USA > Ohio > Miami County > Troy > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 88
USA > Ohio > Miami County > Piqua > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 88
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
the city's interests, being one of the found- ers of the present water works system, and was most highly esteemed by his fel- low-citizens. During the war he was pro- vost-marshal of Miami County under Cap- tain A. C. Duel. He also served as a member of the City Council.
T. C. Shilling attended school in Colum- bus until his parents moved to Troy in 1854, and then attended school here until the Civil War was in progress. He en- listed as a member of Company H, 147th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Upon his return from the front he engaged in the dry goods business for some years, and then formed a partnership with Mr. Bond, under the firm name of Bond and Shilling, in the furniture and undertaking business. The partnership continued sixteen years, when upon the death of Mr. Bond, Mr. Roberts became a partner, the firm name being changed to Shilling & Roberts. This is the oldest firm of furniture dealers and undertakers in the city, and commands a liberal patronage at the hands of the people.
Mr. Shilling was married at Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Miss Jennie Hartzell, and they have two sons, Eugene and Wade, both of whom are identified with the busi- ness of Shilling & Roberts. Mr. Shilling takes a deep interest in local politics, but with the exception of service on the School board, has filled no public office, being strictly a man of business. Fraternally, he is a member and has filled all the chairs - of the following lodges : Blue Lodge, F. & A. M .; Chapter; Odd Fellows; Knights of Pythias; also a member of the Knights Templar. He is also past commander of the local post, G. A. R. Religiously, he is a member of the Baptist Church.
WILLIAM J. JONES, who comes of an old and prominent family of Union Town- ship, Miami County, Ohio, resides about one mile southwest of West Milton, where he has a splendid farm of 163 acres. He was born in Union Township, a short dis- tance below his present place, October 16, 1852, and is a son of Samuel Jones.
Samuel Jones also was born in Union Township, where his father was among the pioneer settlers, having come from Georgia at an early date. He was always engaged in agricultural pursuits and oc- cupied a place of high standing and af- fluence in the community. He lived for many years on the farm now owned by the subject of this record, and died there at the age of eighty-three years. He was married to Miss Anna Jay, who also was a native of Miami County, and they be- came parents of ten children.
William J. Jones attended the district schools of Union Township, also one term in Grant County, Indiana, and three terms in Henry County, Indiana. After his school days were over, he remained on the home farm and has farmed there ever since. The buildings were erected before he came into possession of the place, but he has made many improvements and has one of the best kept places in this section. He has met with a high degree of success in general farming and stock raising. Po- litically, he is an ardent Republican but takes no active part in political affairs. In religious attachment he is a member of the Friends Church.
T. C. BROWN, one of Miami County's representative citizens and a commissioner of the same for the past four years, re- sides on his farm of 185 acres in Wash-
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ington Township, where he was born in 1845. He is a son of B. F. and a grandson of James Brown.
James Brown was born in Virginia and was one of the hardy woodsmen and pio- neers who accompanied Daniel Boone to Kentucky. In 1807 he pressed onward into Miami County, Ohio, founding the family in Washington Township. There his son, the late B. F. Brown, was born, in 1811, who died in 1887. Although he lived on his farm throughout a long life, he was well known all over the county, being a man of sterling character and noted public spirit. He capably filled all the township offices and for a number of years served also as a county commissioner.
T. C. Brown, like his late father, has always identified himself with agricultural pursuits in Washington Township. For some years he has been one of the leading stock raisers of Miami County, his Short- horn cattle and thoroughbred horses taking prizes wherever exhibited. He makes a specialty of trotting horses and has ani- mals of which he is justly proud. One of the noted occupants of his stables is Dele- gat, a fine trotter with a record of 2:19 and the sire of a number of fine animals. Mr. Brown purchased Delegat in Lexing- ton, Ky., when he was a two-year old.
In 1876 Mr. Brown was married to Miss Alice Sawyer, of Boston, Massachusetts, who died on April 1, 1907. Mr. Brown has taken an active part in politics ever since he reached the age of discretion. and has never failed to cast his vote at an impor- tant election, with one exception, when he was away from his own State. He lias served in his present office since Septem- ber, 1904.
WIRT KESSLER, a successful dealer in real estate and insurance at West Mil- ton, is postmaster of the village and lias frequently in the past been called upon to serve in official capacity. He is a man of wide acquaintance and takes high rank among the foremost business men of the community.
/ Mr. Kessler was born in Union Town- ship, Miami County, Ohio, in 1856, and is a son of William B. and Mary A. (Al- baugh) Kessler, his father also being a native of Union Township. The family originally came to the United States from Switzerland, and the grandfather of the subject of this record was among the pio- neer settlers of Union Township, Miami County, Ohio, having come from the state of New York. William B. Kessler fol- lowed farming throughout his active ca- reer and died on the home farm at the age of eighty years and seven months. He was at one time a very extensive land owner. He and his wife were parents of eight chil- dren, of whom seven sons and a daughter are now living.
Wirt Kessler was educated in the public schools and in the normal school at Ada, Ohio, receiving a thorough educational training. He engaged in teaching and farming until 1890, when he came to West Milton and entered upon his duties as township clerk. He served in that capacity seven years, and was also mayor of the village for a period of six years, giving the public a good and efficient business ad- ministration. ITe then engaged in the real estate and insurance business, represent- ing many of the strongest fire, accident and sick benefit companies in existence, among them being The Home Insurance Com- pany, New York Underwriters, the Royal
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
Insurance Company. the North American, the National, the Springfield, the German- American and the Etna. He has served as postmaster of West Milton continuously since 1898.
Mr. Kessler was united in marriage with Miss Harriet Corner and they are parents of the following children: Mand, wife of A. S. Swank, who is a civil engineer and is at present engaged in building an irriga- tion plant at Hamilton. Montana ; Estella, wife of W. C. Keck, a rural mail carrier at West Milton; C. Raymond, who married Edna Cassel and is employed as teleg- rapher by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company: and Morris, a railway mail clerk, who makes his home with his par- ents. In politics Mr. Kessler is a Repub- lican. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. the Knights of Pythias, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Religiously. he is a member of the Chris- tian Church at West Milton.
Il. W. SMITH. proprietor of Smith's Bakery and president of the city council at Bradford. Ohio, is one of the town's older business men and a representative of its best citizenship. Mr. Smith was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, August 23, 1852, and is a son of Christian and Susan (Williamson) Smith. The father of Mr. Smith followed house carpenter work at Buffalo, New York. In 1824 he settled in Montgomery County, Ohio, where his wife died in 1855. Ilis death occurred years later in Miami County.
11. W. Smith was taken to the home of his great-unele, Henry Williamson, when his mother died, and he was reared on a farm near Greenville, Darke County, and attended the district schools. In 1873 he
accompanied his great-uncle and family to Bradford, where the uncle subsequently died, and in May, 1875, he embarked in business for himself and has continued here ever since and for twenty-five years of this period he has been engaged in the baking business. He has always been one of the city's most progressive citizens and has served usefully in many public offices. For ten years he served as a member of the school board, and for eighteen years he has been a member of the city council and at present is president of this municipal body, an office for which his good judg- ment and civic pride particularly fit him. Mr. Smith married Harriet Yount, a daughter of Enos Yount, and they have one child, Claude C.
Claude C. Smith is the electrician who has charge of the Bradford-Gettysburg Electric Lighting Company and is a young man who has honorably borne the name of his country and his State into far dis- tant parts of the world. He was born on a farm five miles north of Bradford. Feb- ruary 21, 1877, and was educated in the Miami County schools. He spent seven years of his life in the United States Navy and that his early inclinations were in the direction of a military life, indicated the influence of heredity. His great-great- grandfather, John Williamson, was a Revolutionary patriot. His great-grand- father, Henry Williamson, came down the Ohio river on a flat-boat, landing at Fort Washington, near the present city of Cin- cinnati, and he was an Indian fighter under General Wayne, fought in the War of 1812, under General Harrison, did a soldier's duty in the Mexican War and lived to send two of his sons into the Civil War, while two of the other sons served in the Mexi-
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can War. Doubtless his loyal heart would have been cheered had he witnessed his great-grandson's services during the Spanish-American War, in the Philippine Islands and in China, when greater dan- gers were encountered and more complete victories gained than the old veteran had ever known. Claude C. Smith joined the navy at Norfolk, Virginia, in July, 1897, and was assigned to the battleship Nash- ville, which, in the following month, was attached to the West Indian Station, and he was one of the first gun crew that fired the opening shot in the Spanish-American War. He was made chief of the electrical department of the battleship, made the tour around the world, is a veteran of the Philippine insurrection and of the Boxer uprising in China, and later was one of the electricians on the battleship Kentucky, under Admiral Evans. With credit ho retired from the navy in October, 1904, since when his home has been at Bradford. Ile married Miss Emma Brookman and they have had three children, Har- riet, Harvey and Charles, Harvey being deceased.
A. M. FRY, a leading general contractor at Piqua, Ohio, has been a resident of this city since the spring of 1890 and has thor- oughly identified himself with its interests. He was born in 1861, in Montgomery Com- ty, Ohio, but was reared to manhood on a farm in Darke County.
When aged twenty-one, Mr. Fry learned the carpenter trade and continued to work at it until 1888, when he began contracting at Versailles, Ohio, coming from there to Piqua, in 1890. Ilere he went into general contracting and has been so successful that he has easily taken a place among the lead-
ing men in that line in this section. Many of his contracts have been for large oil- mills and substantial grist-mills, and he built Mays' Opera House, the Atlas U'n- derwear Building, the Union Underwear Building or woolen mills, the Orr & Flesh Building, the J. W. Brown Building and others at Piqua, churches and schools at Maywood, the Forest School at Troy, the Manual Training School at West Milton, the Piqua Business Men's Club Building, and some of the finest private residences in the State. Mr. Fry is interested in a business way in the French Oil-Mill Ma- chine Works.
In 1887 Mr. Fry was married to Miss Mary A. Routson, who died in September, 1898, survived by four children-Alvin Vietor, Margaret Irene. Raymond Ches- ter and Annie Elizabeth. Mr. Fry is a member of the First Presbyterian Church, in which he is a deacon. He is connected with the Business Men's Club, and is a representative man in all that pertains to good citizenship.
P. A. YOUNT, one of the leading mer- chants of West Milton, Ohio, is a member of the firm of Yount and Newby, pro- prietors of a flourishing grocery business. He was born in Miami County, south of West Milton, in 1872, and is a son of S. K. and Mary P. (Peck) Yount. His grand- father, Elam Yount, was one of the pio- neers of Miami County, coming from Pennsylvania in the early days.
S. K. Yount in his early days followed farming, but for many years has followed carpentering and operated a threshing ma- chine, making his home in West Milton. He married Mary P. Peck and they have two sons, P. A. Yount ; and T. O. Yount,
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
who follows farming and is located near Rockford.
P. A. Yount received his schooling at West Milton, and then began his business career as a clerk in the store of which he is now one of the proprietors. In 1896 he went to Indiana and there opened a grocery, which he ran for three years. Upon his return to West Milton he pur- chased the interest of H. A. Ireland in the business of the firm of Ireland & Smith- man. Mr. Smithman later sold his inter- est to Mr. L. C. Newby, and the firm name became Yount & Newby and has continued as such to the present time. They origin- ally had a stock of hardware, which they sold out to Mr. E. T. Wenger, and have since conducted a grocery exclusively. They are located opposite the post office, in the old Randall Building, and carry a large stock of goods, such as their exten- sive patronage warrants. Mr. Yount was united in marriage with Miss Stella Cress of Miami County, and they have one son, Howard, who is attending the public schools. Politically, Mr. Yount is a Re- publican and served five years as a mem- ber of the village council. He was elected treasurer of West Milton in 1908, and is now capably discharging the duties of that office. Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Masons.
JACOB B. STICHTER, general farmer and representative citizen of Newton Township, who owns one farm of seventy- six acres and has a one-half interest in a second farm, of eighty acres, both situat- ed in Newton Township, was born in Clark County, Ohio, August 18, 1850. His parents were Jacob and Louisa (Brown) Stichter.
Jacob Stichter was born in Union Coun- ty, Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio in early manhood and for some years oper- ated a distillery at Medway, Clark Coun- ty, in partnership with his brother. After his marriage he settled on a rented farm near New Carlisle and in 1856 moved from there to Miami County, buying 160 acres of land in Newton Township. It was then a poor property with no improvement on it except a little log cabin. He took pos- session of that and went right to work to clear up his land and by 1860 was able to build a comfortable residence and good barn. He did all the draining necessary on this and his other land, constantly add- ing to his possessions until he had 400 acres. He was a member of the Christian Church and was a man of many sterling virtues. He died in 1880 and both he and wife were interred in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. He married Louisa Brown and they had eight children-William, Mary, Jacob B., Amelia, Sarah, Frank, Rebecca and Margaret.
Jacob B. Sticliter, in his boyhood, lived one and one-quarter miles from the near- est school, which was at Pattytown, but he was willing to walk that distance as he was anxious to secure an education. He worked for his father until he was twenty years old and since then has been engaged in attending to his own affairs. For six years following his marriage, he resided on his father's farm in Newton Township and then bought the farm on which he has lived ever since. He cleared almost the whole of the seventy-six acres and has all under cultivation with the exception of five acres of second growth timber. Rec- ognizing the value of drainage, Mr. Sticlı- ter has put down about 1,000 rods of tile,
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and the large returns he gets from his land proves the practical value of the early expenditure. His farm is one of the best in Newton Township. He grows tobacco, corn, wheat, oats and hay.
In February, 1877, Mr. Stichter was married to Miss Mary Mullany, a daugh- ter of Patrick and Catherine Mullany, and they have had five children, namely : Charles, who is assistant editor of the Dayton Journal; James, who is engaged in the butchering business in Kansas; Clara and Harley, both residing at home; and Stella; who is now deceased. Mr. Stichter is a Republican in politics and has served as turnpike superintendent for twenty-five years but has refused other public offices which his friends in the town- ship have offered him.
F. M. COPPOCK is a well-to-do agri- culturist of Union Township, Miami Coun- ty, Ohio, and resides three-quarters of a mile southwest of Ludlow Falls on the place entered by his great-grandfather at the time of his arrival in 1804. He was born in Franklin Township, Darke Coun- ty, Ohio, in 1857, and is a son of David C. and Emeline (Niles) Coppoek, and a grand- son of James Coppock.
James Coppock, the grandfather, was born in South Carolina in 1799 and was five or six years old when brought by his parents to Miami County, Ohio, in 1804. He lived here the remainder of his days and died on the home place in 1867, at the age of sixty-eight years. He married Jane Huntsman and they were parents of twelve children, of whom eight were sons.
David Clark Coppock, father of the sub- ject of this record, was born on the home farm in Union Township, April 13, 1832.
He attended the primitive schools of that early period and then followed farming until he entered the Union Army during the Civil War. He enlisted in 1862 as a member of Company G, 110th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with credit until the war closed. He then en- gaged in stock dealing, in which he was expert, and followed that business sue- cessfully during the remainder of his aet- ive career. In 1882, he moved west to Ne- braska and still later to Oklahoma, where he passed his declining years in retire- ment. He and his wife both died in that territory in 1895. They had the follow- ing children: One who died in infancy; F. M. Coppoek, whose name heads this record; Angenetta, wife of W. Honey- man; and Lewis M., a resident of Iowa.
F. M. Coppock attended the public schools of Union Township and during his early years farmed for a time. He then became identified with stone quarrying, an industry in which he continued until 1907. For sixteen years he operated a quarry himself and on the date mentioned closed it down and turned his attention to farming. The place on which he lives consists of seven acres and has been in the family name since the pioneer days when the family became established here. ITe also is the owner of two other tracts in Union Township, one of forty acres and the other of twelve acres. He erected the fine home in which he lives and has a highly improved property.
Mr. Coppock was united in marriage with Miss Sarah A. Ehlers, a daughter of Otto Ehlers, and they have three children : Samuel, who is a conductor in the rail- way service; Mary; and Robert. Relig- ionsly, they are members of the Friend
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
Church. Ile is a Republican in politics and takes a deep interest in the success of that party. In fraternal affiliation, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias.
ALBERT W. MCCUNE, postmaster at Bradford, Ohio, of which place he is a leading business citizen, was born on a farm in Darke County, Ohio, April 30, 1859, and is a son of Thomas and Eliza- beth (Jay) MeCune.
Thomas MoCune came to Ohio in 1830, from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, choosing his home in Adams Township, near Get- tysburg, Darke County, Ohio, where pre- vious settlers from the same section had perpetuated the old familiar home names. Thomas MeCune married in Ohio, the Jay family having come also from Pennsyl- vania in Elizabeth's girlhood. They con- tinued to be farming people of Darke County during the remainder of their lives.
Albert W. MeC'une was educated in Ad- ams Township and was reared on the home farm, where he continued to live for three years after his marriage, coming then to Bradford. He was employed as a clerk in a local store for several years and then went into a mercantile business under the firm name of JJohnston & MeCune, but when he was appointed postmaster, he sold out his mercantile interests and assumed his publie duties on June 1, 1897. He is secretary and one of the directors of the Bradford Building and Loan Association and for fifteen years has been a member of the Bradford School Board, formerly being secretary and treasurer of this body.
On December 19, 1880, Mr. MeCune was married to Miss Ella Westfall, a daughter of John Westfall, of Greenville Township,
Darke County, and they have had six chil- dren, namely: Harley, who died aged six years; Chester; Forrest, who died aged eighteen months; Cora, who married Al- bert Kenneth Little, an attorney at Co- lumbus, and has two children, Delmas and Bernard; and Elizabeth and Fern. Ches- ter MeCune, the second son of the above family, met an accidental death while performing his duties as a brakeman in the railroad yards at Dayton, on Decem- ber 6, 1906. He left a young wife, for- merly Miss Dessie Carter, and an infant son, Chester Albert. The cutting off of this young man when only twenty-two years of age and with the brightest pros- pects of a happy and useful life before him, was a crushing domestic grief and aroused general sympathy. Mr. MeCune is a leading member of the Bradford Pres- byterian Church, serving as a deacon and also on the board of trustees. Fraternally he is an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias and a Red Man.
G. L. COMPTON. D. D. S., whose en- tire professional career has been spent in West Milton, enjoys a large and lucrative practice. He was born on the old Comp- ton homestead in Union Township, Miami County. Ohio, in 1881, and is a son of Isaac and Rachel (Coate) Compton: Henry Coate, grandfather of the subject of this record, was a native of North Carolina and moved to Miami County, Ohio, when the country was still in a wild and unde- veloped state. He settled on the farm in Newton Township, which has continued in the family name to the present time.
Isaac Compton was born on the home farm in Union Township and engaged in farming throughout his active career. He
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is now a respected citizen of West Milton, where he is living in retirement. He mar- ried Rachel Coate, and to them were born four children : William H. of West Milton; Omer, who is farming in Union Township; Alice, who died at the age of four years; and Dr. G. L. Compton.
G. L. Compton attended the common schools of the township and the West Mil- ton High School. After his graduation from that institution he completed a three years' course in dentistry at Ohio Medical University, from which he in 1905 received the degree of D. D. S. Immediately there- after he opened an office in the building of Compton Brothers at West Milton, where he has since been in active practice. Dr. Compton was married September 6, 1905, to Miss Anna E. Miller, a daughter of Jefferson Miller, who is engaged in car- pentering at West Milton. They have one daughter, Miriam, who was born Septem- ber 17, 1906. In religious attachment, they are members of the Christian Church. The Doctor is a Republican in politics. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows.
J. W. STAHL, senior member of the mercantile firm of Stahl & Patty, is a leading business citizen of Bradford and an experienced man in his line, having been identified with it during almost the whole of his mature life. Mr. Stahl was born on a farm in Darke County, Ohio, June 3, 1858, and is a son of Samnel and Susan (Longenecker) Stahl. His father was a soldier of the Civil War, one who gave his life for the perpetnation of the Union. Just prior to the opening of that war, Samuel Stahl had established himself at Gettysburg, in Darke County, in the
mercantile business, but he put aside all personal interests and entered the army. He served with credit until near the close of the Rebellion, when he was taken sick and died in a military hospital at Nash- ville, Tennessee, aged thirty-five years.
When J. W. Stahl was a little over ten years of age, he went to live with a farmer, John Mummert, in Adams Township, Darke County, and continued to make that his home until he was married, in 1883. In 1889 he embarked in the mercantile busi- ness at Bradford, in partnership with Mr. Brumbaugh, under the style of Brum- baugh & Stahl, which continued for five years, when Mr. Brumbangh sold his in- terest to Boyer Brothers and the business name became Stahl & Boyer Brothers .. Two years later, Mr. Stahl sold out and remained out of business from 1896 until 1900, when he again entered into merchan- dising. With his present partner, Mr. Patty, he engaged one room in the Arnold Block and there handled dry goods and groceries. Increasing patronage soon de- manded more room. and storage quarters were secured in the rear, but a grocery department was soon added in order to accommodate customers and that room had to be utilized for the new stock. In " Angust, 1906, still better facilities had to be provided and another room was added in which a stock of clothing and gents' furnishings were placed and in addition to these different well equipped rooms the firm has secured three rooms on the sec- ond floor which they devote to carpets and draperies. In view of this expansion the time is not far distant when still larger quarters will have to be secured for a firm that is in so prosperous a condition. Both proprietors attend to customers and three
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