USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > Centennial history of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Vol. II > Part 64
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saved vast sins of money to the taxpayers without pecuniary gain for himself, save as one of the smaller taxpayers, yet with a large aggregate saving to the whole body of taxpayers. During the whole of his battle against graft and grafters he was recognized as an uncompromising foe to the uncanny evil, whenever and whereever it was found. His activity and assistance in repeated exposures of fraud in publie contracts led finally to investigations that startled and amazed the entire community by the enormity of dishonest frauds un- covered. While engaged in this work, the benefit of which to the publie can- not be fully estimated, Mr. Thrailkill continued in the private practice of law and became known as an incorruptible and skillful practitioner at the bar, well meriting the constantly increasing clientele that has been accorded him.
In his younger years Mr. Thrailkill believed implicitly in the principles of the republican party but learned that a corrupt party "organization" was largely responsible for the many-sided evil he had been fighting. As a con- sequence he became independent in local elections, voting for the candidate whom he regarded as best qualified for the duties which he must assume after he entered office.
On the 9th of July, 1900, Mr. Thrailkill was married to Miss Laura Haughn, and unto them have been born two daughters. Marie and Irene. Mr. Thrailkill has no taste nor time for society, in the usually accepted sense of the term, detesting its shams and follies. He has, however, sincere love for neighbors and friends, is dome-tie in heart and taste, practices the simple life, and spends delightful hours in wood and open field, loving the hills, the streams, the forest and the wild. He has always been an enthusiastic arch- aeologist and relic hunter, and has generously turned over many of his finest specimens to the State Historical and Archaeological Society that others may benefit by his researches. Faultless in honor, fearless in conduet and stainless in reputation, the life record of Mr. Thrailkill is creditable to the state and he is widely recognized as a high type of American manhood and citizenship.
CONRAD A. HOWELL, M. D.
Dr. Conrad . Howell, who stands for all that is progressive in his pro- fession, makes a specialty of surgery and has devoted much study to surgical anatomy. In this connection he has introduced new methods of practice, the value and utility of which have been demonstrated in the excellent re- sults which have attended his labors.
Dr. Howell is a native of Barbadoes, West Indies, his birth having there occurred November 5, 1866. His father, Conrad A. Howell, was a native of England and became the owner of interests in several of the English colonies, where he also executed government contracts. For many years he made his home in Barbadoes but in 1889 came to the United States, settling at Westerville, Ohio, where he remained until a short time prior to his death, which occurred at the home of his son the Rev. J. A. Howell, of Golden. Colorado, January 5, 1905, when he was seventy-two years of age. his birth
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DR. C. A. HOWELL
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THE NEW YORE PUBLIC LIBRARY
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having occurred on the 20th of June, 1832. The Howell family is an old one of England and Conrad A. Howell adhered to the religions faith of his father-that of the Episcopal church. He wedded Miss Mary Alleyne, a native of the West Indies, of English parentage. Her father, John Alleyne, was a prominent lumberman of the West Indies.
Dr. Howell was educated in Harrison College in Barbadoes and then entered his majesty's imperial service as cashier of the Imperial Savings Bank at that Place. Desiring, however, to become a member of the medical profession he went to Cleveland, Ohio in 1886 and there took up the study of medicine, being graduated from the Cleveland Hospital College in 1888. Shortly afterward he was appointed assistant physician for the Ohio peni- tentinry by Governor Foraker and remained in that work for two years. He was next appointed surgeon of the Osage nation of the Indian territory by President Harrison but did not find life among the Indians congenial and after a short time resigned and came to Columbus, where he has since en- gaged in the practice of medicine, meeting with good success in his chosen profession. He has been accorded a liberal patronage and his business comes to him from many of the best families of the city. He belongs to the Acad- emy of Medicine, to the state Medical Society, the American Medical Associa- tion, the Mississippi Valley Medical Society and the Northside Medical Soci- ety. In his practice he has specialized in the department of surgery, devoting much study to surgical anatomy. He was the first man in Columbus to make a demonstration of detecting a foreign substance in the human body through the X-ray and was one of the first in the United States to remove a portion of fractured vertebral column. He was likewise the first surgeon in Columbus to make the profusion of blood after the modern methods. He has made many experiments on dogs before attempting to put his theories into practice on the human race but his ideas are based upon such broad and comprehensive knowledge of the science of medicine, anatomy and the component parts of the human body, their functions and the onslaught made upon them by disease that his efforts have been unusually successful and he has performed some remarkable operations in surgical work. His researches in the science of anatomy have been most complete and such is his ability that his opinions are frequently songht by leading members of the medical fraternity in Columbus.
In 1889 Dr. Howell was married to Miss Minnie E. Briever, a native of Westerville, Ohio, and a daughter of George and Lucinda Briever, of an old pioneer family of this city. Dr. and Mrs. Howell have two children, Conrad A. and Murrell E.
The Howell home is attractive by reason of its warm-hearted and cordial hospitality. During their residence here Dr. Howell and his wife have made many friends. He is prominent in Masonry belonging to Magnolia lodge, A. F. & A. M., Scioto Consistory, S. P. R. S .; and the Aladdin Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also connected with the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks. He possesses a genial, social nature, but the demands of a growing practice are leaving him little time for active participation in social affairs. His labors in the department of surgery have gained him
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more than local distinction and in all his work he is actuated by high ideals that find their expression in continuous interest and research in preparation for the responsibility that devolve- upon him in his business relations.
WILLIAM L. VAN SICKLE.
Much is said in these later days of the influence of heredity. In this connection William Lincoln Van Sickle is fortunate in that he comes of an unadulterated Dutch lineage on the paternal side, the ancestral history being characterized by the substantial qualities of the people of that race. His grand- father, John Van Sickle, removing westward from New Jersey, became one of the pioneer residents of Ohio about the time the state was admitted into the Union. He settled in Delaware county and became prominently con- cerned in the development and progress of that favored section, with whose annals the family history has been closely identified through the successive years. William W. Van Sickle, father of William L. Van sickle, was born in Delaware county and was there reared to farm life. Having reached adult age he was married to Miss Mary Crane, a native of New Jersey and a lady of Scotch-Irish extraction. They became the parents of three sons and two daughters, all of whom are living with the exception of the son who died in infancy. This number includes William L. Van Sickle, whose birth occurred on the old homestead farm in Delaware county, August 20, 1867. In his youthful days the parents removed to the city of Delaware, Ohio, where he attended the public schools and at the age of eighteen entered the Ohio Wesleyan University, therein pursuing the full course to his grad- uation with the class of 1889.
Mr. Van Sickle had previously determined to become a lawyer, and in his case, to will was to do. He attended the Cincinnati Law School, from which he was graduated in 1891, and coming to Columbus he entered upon the active practice of the profession, in which he made substantial progress, his developing powers winning him a growing clientage that increased in importance as well as in volume. He is today, therefore, one of the busy men in the practice of law in Columbus with a clientage of a distinctively representative order. He confines his efforts largely to civil causes. in which connection his labors cover a wide range. In 1893 he entered into partner- ship with E. W. Brinker under the firm name of Brinker & Van Sickle, and the association continued until April, 1895, when it was dissolved by mutual consent. Since that time Mr. Van Sickle has been alone in practice and has gained an excellent reputation as an industrious, painstaking and capable attorney, systematic in serving his clients. That he is destined for still greater professional prestige cannot be doubted when cognizance is taken of his career at the present time.
Aside from the practice of law Mr. Van Sickle has extensive and im- portant business interests, being attorney, secretary and general manager of the Columbian Building & Loan Company, president of the Central Tablet Manufacturing Company, president and treasurer of the West Side Furni-
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ture Company, a director of the Ham and Adair Printing Company and of the People's Merchandise Company and the Buffalo Fertilizer Company. Ile was one of the organizers and the first president of the Camp Chase Im- provement Association and is interested in all those measures and movements which tend to benefit the city in the various lines of municipal progress. His social relations are indicated by his membership in various organiza- tions. He is a charter member of Champion Lodge, Knights of Pythias, one of the largest lodges of the order, and has held every office in the gift of the lodge. He has the honor, to which few have attained, of being a thirty-third degree Mason, and is a member of the Columbus Country and the Ohio Clubs. He was formerly president of the Arion Musical Club. now extinct. Politically he has always been a republican and is doing sturdy and efficient work for the party.
On the 12th of November, 1906, William L. Van Sickle was nnited in marriage to Miss Celestia Bland, of Delaware, Ohio, an accomplished lady. who is a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan University and of the Ladies Semi- nary at Granville, Ohio. They now have one, son. William Bland. Mr. Van Sickle is unostentatious in his bearing. having an air of open-hearted friendliness, which has made him exceptionally popular in both business and social circles. He is democratic in the best sense of the term, is easily accessible to all classes, believing that personal worth and not advantageous cireminstances make the man.
GEORGE TALLMAN SPAIIR.
Public opinion is united upon the fact that well-directed industry is the basis of all success. This truth is reiterated from the pulpit and the press and finds its exemplifaction in the lives of the men who are recognized leaders in the world's work. When a man has achieved prominence and prosperity, therefore, it is an indication that he has been willing to work persistently and indefatigably for advantages that others desire but do not care to win at the cost of earnest self-denying effort. That George Tallman Spahr is one of the leading citizens and substantial business men of Columbus is indicated in the fact that he is senior partner of the well known firm of Spahr & Glenn, con- ducting an extensive and consequently growing business as printers and stationers. A native of Ohio he was born in Ironton of the marriage of the Rev. B. N. and Elizabeth (Tallman) Spahr, the latter a daughter of Judge George Tallman, of New Holland, Ohio, a well known stock farmer who at one time was probate judge of Pickaway county. The Spahr family comes of Swiss ancestry and the American progenitor emigrated from Switzerland. settling in the Shenandoah valley of Virgina more than century ago. His descendants are now largely to be found in the states of Virginia, Ohio, Ken- tucky and North Carolina. The grandfather of George Talhan Spahr came to Ohio from the Old Dominion with several brothers and located in the
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Miami valley in the vicinity in Xenia, where he followed the occupation of farming.
The Rev. B. N. Spahr was born in Xenia. Greene county, Ohio, and after attending the Miami University began preparation for the ministry and was ordained as a preacher of the Methodist church. In carly life he was pastor of the old Town Street Methodist Episcopal church in Columbus and after many years, during which time he was located in various places in southern and central Ohio, he returned to this city and was again pastor of that church. At different times he served as presiding elder in the Marietta, Lancaster, Co- lumbns and London districts in the central Ohio conference. About the year 1880 he retired from the ministry, spending his remaining days in the capi- tal city, where his death occurred June 4. 1890, when he was sixty-nine years of age. He had been an influential factor in the moral progress of the state and his memory yet remains as a blessed benediction to many who knew and heeded his teachings. Of his family of four children two died m infancy, the surviving sons being George T. and Charles Spahr.
The latter, following his graduation from the Columbus high school in 1876, entered Amherst College and was graduated in 1881 with the Bachelor of Art degree. He then took up the study of political science at Columbia Col- lege in New York, where he received the Doctor of Philosophy degree and next entered the University of Leipzig. Germany, where he also received the degree of Ph. D. For a time he was editor of the political department of the Out- look and for a considerable period prior to his death was editor of the Current Literature Magazine. He passed away in New York in Angust, 1904, at the age of forty-four years.
George T. Spahr was only two years of age when his parents removed from Ironton, Ohio, and his early education was acquired in the public schools of Lancaster and Columbus, being graduated from the Columbus high school in 1874. He next entered the Amherst College and was graduated in 1878 with the Bachelor of Art degree. He took up the study of law in the office of the well known firm of Olds & Critchfield, attorneys, at Columbus and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1881. He did not begin active practice, however, for soon after his admission he was solicited to take the management of the Gazette Printing House, then owned by Mrs. S. A. Glenn. Later he acquired an interest and became a partner in the business, continuing in active connec- tion therewith until the time of the Metropolitan Opera House fire, January 26, 1892, when the establishment was burned. Theodore Glenn then pur- chased the interest of his mother and a few days later the entire job printing business of the Ohio State Journal was purchased and the firm of Spahr & Glenn was formed for its further conduct. In 1897 Mr. Spahr crccted the Spahr building on East Broad street, one of the handsome business blocks of the city. The building was designed for the use of the firm of Spahr & Glenn, the Ohio State Journal and the Columbus Savings Association, now the Co- lumbus Trust Company. Since the organization of the present firm the busi- ness has distinctly grown in volunne and importance and is today one of the most extensive enterprises of this character in central Ohio. Since its or- ganization Mr. Spahr has also been a member of the board of directors of the
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Ohio Trust Company and the National Bank of Commerce. Long an active and leading member of the Board of Trade, he was chosen one of its directors in 1897 and so served until 1903, when he was elected president.
On the 28th of October, 1886, Mr. Spahr was married in Columbus to Miss Harriet C. Marple, a native of this city and a daughter of Nathan B. and Harriet (Clark) Marple, the former for many years a druggist of Columbus and a native of this city. His wife was born in Northampton, Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs. Spahr have become parents of five daughters: Marie, who was graduated form the Central high school in 1904 and is a member of the class of 1909 at Wellesley College: Elizabeth, who is a graduate of the Walnut Hills School at Natick, Massachusetts and is now studying music in Dresden, Ger- many; Dorothy, who died at the age of two years and four months; and Eleanor and Katherine, at home.
In politics Mr. Spahr is an indepndent republican and has always refused to accept political office. Fraternally he is a member of the Odd Fellows and Masonic organizations, while socially he is connected with the Columbus Chb, the Columbus Country Club, the East Side Bowling Club and the Assembly. He holds membership in the Broad Street Methodist Episcopal church and for several years has been one of its trustees. As a business man and citizen he ranks high and is extremely popular, being genial, affable and at all times approachable. His success in business is the result of hard labor and the ap- plications of rare business talents. The weight of his character and ability has carried him into important relations and his present standing in commer- cial and financial circles represents the fit utilization of the innate talents which are his.
WILLIS J. ROOT.
Willis J. Root is well known in the business and industrial circles of this city as general superintendent of the Columbus works of the Carnegie Steel Company. He is an expert chemist and has been associated with many iron works in that capacity, and for a number of years has been affiliated with the firm which he is now serving in the responsible position of general superintendent. His birth occurred in Ashtabula county, this state. June 8, 1857, and he is a son of William A. and Derinda (Cole) Root. both of whom were natives of New York state, where his father followed general agriculture and stock raising for many years, subsequently removing to this state where he departed this life January 14, 1894, surviving his wife, who also passed away here, by twenty-three years. The elder Mr. Root was well known throughout the county in New York state in which he resided as an enterprising man and also as a substantial and desirable citizen.
The public schools of his native county afforded Willis J. Root his pre- liminary education, after completing which he was matriculated as a student in the Ohio State University, where he pursued a course in mining engi- necring and was graduated in 1885. Immediately he sought a position in
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which to make use of the knowledge appertaining to the profession which he had adopted, and secured employment with the Jefferson Iron Works at Steubenville, Ohio, and for two years was in the employ of this firm as a chemist. Here his theoretical knowledge soon became practical and he received an experience which made him all the more confident of his ability to successfully pursue his profession. Upon severing his connection with this company he came to this city, where he became affiliated with the Liek- ing Coal & Iron Company as superintendent of the blast furnaces, in which position he served efficiently for a period of three years when he resigned his post and entered the employ of the King, Gilbert & Warren Company as a chemist, and when the company's interests were sold out to the Carnegie steel corporation Mr. Root was still held in his position and finally made gen- eral superintendent. In the capacity in which he is serving he is one of the most efficient men obtainable, being familiar with every branch of the work and an expert in all branches of chemistry pertaining to the iron and steel enterprise.
In 1895, at Middleport, this state, he was united in marriage to Carrie E. Powell, the couple having two children, namely: Eunice O., and Dorothy I .. Mr. Root is well known throughout the fraternal organizations and belongs to the Free Masons, in which order he is a Knights Templar and a Shriner. He also belongs to the Columbus Club. He is well known in his pro- fession, and his thorough knowledge of his business places him in the highest rank as a master of the various departments of chemistry.
ELMER E. MURPHY.
Elmer E. Murphy, concentrating his energies upon his professional duties and practicing as a member of the Columbus bar since 1896, yet not excluding active nor helpful participation in those interests which constitute an element in the activity of every good citizen, was born on a farm near Athens, Ohio, June 4, 1862. His father. Brice S. Murphy, born in Kirk- wood township, Belmont county, Ohio, in 1832. became one of the leading farmers of his neighborhood and not only successfully conducted agricul. tural interests but also served for several terms as justice of the peace and settled and adjusted the local di-pute- and divisions of opinion among his neighbors. He wedded Elizabeth Baker, who was born in Alexander town- ship, Athens county. in 1835, and is a daughter of Ross Baker, who was a son of Mrs. Martha ( Ross) Baker, a near relative of Betsey Ross, who made the first United States flag.
Elmer E. Murphy was one of a family of several children. There were vicissitudes with which to contend along most of the early stages of his life but he made the most of his opportunities and aimed not only to secure an educa- tion for himself but to assist his father who was in limited financial circum- stance- with a large family dependent upon him. Elmer E. Murphy aided in their support and also utilized the educational advantages which were offered him in the country -chool-, while subsequently he studied for six
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weeks in the normal school at Caldwell, Noble county, Ohio. Immediately thereafter at less than eighteen years of age he took up the profession of teaching and became more of a student than before, for he had to work to keep ahead of his pupils and it was with him as it is with all others that the teacher gains more than the pupil, no matter how capable is the instruction given. For eight years he continued to teach successfully in many parts of the state, maintaining himself by his labors and also aiding his father to support and educate the younger members of the family. In 1888 he turned his attention to commercial lines, going upon the road as a traveling representative for merchantile houses. For a number of years he traveled throughout all the leading cities of the United States and the British and French possessions of North America, becoming a veritable "knight of the grip."
While engaged in teaching Mr. Murphy had entered upon a systematic course of law, reading and studying the practical text-books of that day, including Walker's American Law, Blackstone's and Kent's commentaries and other cognate works, one or more of which he carried with him and read on every trip that he made while acting as traveling salesman. Not satisfied with is literary attainment, however, and feeling that a more com- prehensive general knowledge was a necessity toward success in professional lines, he entered the National Normal University of Ohio at Lebanon and in 1891 won the degree of Bachelor of Science, while in 1892 the degree of Bachelor of Arts was conferred upon him. He completed his law studies in the University of Cincinnati, where he won the Bachelor of Laws degree and in 1896 was regularly admitted to the law practice before the supreme court of Ohio. The following year he was admitted to practice in the Uni- ted States circuit and district courts by Judge William H. Taft, now presi- dent of the United States.
Since his admission to the bar Mr. Murphy has continuously followed his profession in Columbus and his ability is evidenced by the clientage ac- corded him, connecting him with much important work done in the courts and in counsel. His professional duties have been his chief concern and his devotion to his client's interests is proverbial, yet he has also found time for consideration of important political and municipal problems. His father, afterwards a democrat was a stalwart Lincoln republican during the war period but the son is a democrat, the result of his studies of political economy and other political problems during his attendance upon the primary as well as the higher institutions of learning-the result of thought- ful study and sincere convictions. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, having joined the order in Wilmington, Ohio, in 1889. He is still a member of Lodge No. 218 and is in sympathy with the beneficent spirit of the organization. While he does not belong to any church. he has sincere respect for religion and religious teachings and influences, and in fact is interested in all that pertains to progress, reform and improvement for mankind.
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