothing line and in this he continued for twenty-five years, a part of the time in connection with Mr. Flesh, under the firm style of Flesh & Prugh. In 1896 Mr. Prugh was elected treasurer of Miami County and was re- elected to that office in 1898 and served through the two terms with the greatest efficiency. After retiring from public life, in 1901, he accepted the position of cashier of the Piqua Savings Bank, his recognition as a financier being general.
In 1876 Mr. Prugh was married to Miss Mate L. Rayner, a daughter of Joseph Rayner, an old and prominent resident of Piqua. Mr. and Mrs. Prugh have three children, namely: Estella, who is the wife of J. F. Stewart, assistant manager of the U. S. Handle Company, resides at Piqua ;. Florence is a successful teacher in the pub- lie schools of Piqua; Ray is a student in the Ohio Wesleyan College, at Delaware, Ohio. Mr. Prugh and family are members of the Green Street Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he has served on the of- ficial board for twenty years, a longer period than is credited to any other officer. He was one of the incorporators of the Y. M. C. A., at Piqua and has always been deeply interested in its work. Mr. Prugh is identified fraternally with the Masons and Odd Fellows.
CORY HARRISON NOLAN, general farmer and well known citizen of Staun- ton Township, resides on his well im- proved farm of forty-one acres, which is situated on the Sidney Road, about two
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and one-half miles north of Troy. He was born January 12, 1868, on his father's farm in Staunton Township, Miami Coun- ty, Ohio, and is a son of Michael and Phebe Kathryn (Conrad) Nolan.
The ancestors of the Nolan family came to America from Ireland. The grand- father, Israel Nolan, was the first of the family to come to this county. He worked as a weaver for a time in Cincinnati, Ohio, and then settled on a farm in Miami Coun- ty, two miles east of the present Nolan farm. He had seven children, namely : John, James, Daniel, Michael, Elizabeth, Hannah and Sarah, all of whom are de- ceased.
Michael Nolan, father of Cory H., was born in 1818, in Miami County, Ohio, where the greater part of his life was spent. In 1849 he went to California by way of the plains and remained in the gold regions for three years. He be- came the owner of a mine and met with more success than did many other pros- pectors, and when he returned to Miami County he possessed enough capital to purchase a cleared farm of eighty aeres, situated three miles northeast of Troy, in Staunton Township, on the Urbana Turn- pike Road. He resided on that farm for seven years and then bought a farm of 101 aeres and later disposed of his eighty- acre farm. This land was formerly the property of Hiram Smith. It lay about one mile north of his first purchase, near the De Weese schoolhouse. Eight years later he bought the eighty acres which is now the old homestead, but was the Eckert Shaffer farm, and also a farm of 101 acres adjoining his other 101 acres. He was an excellent business man and carried on
blacksmithing in connection with his farm- ing. Ile died in June, 1889. lle married Phehe Kathryn (Conrad) Kaw, a widow, who had one child, Caroline K. To this marriage were born six children, namely : Emma; John ; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Charles Waters; Cory Harrison; Hattie, who is the wife of Mare Kurtz; and Nora. The mother still survives and resides on the home place.
Cory H. Nolan was about one year old when the family moved to the second farm and eight years old when his father came into possession of the old homestead. Ile attended the country schools and remained at home until his marriage. For a short time after this event, he resided on his father-in-law's place, but in the following year, December 3. 1897, he moved to his present farm, which he had bought from the John C. Winans estate. Here he car- ries on farming and devotes eight acres to tobacco growing and six to potatoes. He erected a large tobacco shed on his prop- erty and he disposes of his cured tobacco to local dealers. His comfortable 12-room house was on the property when he bought it but he has considerably improved and added to the other farm buildings.
Mr. Nolan was married December 16. 1896, to Miss Grace P. Speagh, a daughter of Lewis L. and Sarah C. (Marshall) Speagh, who was a graduate of the Troy High School class of 1892, and they have two children-Mary Catharine Speagh and John William. Mr. and Mrs. Nolan are members of Raper Chapel, Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Nolan is super- intendent of the Sunday School. In pol- ities he is a Republican and as a man of intelligence he is much interested in all
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
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that concerns his county and especially in the public matters in which his own com- munity plays a part.
JOHN FENEMORE, a representative business man of Covington, who has been actively identified with the commercial life of this city for almost a quarter of a cen- tury, is a member of the well known firm of Ruhl & Fenemore, clothiers and gents' furnishers. Mr. Fenemore was born in England, January 15, 1842, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Rose) Fenemore.
Mr. Fenemore was thirty-two years of age when he left his native land. After reaching America he spent one year at St. Louis, Missouri, working at his trade of tailor, after which he came to Ohio and was employed by Henry Flesh, of Piqua. for two years, and then established his permanent home at Covington. Here he worked until 1884, for A. Rontson, and. then, in partnership with Albertus M. Rulil, purchased the clothing business of Fahnestock Brothers, and since then the firm of Ruhl & Fenemore has been one of importance in the business circles of Cov- ington, Mr. Fenemore was married in England, in 1870, to Miss Elizabeth Cath- erine Bacon, and they had one son, John Henry, who died at Piqua, in infancy. Mr. Fenemore is a member of the Presbyterian Church. He is identified fraternally with the Knights of Pythias.
MELVILLE W. MILLER, of the firm of Spencer & Miller, operating grain ele- vators at Piqua and extensive dealers in grain, is one of the representative business men of this eity and one who has had a large experience in this particular line. He was born in 1868, at Carey, Wyandot
County, Ohio, from which place his par- ents moved when he was four years old, to Monroe, Michigan, where he was reared and educated.
Mr. Miller started out in commercial life as a grocery clerk and after some ex- perience went to Detroit and there became connected with the Standard Insurance Company, with which he was identified for seven years. He then came to Piqua and for some years was in the grain business with the Eagle mills, after which, in part- nership with his brother-in-law, George Harrey, started the Champion Feed Mills, which they operated for ten years. In 1901 Mr. Miller entered into partnership with Mr. Spencer, under the firm name of Spen- cer & Miller, and they operate an elevator in Piqua and one three miles south of the city and do a large business.
In 1892 Mr. Miller was married to Miss May Louise Bates, of Piqua, and they have two children, Donald D. and Melville S. Mr. and Mrs. Miller are members of the Green Street Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is secretary of the official board. Fraternal life has attractions for him and he is identified with the Odd Fel- lows, the Maccabees and the Masons, in the latter organization belonging to the Blue Lodge and Chapter, being past wor- shipful of the former and the present high priest of the latter. Socially he is con- nected with the Cosmopolitan Club.
J. NELSON CONWAY, proprietor of the Conway Laundry at Piqua, a model in- stitution of its kind, was born at Piqua in 1867, son of Captain John and Sarah Jane (Manson) Conway. On his mother's side, as will presently be seen, he is of Revolutionary ancestry.
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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
Capt. John Conway, father of the sub- ject of this sketch, was a native of Penn- sylvania, who became a resident of Piqua prior to the Civil War. For a number of years he was captain of a canal boat and was well known to the canal and river trade. Later he engaged in the transfer and storage business, and he introduced the first covered transfer vans ever seen in this city, and in Miami County. His death occurred in 1902.
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