USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > Centennial history of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Vol. II > Part 21
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WALTER E. HYDE.
The invariable law of destiny accords success to tireless and intelligently directed energy -- a statement that finds verification in the record of Walter E. Hyde, now president and manager of the Buttles Avenue Lumber Company. He was born in Galena, Delaware county, Ohio September 2, 1868. The family is of English origin, being directly descended from Lord Clarendon and John Hyde, chancellor of exchequer of England. His father, Solon Hyde, was a native of this state and conducted a grocery store. At the time of the Civil war, however, he put aside all personal considerations and joined the army in defense of the Union, enlisting in 1861 in the Seventeenth Ohio Regiment. He did service as hospital steward and after being captured at Chickamauga was placed in the Confederate prison at Pemberton and later for a time was in Danville and at Andersonville, the period of his incarceration covering eighteen months. He married Czarina Huntington Hyd ., a direct descendant of the same family as her husband. She was born in Jordanville, New York, a daugh- ter of Urban Hyde, who was a dry-goods merchant of that place.
During his early boyhood Walter E. Hyde lived with his parents in Cam- eron, Missouri, where his father was engaged in the Inmber business and there attended the public schools, while the removal of the family to Columbus en- abled him to continue his education in the Columbus high school. When his course was finished he began clerking in a grocery store and was thus employed for about eight years, after which he entered into active connections with the lumber trade, serving as yard foreman for a Inmber firm for eight years. He was also traveling salesman for a lumber company and has now been connected with the Buttles Avenue Lumber Company for four years, acting as president and manager thereof since its incorporation in 1905. The business has enjoyed a substantial and healthy growth from the beginning, and a liberal patronage is now accorded the company.
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On the 25th of September, 1890, Mr. Hyde was united in marriage to Miss Maud May Cook, who was born in Galena, in which village her father, E. W. C. Cook, was a carriage painter. By this union there was one son, Harold, who died in his tenth year. Mr. Hyde is a member of York Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and Columbus Council No. 1. United Commercial Travelers of America, nor is he unmindful of the higher, holier duties of life. He belongs to the Indianola Methodist church, in which he is now serving as steward and secretary of the board. In all life's relations he has been straightforward and honorable, just- ly valuing his own self-respect and the good will of his fellowmen as infinitely more preferable than wealth, fame or position.
SHERMAN LEACH, M. D.
Dr. Sherman Leach, member of the surgical staff of the Protestant hospital, surgeon of Mercy Hospital and to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, enjoys as well an extensive private practice, giving his attention entirely at the present time to surgical work. It is impossible to consider one's education complete in this calling for each year chronicles extensive ad- ditions to medical literature and the successful physician must ever remain a student of his profession. Recognizing this fact Dr. Leach has read broadly and has assimilated those sterling principles of medical and surgical practice which have constituted the most helpful elements in the work of those who become active in the practice of medicine and surgery. He has been a resident of Columbus since 1896, previous to which time he had passed his days in his native city of Mount Sterling, Madison county, Ohio. He was born May 30, 1864, a representative of a prominent and highly respected family of that locality. His father, William T. Leach, was born in the state of Vermont and in his youthful days came to Ohio whence he after- ward removed to Illinois where he lived for many years. He became an extensive contractor, largely devoting his life to that field of business. His death occurred in Columbus in 1906, when he had reached the age of seventy- six years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Anna Bostwick, was also a native of Vermont.
In his boyhood Sherman Leach was a pupil in the public schools of Mount Sterling and afterward pursued the regular course in the Starling Medical College of Columbus, being graduated with the class of 1887. Open- ing an office in his native city he there remained in successful practice for about nine years but recognizing the state capital as a more inviting field he came to this city in 1896 and his success has attested the wisdom of his removal. During the past eight years he has given his attention almost ex- clusively to the practice of surgery and his eminent ability has gained him prominent recognition in the state. He displays great care and precision in surgical work and combines delicacy of touch with comprehensive scientific knowledge. Few men have lost a smaller percent of surgical patients and the cases which come to him are often of a most important and complex
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DR. SHERMAN LEACH
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# STOR, LENCX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.
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character. Even before his removal to this city he was identified with the Ohio Medical College and the Protestant Hospital as lecturer and professor of surgery and he is still serving on the surgical staff of the hospital, is a sur- geon to Mercy Hospital and to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.
In 1889 was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Leach and Miss M. Horn- beck who died in 1895, leaving a daughter, Jane M. Leach. Widely known in Masonic circles as a worthy exemplar of the craft, his membership is with Mount Sterling Lodge, A. F. & A. M .; Garfield Commandery, K. T., of Washington Courthouse, Ohio; Columbus Consistory, S. P. R. S., and Alad- din Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. In professional relations he is a representa- tive of the Columbus Academy of Medicine and of the State and American Medical Associations, while in all of these connections he is popular and prominent. He is withal an agreeable and entertaining man, keeping fully abreast with the times in literary as well as professional thought and action and always well informed on all questions of interest.
GILBERT H. BARGAR.
Gilbert H. Bargar, well known for many years as a successful attorney at law of the Ohio bar, was also accorded prominence in political circles and in his professional, political and private relations enjoyed the warm esteem of those who knew him. Born in Buffalo, New York, on the 25th of March. 1840, Gilbert H. Bargar was a son of Dr. Valentine Bargar, a native of Darien, New York, who in 1841 removed to Coshocton county, Ohio, and there engaged in the practice of his profession until 1842. In that year he returned from St. Louis on the steamer West Wind, which was attempting to break the record between St. Louis and Cincinnati, and an explosion occurring near Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Bargar was among those who were drowned. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Alice Lee, was a representative of an old Connectieut fam- ily. founded in that state in 1641, and survived her husband but a few years. Being thus early left an orphan, Gilbert H. Bargar lived alternately with two uneles, one of whom was a physician and the other a lawyer. Before complet- ing his public-school course, he left home and learned the printing trade, after- ward being sent to the Bedford Academy, where he completed his general edu- cation, subsequently entering the law office of his uncle, Benjamin F. Lee, of Coshocton, Ohio. Later he was sent to the Cleveland Law School where he won the Bachelor of Laws degree on his graduation, June 28, 1861. He had just completed his law course when he assisted in recruiting Company G of the One Hundred and Twenty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was commis- sioned lieutenant, while later he was promoted to the captaincy of the company and served in the Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac until ill health forced him to resign in August, 1864.
The previous year Captain Bargar had obtained leave of absence for a few weeks and returned to Ohio, where he was married to Miss Sophia J. Lakin, of Newcastle, Coshocton county. After being mustered out of the military serv-
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ice he acted for two terms as clerk of the courts of Coshocton county and then entered the practice of law, continuing in the profession until his death. His ability as a lawyer carried him into important relations with the work of the courts. His devotion to his clients' interests was proverbial and he always gave to those he represented in a professional capacity the benefit of unwearied serv- ice and superior ability. In his earlier years he was somewhat active in poli- tical work and elected to represent Coshocton county in the Ohio legislature, having also been chairman of the democratic state executive committee for sev- eral years in the carly 'SOs, managing the Cleveland and other campaigns in Ohio, In June, 1880, he was appointed United States agent for paying pensions in Ohio, serving for nearly five years in that office, during which time he dis- bnrsed over forty million dollars for the government, and while acting in that capacity he removed to Columbus about 1886 and afterward made this city his home. During his long career at the bar he was engaged in much im- portant litigation and. when the federal plan for city administration was adopted, became the first director of law here, serving two terms in that ca- pacity. Captain Bargar became widely known in the capital and was uni- formly recognized as one of the best publie speakers of his time.
On the 7th of March, 1863, Captain Bargar was married to Miss Sophia J. Lakin and unto them were born seven children: Mrs. Frances A. Sells, who resides at No.545 East Town street, Columbus : Byron L., a prominent member of the Columbus bar; Gilbert M., a practicing physician of this city; William A., a capitalist here; Francis A., assistant librarian at the Carnegie Library ; Fred C., acting treasurer of the Riley Shoe Company; and Lucia Lee, a student of art in the Ohio State University. The death of the husband and father oc- curred August 2, 1904, at his summer residence near Indian River, Michigan. He possessed a genial disposition and ready sympathy which created and main. tained for him a wide circle of friends. He was well known in the Masonic fraternity, having held offices in the Scottish Rite, the Shrine and other Ma- sonic bodies. He was always a wide student and great reader and frequently contributed to various publications. He always took an interest in the educa- tional work in the profession and was for some time an instructor in jurispru- dence in the Ohio University, and an occasional lecturer. The variety of his interests, his activity and loyalty in support of every cause he championed brought him a wide acquaintance, while the sterling qualities of his manhood gained him the unfaltering friendship of those with whom he was brought into contact.
WILLIAM GREEN DESHLER.
To have merited and enjoyed through life the respect and honor of one's fellowmen, to have attained to the venerable age of eighty-two years with name nntarnished and record undimmed, is in itself the attainment of en- viable success. Aside from this William Green Deshler has gained the sub- stantial rewards of long and well directed activity in business and. at the
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same time, his labors have constituted a far reaching element in the develop- ment of the financial interests of Columbus. From the age of seventeen years, or since 1834, he has been a representative of banking in the capital city and there is today no banking enterprise of Columbus which has not been directly benefited by his aid. counsel or encouragement.
His record has kept pnee with the growth of the city in which he started on life's journey in the month of May, 1827, in the days of its villagehood. His parents were David W. and Betsey (Green) Deshler, the former the prin- cipal owner of the Clinton Bank, one of the earliest financial institutions in central Ohio. The son acquired his early education in the public and private schools of Columbus and then made an unostentatious entrance into the bus- iness world at the age of seventeen years as an employe of the Clinton Bank. and throughout the years which have since been added to the cycle of the centuries he has continued in active connection with the banking interests of the city, remaining in the original institution as the years have wrought its development in the process of modern business methods until today the Deshler National Bank is recognized as one of the strongest financial institu- tions of this part of the country. In the intervening years William Green Deshler thoroughly mastered the banking business and he was advanced from one position to another in recognition of the capability with which he ar- complished the tasks assigned him. During his business career in the past forty years in the various transactions of his financial institutions and con- nections he has controlled the disbursements and interchange of hundreds of millions and all through this period his name has stood as a synonym for the highest principles which constitute the working basis of financial institu- tions, and his methods comprise a standard to which every banking enter- prise must measure up if they would receive similar endorsement and sup- port in Columbus. Nearly all the banks of the city which have been revived or organized since the great financial panie of 1857 have been directly or in- directly encouraged and nssisted by Mr. Deshler and his financial connections, his labors being at all times actuated by the broad spirit of making for the wider expansion of the city's financial prestige by enabling others to grasp and hold the opportunity presented.
His beneficences are many but his charities are always most unostenta- tiously given. In 1889 he gave one hundred thousand dollars in trust to the Columbus Female Benevolent Society for the establishment of the Betsey Green Deshler fund, this serving the dual purpose of honoring the memory of his mother and also aiding those whom an untoward fate had thrown upon the bounty of the world. A year later on the death of his daughter. Mrs. Judge C. O. Hunter, he created a similar trust to be known as the Kate Deshler Hunter fund in the sum of thirty-three thousand dollars, giving a thousand dollars for each year of her life. When the only child of Mrs. Hunter passed away his interest in the weak and unfortunate children mani- fested itself in a memorial fund of seventeen thousand dollars to found a home for crippled children. Mr. Deshler very seldom. if ever. speaks of his beneficences and the stories of his private charities would never be learned if left to him to tell. It has been said that a kindly being flies on the wing- of
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love, carrying its message of hope and good cheer, and it is thus that Mr. Deshler's service to mankind has become known. His connection with bus- iness interests has been continuously that of a banker and the conduct of his business affairs constitutes an important chapter in the financial and com- mercial history of the city with whose interests he has been so closely asso- ciated for nearly seventy years.
JOHN L. TRAUGER.
There are many notable examples which stand in refutation of the state- ment that American business men are engrossed in money making to the ex- clusion of all other interests, for while John L. Trauger is a prosperous repre- sentative of industrial life in Columbus as president and manager of the J. L. Trauger Printing Company, he has never been neglectful of his duties of citi- zenship and to his fellowmen, his labors having proved effective forces in pro- moting the intellectual and moral development of the city. Born in Westmore- land county, Pennsylvania, September 5, 1847, his birthplace was at Trauger Station, named in honor of his father, George Trauger, who was a miller and farmer and operated a large flour mill there. He died at the old home five years ago, when eighty-six years of age. The family was of German descent and was founded in America by the grandfather of George Trauger, who came from Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany, prior to the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Anna Rum- baugh Trauger, mother of our subject, was also of German lineage and belonged to a family of farming people noted for longevity.
John L. Trauger pursued his education in the country schools of West- moreland county and in Sewickley Academy, a noted institution of that day, which was located on his father's farm. When sixteen years of age he began teaching in the country schools and followed the profession for four years. At the age of twenty he came to Columbus and in March, 1868, entered the fresh- man class of the Capital University, where he was graduated in 1871 with the Bachelor of Arts degree. He taught for one winter in the Pennsylvania public schools and the following summer in Sewickley Academy, after which he re- turned to Columbus and entered the theological seminary, from which he was graduated in 1874 on the completion of a two years' course. He was then or- dained to the Lutheran ministry and took up the active work of the church at Petersburg, Ohio, where he engaged in preaching until April, 1880. At that time he accepted the management of the Lutheran Book Concern, just estab- lished here and remained in that position for nineteen years or until he resigned to accept a position with the Westbote Publishing Company, of which he after- ward became manager. He filled that position until the consolidation of the Westbote and the Express publishing companies in 1902. when he organized the J. L. Trauger Printing Company at 32 and 34 East Rich street. To the develop- ment of the business he has since given his entire attention and now conducts an extensive and profitable book and job printing establishment, and for eight years he has had the state commercial printing. He has also been connected
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with various commercial enterprises and is now a director of the Franklin Loan & Savings Company.
On the 20th of September, 1877, in Youngstown, Ohio, Mr. Trauger was married to Miss Mary E. Smith, a daughter of John W. and Catherine Smith of that place. They are now parents of three daughters: Clara S., the wife of Ned L. Youmans, of Stevenson, Washington : Bertha E., at home, and Anna L., the wife of Harry Brecht, of Pittsburg. Pennsylvania. All have been teachers.
The family reside at No. 32 East Schiller street. where Mr. Trauger owns a fine home. He has always been a lover of music and was for seven years an active member in an orchestra and band when a young man. In the past he engaged to some extent in literary work, has done considerable German trans- lating and has written several pamphlets on religious subjects. He has been a vestryman of the Grace Lutheran church almost continuously since its organiza- tion, has been an active worker in the church and has contributed generously to its support. Socially he is connected with the Olentangy Club and he was one of the original members of the Columbus Board of Trade, taking an active and helpful interest in the many movements instituted by the board for the development of the industrial and commercial interests of the city. In politics he is a democrat and for many years after moving to Columbus was active as a party worker here. He served as chairman of the county executive committee for many years and was a delegate to many county, state and congressional conventions. In 1884 he was elected to the city council and by reelection was continued in the office for eight years, exercising his official prerogatives in sup- port of many measures of reform and improvement. In 1894 he was elected city school examiner and has filled that position continuously since or for a period of fifteen years. Four years ago he was elected a member of the board of education from the first ward and in 1908 was elected president of the board, this office expiring in 1909. He has always taken great interest in in- dustrial education and is very active in the work of establishing trade schools for boys. He might well be termed a practical idealist, for while he is ever striv- ing toward ideal conditions, he uses the means at hand to accomplish them and his labors have been attended with effective and valuable results.
ROBERT C. KYLE.
Robert C. Kyle, well known in business circles of Columbus as a con- sulting engineer, in which connection he was senior partner in the firm of Kyle & Dugan, which partnership was dissolved in 1908, is extending his efforts to other fields of activity and is president of the National Real Estate Mortgage Company. A native of Pennsylvania, he was born in Mifflin coun- ty on the 9th of January, 1863, a son of Charles and Ann (Campbell) Kyle, who were likewise natives of the same county. The paternal grandfather, Samnel Kyle. represented Mifflin county in the state senate, and was one of the prominent, influential and honored residents of that community. The
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maternal grandfather, Robert Campbell, followed the occupation of farming. He belonged to one of the pioneer families of Mifflin county, the old home- stead there having been in possession of the family since 1732. Charles Kyle devoted his energies to general agricultural pursuits in support of his family, save for the period of the Civil war, when he fought for the Union cause.
At the usual age Robert C. Kyle became a pupil of the public schools of Pennsylvania, attending both in Mifflin and Clinton counties, and when he ceased to be a student, he remained in the schoolroom as a teacher, being given charge of a school when but fifteen years of age. After devoting a year to that profession, he secured a clerkship in a store and later went upon the road as traveling salesman for the same house. Attracted by the opportunities of the middle west, he went to Iowa when twenty-one years of age, and there engaged as a salesman of live stock. Since 1885 he has been a resident of Columbus, and here beeame manager for the International Fence & Fire Proof Company. As opportunity has offered he has extended his efforts into other fields of activity and is president of the National Real Estate Mortgage Com- pany. His attention, however, is given chiefly to civil engineering as a member of the firm of Kyle & Dugan, and the largest piece of work which they have executed was the erection of the building of the Gwinn Milling Company. They have recently erected the Wheeler building and other important con- tracts have been awarded them.
In April, 1889, Mr. Kyle was married to Miss Lizzie C. Campbell, who was born in Madison, Wisconsin, where her father, Samuel Campbell. located at an early day. He was also a pioneer settler of western lowa, and in sup- port of his family followed the occupation of farming. Mr. and Mrs. Kyle have become the parents of three children, Margaret H., Kennith and Donald. Mr. Kyle belongs to the Masonic fraternity, to the Ohio Club, and to the Northwestern Presbyterian church-associations which indicate much of the character of his interests, his recreation and his principles. He has been an aggressive business man, alert and enterprising, carefully utilizing every op- portunity that has come to him, and as the years have gone by, he has made a creditable record in business circles, not only by reason of what he has ac- complished, but also through the straightforward methods he has ever followed.
WILLIAM O. TAYLOR.
William O. Taylor, working in a flouring mill at eleven years of age. is now vice president and general manager of the Casparis Stone Company, his notable fidelity and energy having carried him from a humble and incon- sequential position in the business world to one of large responsibility and broad connections. His life record is that of a self-made man and contains lessons that might be profitably followed by those who seek success and prom- inence along the legitimate line- of trade and commerce.
His birth occurred in Monroe county, Ohio, near Woodsfield. July 29. 1861. His father, G. M. Taylor, was a native of Virginia and a miller by
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W. O. TAYLOR
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ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.
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trade. He married Melinda Pilcher, also a native of the Old Dominion, who died in 1867 while the father survived until 1876. Left an orphan at the age of fifteen years William O. Taylor was then thrown upon his own re- sources. He was only six years of age at the time of his mother's death, at which period the family were living in Cairo, Illinois, and there he attended school, also spending one year as a pupil in the schools of Greenfield, Ohio. After his father's death he songht and obtained employment in a flour mill, where he was employed between the ages of eleven and fifteen years. He was very young to bear the burdens and responsibilities of life but it is often proven that it is under the pressure of adversity and the stimulus of opposi- tion that the best and strongest in men is brought out and developed. Mr. Taylor early learned the lessons of life and became a self-reliant and capable young man. At the age of fifteen years he went to Cincinnati and was later employed by the Hocking Valley Railroad Company in the construction de- partment as a laborer. His worth and fidelity won him snecessive promotions until he became foreman. In 1880 he became foreman of the construction gang of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad Company and the following year was made superintendent of construction, having supervision of the contractors for this work when not yet twenty years of age. In 1882 he became assistant superintendent of bridges of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad Company and the following year went south, having charge of construction work on the New Orleans & North Eastern Railroad until 1884. His ability secured him various positions of control and importance and gradually he was advancing in the industrial world, his labors bringing to him increased success.
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