USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > Centennial history of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Vol. I > Part 71
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Mr. Andrus is a stanch republican and displays a lively interest in public affair. For two terms he served in the city council and at the present time is also city marshal. His fraternal relations are with the Knights of Pythias and he also maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades through his membership in James Price Post. Interested in the welfare of his home lo- cality he lends his aid and influence to every good movement tended to promote the progress and advancement of the public at large, and no man is more high- ly esteemed either in public, business or social circles than is Mr. Andrus.
HENRY E. ROMER.
Henry E. Romer, secretary and treasurer of the Mumm-Romer Company, in which connection he is closely associated with an important advertising agency business, was born in St. Henry, Mercer county, Ohio, June 25, 1871. On the paternal line he is descended from German ancestry, his grandfather having been born in Germany, whence he sailed for America, taking up his abode in Mercer county, Ohio, where he cast in his lot with the pioneer settlers of that part of the state. Indeed he was the first man in the county to drive the first stake.
The town in which Henry E. Romer was born was named for the grand- father, who was actively associated with the early development and aided in laying broad and deep the foundation upon which the present commonwealth has been builded. When he came to Ohio his nearest market and mail were at Cincinnati and to reach that point he had to ride through unbroken forests,
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following paths that were little more than Indian trails. There were still many evidences of the occupation of the red men here, but undeterred by the difficul- ties and obstacles which one meets on the frontier the grandfather established his home and set for his descendants an example of good citizenship that has since been followed by those who bear his name.
His son, J. Frank Romer, also a native of Mercer county, Ohio, became a grain broker and miller. He was very prominent, not only in business affairs but in the official interests of the county and was identified with the democratic county commission for twelve years. He became recognized as a substantial and wealthy citizen and extensive landowner of Mercer county. After years of active connection with business affairs, however, he is now living retired in Springfield, enjoying a well-merited rest at the age of sixty-five years. His wife, Mrs. Minnie (Herman) Romer, also a native of Mercer county, yet survives.
Henry E. Romer was reared in his native village and the public schools afforded him his early educational privileges, but feeling that his intellectual training was insufficient for the responsible duties of life he further promoted his education by attending night school conducted in connection with the Young Men's Christian Association. He was a public-school student to the age of eighteen years and then entered business life as a grain buyer for his father, whom he represented for two years. On the expiration of that period he removed to Springfield, Ohio, in 1892, and entered upon an apprenticeship to a lithographer with the idea of mastering the business. He was thus asso- ciated with the Winters' Company for four years and was then made cashier of the business and had charge of all of the books. This was followed by pro- motion to the position of assistant superintendent and he had charge of all of the buying as well as general supervision of the business, his connection there- with continuing until April, 1898. About that date he turned his attention to the advertising agency business in Springfield in connection with Edward S. Ralph, and the success of the concern was phenomenal, the business being conducted as a partnership affair under the name of the Ralph Advertising Agency, with Mr. Romer as the active member. In 1904 Mr. Romer incor- porated the company, the business being thus continued under the name of the Ralph Advertising Company. In August, 1904, the company's business had developed so rapidly that the concern removed to Columbus. Mr. Romer and Mr. Mumm secured the control of the business, which was then reorganized as the Mumm-Romer Company, of which Mr. Romer is the secretary and treas- urer. In the conduct of the advertising agency he has developed a business of extensive and profitable proportions, this being one of the leading concerns of the kind in the city. He is also a director of the Reed Manufacturing Com- pany of Springfield, Ohio.
On the 26th of June, 1900, Mr. Romer was united in marriage to Miss Louise Carey, of Springfield, and they have two children, Alice, born in 1902, and Frances Louise, born in 1906. Mr. Romer is a member of the Ohio Club and the Knights of Columbus. He is fond of outdoor exercise and especially of aquatic sports. But while enthusiastic on the subject of such pleasures he never allows outside interests to interfere with his business, and has made sub-
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stantial progress by hard work. He is very sytematic in everything that he does, and believes in giving every man a square deal. His ability has carried him beyond the ranks of the many and he now stands among the successful business men of Columbus.
HARRY WEBSTER PUTNAM.
Harry Webster Putnam is the president and treasurer of the General Lum- ber Company of Columbus and is a prominent figure in local political circles. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, December 5, 1872, and is descended from English ancestry, although the family was founded in Vermont during the formative period of our country's history. To this family belonged Colonel Israel Putnam, of Revolutionary war fame, and others who have gained dis- tinction in military and business circles. Benjamin Webster Putnam, the father of H. W. Putnam, is a native of Vermont and arrived in Cincinnati in 1852. He has since been engaged in the cotton and woolen businses in that city and has built up an extensive trade, becoming one of the prosperous and substantial residents there. Although seventy-four years, he is still engaged in business, an active, enterprising man, whose years rest lightly upon him. It has been through the inherent force of his character and the wise utiliza- tion of his native talents and powers that he has reached the enviable position which he now occupies in financial circles and in the regard of his fellowmen. He married Anna Bird, of Cincinnati, whose father was a general and whose brother was a colonel in the Union army in the Civil war.
Harry W. Putnam, educated in the public schools of his native city, passed through successive grades and supplemented his high-school course by study in one of the business colleges of Cincinnati. At the age of nineteen years he put aside his text-books to learn the more difficult and arduous les- sons of the school of experience. He entered business circles in a clerical ca- pacity in the office of his father, who was senior partner of the firm of Putnam, Hooker & Company. Later he went upon the road as a traveling salesman and devoted several years to that work, during which time he gained a wide and favorable acquaintance and comprehensive business experience-both becoming elements in his later success. In 1893 he removed to Urbana, Ohio, to engage in the manufacture of wood-working material under the name of the Tucker Woodrim Company, Mr. Putnam becoming secretary and treasurer of the company. His association therewith continued for twelve years or un- til 1905, when the factory was destroyed by fire, and, as the bicycle business had declined, Mr. Putnam removed to Columbus and established the General Lumber Company, handling all kinds of lumber sold to the wholesale trade and also manufacturing in the same line. The company owns two sawmills and a planing mill, together with a timber tract of three thousand acres in Kentucky, and as there are no middlemen in their business the profits that accrue all come to the General Lumber Company and has made the business existence one of prosperity. In addition to his interest in that company Mr. Putnam is a director of the Richter-Tyler Company.
H. W. PUTNAM
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On the 25th of April, 1894, Mr. Putnam was married to Miss Blanche Louise Thompson, of Urbana, a daughter of the Rev. H. H. Thompson. They have two children, Corinne Louise and Marguerite. Mr. Putnam is an en- thusiast on the subject of the automobile and enjoys the social gatherings of the Ohio and Arlington Country Clubs, in both of which he holds member- ship. He has attained high rank in Masonry, taking all of the degrees of the York Rite, while in the Scottish Rite he has attained the thirty-second de- gree of the consistory. He also belongs to Antioch Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Dayton. In politics he is a stalwart republican and while residing in Urbana served for six years as a member of the city council and acted as its president for two terms. He was also a member of the board of public service for four years and acted as its president for one-half of that time. He is a broad-minded man whose interests are wide and varied, indicating a well bal- anced character. He stanchly endorses all movements for the benefit of his city and is in hearty sympathy with movements that tend to promote the best interests of mankind. Honest methods and strict attention to business constitute the secret of his success in commercial lines and the prosperity which he is now enjoying as president and treasurer of the General Lumber Company is well merited.
HERBERT BROOKS.
The man who recognizes opportunity and then bends every energy toward the accomplishment of his purpose wins success. There is no secret method by which prosperity is attained. Its basis is always effort-unrelaxing effort, a statement which finds verification in the life record of Herbert Brooks and thousands of other successful men. It is true that all days in his career have not been equally bright, but misfortune cannot mark character nor crush out ability and the strong and forceful man at all times rises superior to environ- ment or circumstance. The history of Mr. Brooks may well serve as a source of inspiration to those who seek for honorable success.
He was born December 16, 1853, his parents being David W. and Maria (Simpkins) Brooks. Extended mention of the father is made on another page of this volume. He was born in Columbus and the mother was born in Phila- delphia. The grandmother in the paternal line was Mrs. Keziah (Hamlin) Brooks, the first white child born in Columbus, a fact which is recorded on a slab in Memorial Hall. Her father, Nathaniel Hamlin, was one of the pioneer settlers of Franklin county, where he located in 1799 on his removal westward from New Jersey. He built the first log cabin on the east side of the Scioto, on the site now occupied by the Hoster plant, and in that typically pioneer home the birth of his daughter Keziah occurred. The brooks family, too, was promi- nent during the early history of the city, David Brooks being the proprietor of the White Horse Tavern on High street.
Educated in the schools of this city, Herbert Brooks completed his course in the high school and at the age of sixteen entered the banking house of
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Brooks, Butler & Company, which had previously been organized by his father. He made his initial step in the banking business as a messenger but his close application and indefatigable energy won him promotion step by step until finally, on the death of his father, he became one of the owners of the business and so continued for several years. He liquidated the bank after thirty years service in the banking business as the result of the financial mis- fortunes of his partners, and in the liquidation Mr. Brooks sustained a loss exceeding one hundred thousand dollars.
Difficulties and misfortunes are the test of character and ability. With resolute purpose and stout heart Mr. Brooks faced the situation and, turning his attention to the structural steel business, superintended the erection of the new addition to the state house in the use of six hundred tons of structural steel. In 1898 the Ohio Building & Loan Company was organized and Mr. Brooks has since been its treasurer and one of its directors. He is identified with numerous other business enterprises which have been factors in the city's growth and development as well as sources of individual prosperity. Forceful, enterprising and resourceful, he stands today in the inner circle of the business men whose efforts have most largely, through the channels of trade and com- merce, conserved the growth and development of the city.
Pleasantly situated in his home life, Mr. Brooks was married to Miss Clara Belle Tate, a daughter of John H. Tate, a prominent banker of Rockville, In- diana. They have become the parents of four children: Louise, the wife of James Westwater, Jr., a prominent young attorney of Columbus; Clara Tate; Phillips and Herbert, Jr.
For many years Mr. Brooks was a member of the Columbus, Arlington and Country Clubs and is also a member of the Masonic fraternity. A man of fine literary taste and acquirements, he has contributed many entertaining articles and sketches to the magazines and the local press from time to time, as well as many valuable articles of a historical character. He is now chairman of the publication committee of the Old Northwest Genealogical & Historical So- ciety, is historian of the Ohio Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and a member of the Benjamin Franklin Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. He is interested in all that pertains to the history of the state and nation in the salient features which mark its substantial progress, and his researches and investigations along other lines have been almost equally wide. He belongs to that class of enterprising, public-spirited citizens whose efforts have kept Columbus apace with the universal progress.
W. J. MEANS, M. D.
Dr. W. J. Means, possessing all of the requisite qualities of prominence in the medical profession, has so directed his efforts as to gain national distinction, especially in the work of raising the standards of medical education. Realiz- ing fully the obligation which devolves upon a representative of this calling, he has tried to have the requirements more exacting that the interests of the gen-
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eral public may be better conserved through the exercise of medical and sur- gical skill. Born in Pennsylvania in 1853, he is descended on the paternal side from one of the old families of the Keystone state. His father, Joseph Means, was born in Pennsylvania and there married Miss Margaret Sutter, a native of Germany. During the progress of the Civil war he espoused the Union cause and as a gallant soldier in the One Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania Regiment he went to the front, serving for four years in the effort to perpetuate the indi- visible and indestructible Union. He was wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks but lived to return to the north and resume the pursuits of civil life. His wife, who was born in 1827, passed away in 1887.
Dr. Means acquired his preliminary education in the public schools of Pennsylvania and afterward continued his studies in Lebanon, Ohio. In early manhood he engaged in teaching for four years, during which period he de- voted his so-called leisure hours to literary work and to the study of medicine, his private reading being supplemented by a course in the Cincinnati Medical College of Medicine & Surgery, from which he was graduated with the class of 1873. He spent part of the year 1875 in Kansas, after which he located for the practice of his profession in Christiansburg, Ohio, where he remained until 1888, his daily duties and experience broadening his knowledge, while his con- tinued study and research added also to his proficiency. After spending one year in post-graduate work in New York city, he came to Columbus on the 1st of May, 1889, and has since been prominent in medical affairs in this city.
While Dr. Means has enjoyed a liberal, important and growing private practice, he is perhaps equally well known as a promoter of medical educational interests and of the hospital service. In 1891 he was associated with others in the organization of the Ohio Medical University, and the same year was active in establishing the Protestant Hospital. He became a trustee of the college, also its treasurer and professor of surgery, and when the Starling and Ohio Medical Colleges were merged under the name of the Starling-Ohio Medical College, he was elected one of its trustees and treasurer and became prominent on its executive committee. He is also chief of the staff at the Protestant Hos- pital and his efficient professional service and executive ability have constituted an element in the growth and success of this institution. For eight years ha has been chairman of the judicial council of the Association of American Med- ical Colleges, in which connection he has given much time and thought to pro- moting the work of the different colleges along lines that shall make their serv- ice of the greatest possible benefit in preparing their students for the onerous and responsible duties of the profession. He was one of the organizers and is medical director of the American Insurance order, and in his private practice is associated with his brother, Dr. C. S. Means, while another brother. Dr. J. W. Means, is prominent in the profession at Troy, Ohio. Aside from his pro- fession he has business interests, being one of the organizers of the Park Build- ing & Loan Savings Company, of which for several years he has been president.
In 1876 Dr. Means was married to Miss Stella M. Thomas, of Christians- burg, who died in 1895, leaving two sons, Hugh, who has recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, and John, who is studying medicine in the same institution. In 1897 Dr. Means wedded Miss Ida B. Huffman, a
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daughter of Louis Huffman, a well-known Columbus citizen. Their daughter, Margaret, was born March 5, 1901.
Dr. Means possesses a genial nature with a keen appreciation for the social activities of life, but the growing demands of his profession leave him little op- portunity for social enjoyment. It is well, therefore, that he also belongs to that class of men who seem to find the happiness of life in the success of their work. His opinions are largely accepted as authority in local medical cir- cles and have carried weight and influence in professional councils among the practitioners of the state and of the county.
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JOHN H. KLIPPART.
John H. Klippart was one of the prominent citizens of Ohio through the middle portion of the nineteenth century. For nearly twenty-three years he was the secretary of the State Board of Agriculture and in the dis- charge of his duties brought to bear broad learning and conscientious pur- pose. He was not fitted by nature for the competition of commercial or in- dustrial life but Ohio could have found no more capable man for the office that he filled. His strong mental and deep interest in scientific investigation prompted his wide research and continued study and the state profited thereby. It is said that no man can be truly successful who does not love his work. Mr. Klippart was certainly well qualified in this connection for no man ever had more genuine interest in the tasks which daily occupied him and the conscientious and faithful performance of his duties was to him a matter of genuine pleasure.
Mr Klippart was a native of Stark county, Ohio, born July 26, 1823. He was descended from German ancestry although the family had been rep- resented in this country for two or three generations. His parents were Henry and Eve (Henning) Klippart. His paternal grandfather came to this country with Marcus De La Fayette and at the close of the Revolution- ary war was married to a Virginia lady and settled in Maryland. There the boyhood days of Henry Klippart were passed and in 1816 he removed to Stark county, Ohio, with his family of six children. In the maternal line the ancestry is traced back to a Huguenot, whose family fled to Flanders and afterward to Pennsylvania, settling near Harrisburg. He was the great-grandfather of our subject. The name of Henning is found on many tombstones in the cemeteries in the vicinity of Harrisburg.
Spending his boyhood days in the county of his nativity, John H. Klippart acquired his education in the public schools there, but his oppor- tunities were somewhat meager, owing to the fact that he began to earn his own living at an early age. He sought and secured a position as errand boy in Louisville, Stark county, and soon afterward entered a drug store in Canton in the same county. There he studied medicine in his leisure hours from 1840 until 1847, but giving up the idea of becoming a physician he turned his attention to merchandising, utilizing the capital which he had
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saved from his earnings in the establishment and conduct of a dry-goods business at Massillon, Ohio. He also conducted a store at Mount Eaton, Ohio, for a few years, after which he engaged in railroad contracting on the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad. This venture proved financially disastrous, however, and he turned his attention to other fields of labor. In 1849 he was made postmaster at Osnaburg, Stark county, and capably managed the affairs of the office until 1853, when he became con- nected with newspaper interests, being associated in editing and publishing the Democratic Transcript at Canton, Ohio. He remained there for a year and during that time was in partnership with John Saxton, the father-in- law of Major William Mckinley. In 1854 he removed to Cleveland, Ohio, and was for a time editor of the American Liberal, and later of the Ohio Farmer. Two years were devoted to his editorial work there and in 1856 he removed to Columbus, in which year he was elected secretary of the State Board of Agriculture. For nearly twenty-two years he occupied that position, continuing in the office until his life's labors were ended. During that period he engaged extensively in scientific study and investigation and contributed much to the sum total of knowledge along those lines in Ohio. He was well versed in geology, botany, archæology and anthropology. He was always deeply interested in everything that pertained directily or in- directly to the work of his office and his scientific knowledge enabled him to do effective work in the position which he filled.
In 1860, under appointment of Governor Dennison, Mr. Klippart visited Massachusetts and made an important report on the cattle disease prevailing in that city. In 1865 he was deputed by the Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C., to examine the European institutions for teaching theoretical and practical agriculture as well as to observe the systems of agriculture practiced in Great Britain and the countries in con- tinential Europe. His report of his tour of observation printed in the Ohio Agricultural Report for 1865 contributed largely, if it was not the sole cause, to the introduction of the Percheron horse from France. In 1869 Governor Hayes appointed him assistant state geologist and he was assigned to the agricultural portion of the survey. This appointment he held with distinction until the expiration of his term. In 1873 Governor Noyes ap- pointed him one of the fish commissioners and he did much valuable work in that connection. He was an honorary member of many scientific soci- eties in this and foreign countries, his knowledge of his writings making him the peer of eminent scientists both at home and abroad. He was es- pecially devoted to the advancement of natural history. Governor Chase tendered Mr. Klippart the choice of secretary of the State Board of Agri- culture or state librarian and he accepted the former, preferring the field of agricultural science. He was a constant contributor to the aricultura! press and many of his essays and translations from the German and French are found scattered throughout the annual volumes of his reports to the Ohio legislature. In 1860 he published an exhaustive treatise on the Wheat Plant, of which three large editions followed in close succession. Two years later he published a very practical treatise on the Theory and Practice of
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Drainage, which was used in many universities as a text-book, and of which two large editions were issued. While his scientific knowledge was most comprehensive, he had the ability to relate his knowledge to the everyday needs and produce effective and beneficial results. The California Natural History Society elected him a corresponding member and the same apprecia- tion and acknowledgment of his services was extended by the Cincinnati Natural History Society. He was also vice president of the Natural History Society of Columbus. Like all who walk through life on a higher plane, the circle of his friends was select rather than large, but his reputation and his work gained him the respect of all, and those with whom he came in contact appreciated his courtesy, his good and his kindly spirit.
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