USA > Ohio > Miami County > Troy > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 58
USA > Ohio > Miami County > Piqua > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 58
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In 1862 Mr. Freshonr was married to Miss Hannah E. Langston, who was born and reared in Miami County, her parents, Leonard and Frances (Krise) Langston being farming people residing not far from Kessler. To Mr. and Mrs. Freshour were born seven children, three of whom died in infancy. The eldest son, JJohn Will- iam, whose death occurred in 1898, at the age of thirty-five years, a victim of ty- phoid fever, was a young man of brilliant promise, a graduate of the Miami Med- ical College at Cincinnati. After years of training he was just ready to enter upon the practice of medicine, when he was stricken in his prime. He was survived by his widow, formerly Miss Lillian Mar- tindale. The three surviving children of Mr. Freshour are: Mary, who married J. W. Dowler and has two sons-Leonard and James; Maud, who married Vernor B. Grabill, of Delaware, Indiana; and Thomas, who resides with his parents. Mr. Freshour and family are members of the Christian Church, in which he is a trustee. Ile belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, to the Masons, and for many years has been identified with the Grange movement.
JOHN HI. DRURY. assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Troy. Ohio, and formerly postmaster, is interested financially in a number of the prospering enterprises of Miami County. He was born at Rowe, Massachusetts, January 12. 1850, and is a son of John C. Drury. The parents of Mr. Drury settled at Troy in 1855 and this city has been the latter's home ever since.
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John C. Drury was engaged in a dry goods and grocery business until the open- ing of the Civil War, when he proved his patriotism by raising Company H, Elev- enth Regiment O. Vol. Inf., of which he was elected captain. It went into service in 1861, and Captain Drury was out for one year, when he resigned his commission and returned home, but only to raise a second company, this being Company B, Ninety-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which he was also made cap- tain. This regiment went to Kentucky, and in 1862, in the terrible battle of Per- ryville, Captain Drury fell at the head of his command, shot through the heart.
J. H. Drury attended the common school at Troy and then went through the High School, after which he took a business course at Dayton. Upon his return he became a clerk in the Troy postoffice, his mother being postmistress for eight years, and in 1875 he succeeded her and served until 1879. In July of that year he en- tered the First National Bank, and has been associated with this institution ever since, and has been assistant cashier since early in 1881. He is a man of consider- able business enterprise, and has identified himself with manufacturing and other in- terests in this section.
In 1881 Mr. Drury was married to Miss Anna Clokey, who is a daughter of Rev. Joseph Clokey, formerly a prominent Presbyterian minister, but now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Drury are members of the Presbyterian Church at Troy, in which he is an elder. He belongs to the Troy Club. His interest in politics is only that of a good citizen.
SAMUEL B. KEPNER, deceased, who was identified for over half a century with carpenter and building contract work in Miami County, with residence during the most of that time in Covington, was born January 11, 1843, on a farm in Darke County, Ohio, son of Absalom and Mar- garet (Radebaugh) Kepner.
Absalom Kepner was born in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, where his father died, after which he accompanied his mother, in early manhood, to Darke Coun- ty, Ohio. By trade he was a weaver, but his main business through life was farm- ing. Prior to his marriage he ran a loom at Covington, but when he married Mar- garet, daughter of John Radebaugh, the latter gave him a farm in Darke County, on which he resided until 1859. He then came to Covington and shortly afterward started a little grocery store one and a half miles out in the country. Still later he operated a store at Clayton, where his death occurred in February, 1881.
Samuel B. Kepner was only fifteen years old when he started to learn the carpen- ter's trade under his brother, Benjamin Kepner, and for a number of years they worked in partnership. At the age of nineteen lie enlisted in Company B, Nine- ty-fourth O. V. I., Angust 7, 1862, and spent three years in the service of his country. In 1872 Benjamin Kepner went to the West, and subsequently died at Denver, Colorado. From that time on un- til he was sixty-five years old and felt he was ready to retire from business activity, Samuel B. Kepner was engaged in con- tracting and building and met with more than usual success. He did a large amount of farm building, constructing many com- fortable farm residences and innumerable
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SAMUEL B. KEPNER
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barns. One of his large contracts was the building of the tobacco shed for Joseph Mohler, which was 116 feet long, with an extension of the old barn of eighteen feet, one end being thirty-five feet and the other forty feet in width. It was Mr. Kepner's policy to keep plenty of help and to use only the best material, and thins he was able to be punctual and satisfactory in completing his contracts. During his last years of active business life he utilized a larger force of men and did more busi- ness than in any one previous season.
On August 12, 1869, Mr. Kepner was married to Miss Martha Boggs, a daugh- ter of Aaron and Melvina (Hitt) Boggs. She was born and reared in Newberry Township, Miami County. Her father was born near Piqua, Ohio, and was a son of Ezekiel Boggs, who operated one of the early grist-mills on the Little Miami River. In January, 1873, Aaron Boggs moved from his farm to Covington, and there he died suddenly of heart disease, having been attacked while attending church. He married Melvina Hitt in Kentucky, of which State she was a native, and after his death she moved back to the farm in Newberry Township, where she died in January, 1883. Mr. and Mrs. Kepner had five children, as follows: Cora, who is the wife of William Helman, resides on a farm two and a half miles west of Sidney and has three children-Maurice, Ruth and Etoile; Amanda, who is the wife of Ora Wenrick, resides at Indianapolis, and has three children-Mildred, Pearl and Floyd; Melvina, who is the widow of A. L. Stahl, and has one child-Flossie; Charles, who married Nora Loxley, resides on his farm of sixty acres, in Darke Coun- ty, and has two children-Naomi and
Charles Ivor; and Pearl, who is the wife of J. W. Goudy, of Camden, Ohio, and has one daughter-Martha Catherine.
In 1883 Mr. Kepner moved to his farm in Darke County, residing there until 1907, when he returned to Covington, and subse- quently occupied a handsome brick resi- dence which he built in the fall of 1906, and which is situated on North High Street, adjoining the Highland Cemetery. Mr. Kepner belonged to the Church of the Brethren- the religious society otherwise known as the Dunkards, of which his wife is also a member. The last dread sum- mons, which came to him suddenly on April 14, 1909, found him prepared, like the Wise Virgins, with his lanıp trimmed and burning. An earnest and consistent Christian, we cannot doubt that he heard the glad words of his Master, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." He was ever a de- voted husband and a kind father, and to his children he left the priceless legacy of a good name. He was a man of high stand- ing in his community, one who through a long business career made honesty and in- tegrity its foundation stones.
ISAAC H. KREITZER, nurseryman and farmer, residing on his farm of fifty acres, which is situated on the National Turnpike, in Bethel Township. Miami County, not far from Tippecanoe City, owns what is probably one of the finest homes in this section of the country. one of exceptional attractiveness during the summer seasons. Mr. Kreitzer was born in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. Octo- ber 10, 1850, and is a son of John and Catherine (Haak) Kreitzer.
The parents of Mr. Kreitzer spent their
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lives in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, where they were farming people of ample means. They had the following children : Henry, Jonathan, Michael, Andrew, John, Eliza, Aaron, William, Kate, and Isaac H. Many years have passed since Isaac II. Kreitzer left the old home and the be- loved parents, but their memory is very · dear to him and with pardonable pride he shows to the interested visitor a picture of his father and mother, done in pen and ink, bearing the date of 1824. It is a very artistie piece of work and the color has never faded in the least.
Before he was seventeen years of age, Isaac HI. Kreitzer had completed his col- lege course in Lebanon County, and for one year thereafter he taught school. Ile then became interested in the milling busi- ness and continued to work in flour mills in his native section until he was twenty- one years of age, when he came to Ohio and worked for one year in a mill at Westerville, Franklin County. From there hie went to Tippecanoe City, where he followed milling for four years, in the meanwhile marrying, and two years after this event moved to Montgomery County, where he operated his own custom mill for twenty years. When he retired from the milling industry he came to Miami County and located first on a farm adjoin- ing the one he subsequently bought, in Bethel Township, which he cultivated for six years and then came to his present place. Here he repaired all the buildings and equipped them with modern appli- anees for comfortable living, including a modern system of heating, and spending a large amount on beantifying his grounds. A cyclone that passed through Bethel Township in 1907 destroyed much timber,
but he still has four aeres standing. He devotes seven acres to cherry, pear, ap- ple and plum orchards and makes a spe- cialty of raising strawberries, raspberries and blackberries and general nursery stock. He bought this farm from the late Robert Defenderfer, who formerly con- ducted a fruit farm. Mr. Kreitzer has his sons, Charles E., John and Ray, as his partners and the business is conducted un- der the firm name of I. H. Kreitzer & Sons. In association with his wife, Mr. Kreitzer owns considerable valuable eity property in Dayton, Ohio.
On October 10, 1875, Mr. Kreitzer was married to Miss Anna M. Ross, a highly accomplished lady, who was educated at C'enter Seminary, Indiana, and subse- quently for nine years was a successful teacher in the schools of West Charleston and Brandt. Her parents were John and Eliza Ross. Mr. and Mrs. Kreitzer have had the following children: Harry C., John Ross, Charles E., George E. and Raymond Isaac. All survive except George E., who was a twin brother of Charles E., and did not survive infancy. Harry C. married Lucy, a daughter of William and Martha Johnson. Charles E., John and Ray reside at home. Charles E. is a partner with his father and is one of the prominent Republican politicians of this section, at present being a central committeeman. He is also a justice of the peace. Charles E. and Raymond I. grad- uated in the class of 1900 from Bethel High School and reside at home. The Kreitzer sons are musical, and in March, 1908, Charles E. Kreitzer organized the Phoneton Band, of fifteen pieces, he play- ing the E flat cornet. The band is fully equipped with fine instruments and an at-
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tractive uniform, and their playing met with such popular approval that in the first season they cleared $550. Charles E. Kreitzer is prominent in Odd Fellow- ship, belonging to Lodge No. 711 of Brandt and to Monroe Encampment, No. 140, of Tippecanoe City.
REV. HENRY HUEBSCHMANN, Jr., pastor of St. Paul's Evangelical Protest- ant Church of Piqua, is one of the young, earnest and scholarly clergymen of his religious body, and his strong and helpful influence has been marked since he has had charge of his present church. He was born at Princeton, Illinois. in 1876, and is a son of Rev. Henry and Martha (Hoff- meister) Huebschmann.
Rev. Henry Huebschmann, Sr., was born in Germany, and engaged in mission- ary work in the cities of Hamburg and Berlin before coming to America. He served as a minister in the Evangelical Protestant Church in this country for thirty-seven years. He married Martha Hoffmeister, a daughter of Rov. C. Hoff- meister, who was one of the pioneers of this religions sect in America. To the above marriage were born the following children : Pauline, who is the wife of Carl Lichty, of Cleveland; John, who is a min- ister; Louise, who resides at Cleveland : Paul, who lives at Bloomington, Hlinois ; and Henry. Rev. C. Hoffmeister had two sons in the ministry-John and Simon- the former of whom is stationed at Pala- tine. Illinois, and the latter died while pastor of a church at Peru, Illinois. On both sides Rev. Henry Huebschmann comes of ministerial ancestry. Rev. JJohn Kroenhke, pastor of St. John's Evangel- ical Church in San Francisco, California,
married a sister of his mother. Ilis brother, John Huebschmann, is pastor of the Scheiflein Christi Church in Cleveland. Both young men were given excellent ad- vantages.
Rev. Henry attended school at Ehnhurst, Illinois, and spent four years in a sem- inary of the Evangelical Protestant Church, graduating with honors in 1896. With seventeen others he was recommend- ed to the directors of the Synod of Eden Theological Seminary, and in 1899 he was graduated from that institution and in the same year was ordained, immediately aft- erward being thoroughly tested, being placed in charge of two churches in the Kansas District. He remained two years in the Kansas District, and then was given a church at Floraville, Illinois, where he served most acceptably until he answered the call to St. Paul's Evangelical Church at Pekin, Illinois, and remained there From 1903 until 1906, when he came to St. Paul's at Piqua. Ile is recognized as one of the most active and valuable members of the association, and outside his own religious body is respected and esteemed for his personal and manly qualities.
Mr. Huebschmann was married Jan- ary 18, 1900, to Miss Johanna Kern, a daughter of Rov. Jacob and Phillipine (Kopp) Kern. At that time Rev. Kern was pastor of a church at Carmi. Illinois. His children are: Carrie, who is the wife of Dr. A. D. Lloyd, of Bloomington, Illi- nois: Johanna: Ida, who is the wife of Adolph Bair, of Harrisburg, Ilinois; Julius, who is county judge of White County. Illinois : and Louis, who is engaged in business at Carmi, Illinois, Rev. and Mrs. Huebschmann have one daughter, Esther. St. Paul's Church is in a very prosperous
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state, there being about 200 families in its communicant body. They are not back- ward in showing their appreciation of their young pastor, and under their encourage- ment his zeal and enthusiasm are increased and his Christian efforts strengthened, adding to both the material and spiritual advancement of the church.
THE FAVORITE STOVE AND RANGE COMPANY, Piqua's largest manfacturing plant and the most extensive in Miami County, was established in 1848, by W. C. Davis, under the title of W. C. Davis & Co. This was succeeded in 1881 by The Favorite Stove Works Company, which, in turn, was succeeded by The Fa- vorite Stove and Range Company, on July 1, 1888, when the business was removed from Cincinnati to Piqua. The plant in the latter city began to be operated in 1889.
It is always interesting to record the growth of a great enterprise. When the present company began operating at Pi- qua, the quarters were all included in a row of buildings that extended over their ground east and west, and another north and south, while now they have six rows of buildings, which cover ten acres of ground, and the whole plant is said to be the most complete for its purpose in ex- istence. Employment is afforded from 550 to 600 people. The present officers are: W. K. Boal, president; Stanhope Boal, vice-president; E. W. Lape, secretary and treasurer. The board of directors is made up of the following capitalists: W. K. Boal, Stanhope Boal, E. W. Lape, and Jacob Bettmann and Adam Gray, of Cin- cinnati.
This plant manufactures only the very
best class of stoves and ranges, and ship- ments are made to all parts of the United States. The universal trade-mark is "The Favorite," and it includes an extensive assortment of both steel and cast iron ranges, cooking stoves, base burners and all styles of heating stoves, together with gas ranges, gas heaters in a great variety of styles, and also furnace boilers and high grade, extra finished, cast-iron hollow ware. The company has branches in a number of large cities, and some fifteen traveling men go out from the Piqua of- fice, covering a wide territory. The com- pany has pronounced advantages in the manufacture of their products, such as the arrangement of their buildings, which do not extend high in the air, thus saving heavy and complicated machinery, while the equipments, in many cases, have been constructed from their own original de- signs, with a view to their utility. They have excellent transportation facilities, the location of the plant being on the corner of Young and Hydraulic Streets.
The enlargement of this business has been one of annual growth from the time the plant was located at Piqua. The com- pany has increased its capitalization from $100,000 to $600,000 preferred and $900,- 000 common stock. This wonderful pros- perity not only indicates the superior qual- ity of the products, but also proves that the men who have built up this great in- dustry along the lines of modern business possess unlimited ability and financial stability.
THEODORE L. ROGERS, proprietor of Fairview Farm, which consists of 265 acres of valuable land which is situated in Lost Creek Township, on the south side
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of the Addison and Casstown Turnpike Road, and is further brought close to hun- dreds of interesting points by reason of the electric railroad running through the property, was born at Casstown, Miami County, Ohio, March 6, 1860.
Charles P. Rogers, father of Theodore L., was born in Clermont County, Ohio, October 18, 1818, a son of Asa Rogers, who came to Ohio from New Jersey. Asa Rogers cleared up a farm near Addison, not far from the county line, lived on it for some years and died after he had re- tired to Casstown, when aged eighty years. He had the following children: Charles Parker; John, deceased; Furman, de- ceased; Mary Ann, deceased, wife of Al- mon Hammond, also deceased; Jarvis S., who was captain of a company during the Civil War; Joseph P., deceased; Nancy Ann, deceased, wife of Charles Sayers, also deceased; Harriet, deceased, wife of Dr. Deaver, also deceased; Sarah Jane, wife of George Causely, of Chicago, Illi- nois; and others who died in infancy.
Charles Parker Rogers was five years old when his parents moved to the neigh- borhood of Addison, and there he grew up and, being the eldest of the family, gave his father much assistance in clearing np the farm. The father was a very prac- tical, sensible man, and insisted that each son should learn a self-supporting trade in addition to farming, and as this was an iron rule, Charles P. went to Addison and learned the blacksmith's trade and be- came so expert after serving an appren- ticeship of three years that he could fashion anything in iron. After he re- turned to the farm he opened a shop at Casstown, which he operated until 1864, when he bought a farm of 100 acres, sit-
nated north of Casstown, which was known as the "Old Webb Place." After living there for two years he sold it and bought 193 acres on the Addison and Casstown Turnpike, this transaction taking place in 1866. He resided there until 1892. His death occurred on October 20thi of that year, when at the home of his son, Dr. S. T. Rogers, at New Albany, Indiana. He was married (first) to Sarah Cox, who died after the birth of one son, Firman C., who is also deceased. On September 20, 1847, he was married (second) to the widow of A. M. Walker, Mrs. Eliza Ann (Markley) Walker, a daughter of George Markley, who died when she was a child. Four children were born to this union, namely: Irene, who is the wife of A. B. Thackhara; Theodore Lincoln; Gilbert M., who died when aged nineteen years; and Sherman T., a graduate of the Eclec- tic Medical Institute of Cincinnati and a physician in active practice at New Al- bany, Indiana. Gilbert M., who was cut off in his brilliant youth, was a mechanical genius and the family preserve models that he had made for a phonograph before the Edison discovery was put on the mar- ket. The mother of this family survived until January 16, 1891, dying at the age of sixty years.
Theodore L. Rogers was six years old when his parents moved to the farm and lie continued to reside at home until his marriage, in the meanwhile securing an excellent common school education. He then bought 128 acres of land in Elizabeth Township. This he sold four years later to E. F. Sayers, from whom he purchased it in the beginning, and then bought 130 acres of his present farm, subsequently adding thereto until his total acreage has
A
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
amounted to 265-a large property, which he devotes to general agriculture and stockraising. He remodeled the house and has erected all the other substantial farm buildings and the place is known by the pleasant name of Fairview Farm.
On December 6, 1883, Mr. Rogers was married to Miss Altazera Sayers, a daugh- ter of E. F. and Caroline M. (French) Sayers, and they have two sons: Charles P., who is a member of the graduating class of 1910 in the Troy High School; and Albert Markley. The family belong to the Methodist Church, in which Mr. Rogers is serving on the board of trustees. He is a stanch supporter of the Republican party, and is one of the township's thoroughly representative citizens.
C. W. MITCHELL, superintendent of the Prudential Insurance Company of America, is a thoroughly experienced in- surance man and occupies a position of great responsibility. He was born in 1864, at Columbus, Ohio, but was reared from the age of four years in Union City, Ohio.
Mr. Mitchell was educated at Union City and was twenty-one years old when he left there for Hamilton, Ohio. In 1889 he first became identified with the Prudential peo- ple, and worked for them for two years at Hamilton, and then up to 1895 he was connected with other insurance companies, in that year returning to the Prudential. He was made assistant superintendent at Fremont, Ohio, where he remained two and one-half years, when he was transferred to Springfield and worked as assistant super- intendent in that field for two years. His next transfer was to Mansfield, Ohio, where he was superintendent for fourteen months, going then to Dayton, as assistant
superintendent. Mr. Mitchell came to Pi- qua as superintendent in 1905, where he has his main office, from which the affairs of the distriet are looked after. He has an office at Troy, with E. L. Jacobs in charge as assistant superintendent, and from that office the southern end of the county is watched. The company main- tains a third office at Greenville, one at Sidney and one at St. Mary's, the terri- tory covered being from Tippecanoe City on the south to Cridersville on the north. Mr. Mitchell's energy has had much to do with developing the business of this section for his company, and he is justly proud of his record.
In 1892 Mr. Mitchell was married to Miss Clara B. Whitehead, of Hamilton, Ohio, and they have two children: Collin Ford and Myrtle Laurene. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell are members of the Green Street Methodist Episcopal Church. He is iden- tified with the Masonic fraternity.
ELI HARRISON DRURY, a retired and highly respected citizen of Elizabeth Township, who during the greater part of his life was engaged in agricultural pursuits in Miami County, was born Jan- uary 1, 1828, in Somerset County, Penn- sylvania.
Mr. Drury left his native State when abont fifteen years of age and located in Perry County, Ohio, where he was engaged in farming until his marriage, in 1848, at which time he removed to Ross County, and there became a elerk, and later pro- prietor of a store. Subsequently he went to Woodstock and became the proprietor of a hotel at that place, but later removed to Charleston, Bethel Township, where he served as clerk in his brother's store. Some
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time later he went to Miami City as a dry goods and grocery merchant, but sold out this establisInnent and purchased a farm of ninety acres from Benjamin Flynn, south of the city, on which he continued for fifteen years, operating as a general farmer. At the time of Mr. Drury's com- ing to this property nearly all the build- ings on this property had been erected, but they were in need of repair, and this Mr. Drury accomplished, later selling the farm to Abraham Stortts. The next three years lie spent on a farm of 105 acres, and he then spent one year on rented land at Brown's Station, but subsequently re- moved to another small farm, which he rented and which he devoted to the rais- ing of grain for four years. After this Mr. Drury located on the L. Haines farm, and here his wife died July 27, 1907, in- terment being made at MeKendree Chapel. After the death of Mrs. Drury her hus- band went to live with his son George G., who rents a general farm of Andrew Staley, of Elizabeth Township.
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