USA > Ohio > Coshocton County > Centennial history of Coshocton County, Ohio, Vol. I > Part 34
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Mr. Waring has never married and lives with his brother, D. L. War- ing. He has held several township offices, the duties of which he has dis- charged with promptness and fidelity, while his political support is given to the republican party that finds in him an earnest advocate, because he is in thorough sympathy with its principles.
REV. JOHN WESLEY WRIGHT.
Rev. John Wesley Wright is a force in the moral development of Dan- ville and Coshocton county and in those departments of activity which uplift humanity and work for the betterment of various classes. He is a native son of this county, born in Virginia township, December 1. 1842. His parents, Albert and Eveline (Graves) Wright, were farming people of this locality.
The son was reared on the home farm, early becoming familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. His elementary education was acquired in the district schools and, deciding upon the min- istry as a life work, he became a student in Starkey's Seminary at Eddy- town, New York, later attending the Christian Biblical Institute at Stanford- ville, New York. Graduating from the latter institution, he returned to Ohio and supplied various pulpits, maintaining his residence in Willow- brook, where his parents still resided.
During the progress of the Civil war, on the 5th of August, 1862, Mr. Wright enlisted as a member of Company I, Ninety-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of hostilities. He was in the Army of the Cumberland and at the battle of Missionary Ridge, November 25. 1863, was severely wounded. The hospital being crowded, he was sent home on a furlough and after recuperating his health returned to his regiment and again saw active service. He was mustered out June 10, 1865, at Nash- ville, having made a creditable military record.
When his services were no longer needed by the government, Mr. Wright returned to Coshocton county and took up his pastoral duties. His first call was at Rosebud. Ohio, and for sixteen years he preached five miles
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west of West Carlisle. He then came to Danville, where for a number of years he has been pastor of the Christian church. He is a man of high ideals and has always exerted a wide influence for good wherever he has labored as a minister and in the community in which he has so long made his home.
It was in June, 1866, that Mr. Wright was united in marriage to Miss Esther M. Crown, a daughter of Joseph and Margaret Crown, of Jackson township. Their union has been blessed with four children, as follows: Charles E .; Othelia MI., now the wife of John L. Shaw, a prominent con- tractor of Coshocton : Mary C., the wife of John McCann; and John C., who has departed this life.
Mr. Wright gives his political support to the republican party and for a number of years has been a member of the schoolboard, while for two years he served as assessor of Virginia township. He is a man of scholarly attainments and one who throughout his entire life has been actuated by high principles and purposes. He has ever used practical methods in work- ing toward the ideal, which have found their proof in his effective work in connection with the Danville Christian church.
C. HOMER DURAND.
Among the recent additions to Coshocton's bar, C. Homer Durand is numbered, but has already won for himself favorable criticism by the work which he has done in the courts and as representative of the profession. He was born January 27, 1882, in Toledo, Ohio. His father, Homer Durand. also a native of this state, became a lake and sea captain. The family is of French extraction. Francis Joseph Durand being among the French Huguenot . refugees who settled in Essex county, New York, on coming to this country. The first representative of the family in Ohio was Lyman Durand, an uncle, who took up his abode in the northern part of the state. Captain Homer Durand always remained a resident of Ohio and was here married to Clara L. Stauff, a daughter of Charles E. A. Stauff, who was a jurist prominent in the courts of his native country, Germany. He was also a member of the medical fraternity and figured in professional life in Germany until he left that country because of persecution, and came to America, establishing his home in Minnesota. Here he practiced medicine in pioneer times and his son, Frederick Stauff, was the first white child born in that state.
C. Homer Durand pursued his education in the public schools of Toledo until he completed his course by graduation from the high school, after which he entered the law department of the Ohio State University at Columbus, and was graduated in June, 1904. The same year he was admitted to the bar and has since been identified with the profession. While in college and for some time afterward he was connected with theatrical interests as a means of raising money, writing, staging, and presenting his own plays, among which are "Her Last Chance," "Nine Points of the Law," and "Time Limit." When only twenty-two years of age he wrote his first four-act
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play, "The Trifler," which for lack of money and opportunity he did not present until January, 1908, when it was staged in the Coshocton Theater and became very popular with playgoers.
Following his admission to the bar, Mr. Durand entered upon active practice in Toledo, where he remained for three years or until June, 1907, when he came to Coshocton with a theatrical venture. Pleased with the city and its people, he decided to remain permanently and practice law. He has his office with the Hon. James Glenn, and has been quite successful in winning a large, growing and representative clientage. He was recently unanimously nominated by the republicans of Coshocton county as their candidate for prosecuting attorney. He is a man of scholarly attainments and well read, not only in the law, but along general lines. He writes, reads and speaks German fluently and possesses much more than ordinary orator- ical power, being an eloquent and forceful speaker. He belongs to the Protestant Episcopal church and is a man of culture and refined taste, of well disciplined mind and of high ideals.
SPENCER L. HOWELL.
Horticultural pursuits have occupied the time and attention of the Howell family through three generations; and Spencer L. Howell of this review is a worthy representative of those pursuits in Washington township. MIr. Howell was born in Coshocton county, June 12, 1855, a son of John and Phoebe (Seward) Howell, and in the paternal line comes of Welsh descent. The paternal grandfather, who also bore the name of John Howell, came here in 1826 from Belmont county, Ohio. The father of our subject also raised fruit on an extensive scale and was the first man to engage in horti- cultural pursuit in Washington township.
Spencer L. Howell was educated in the district school- near his father's home and was reared upon his father's fruit farm, assisting in the care and cultivation of the orchards, during which time he gained a thorough knowl- edge of the best methods of horticulture. He now has a well improved farm of one hundred and seventy acres situated in Washington township and makes a specialty of raising apples, peaches, cherries and plums. His products find a ready market, owing to their quality, size and flavor, and thus he adds materially to his financial income each year.
Mr. Howell was married December 3, 1881, the lady of his choice being Miss Rose B. Blizzard, a daughter of Martin and Sarah Ann (Bryan) Bliz- zard. Two children, a son and daughter, grace the home of Mr. and Mrs. Howell: Fred M., who assists his father in his work; and Zona B., who is engaged in teaching.
Mr. Howell gives his political support to the republican party and has frequently served as a delegate to the conventions of his party. He has also served as trustee of the township and as a member of the school board. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, while his religious faith
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is indicated by his membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. The work instituted by the grandfather and carried on by the father is still con- tinued by Spencer L. Howell and he is today numbered among the suc- cessful and substantial citizens of this section of the state, where his entire life has been passed and where he is held in uniform respect and esteem.
REV. WILLIAM E. HUNT, D.D.
There are few instances in the history of any denomination where one of the clergy has continued in single pastorate for forty-five years but for that length of time the Rev. William E. Hunt was connected with the Presbyterian church in Coshocton. ITis contagious enthusiasm, his untiring zeal and his consecrated work made him a power for good in the community, nor will his influence cease to be felt for years to come. It is the echo which "rolls from soul to soul and grows forever and forever." While his ministerial powers were constantly expanding from study and research he has been equally strong in his sympathy and abiding charity and in his life the spirit of criticism has had little place while that of helpfulness has been a dominant factor. No citizen of Coshocton county occupies a more enviable place in the honor and esteem of the general public than does the Rev. William E. Hunt, D.D.
He was born in Pedricktown, Salem county, New Jersey, February 24, 1833, and pursued his education in Jefferson College at Canonburg, Penn- sylvania, where he was graduated in 1853. His theological , studies were pursued at the Western Theological Seminary, at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. and following his graduation in 1856 he came to Coshocton in July of that year to preach a trial sermon and in October following was regularly installed as a pastor of the Presbyterian church. He gave to this congrega- tion one-half of his time and on the alternate Sundays preached at Keene until the spring of 1857, when the congregation at Coshocton. having in- creased largely in membership, desired that he give his entire time to the work at this place, and for forty-five years he remained as pastor. This long and uninterrupted service evidenced the strong attachment existing between pastor and people and he enjoyed the fullest respect of members of other denominations as well. His alma mater conferred upon him the degree of B.A. and M.A., and in June, 1905, the Western University of Pennsylvania conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
While laboring untiringly for the moral progress of the community Mr. Hunt has also taken a deep and helpful interest in questions affecting the welfare of the county along other lines. He was for fourteen years a mem- ber of the board of county school examiners and for one term a member of the village council to which he was elected on a reform or citizens' ticket. Whatever tends to promote the interests of the city is sure to receive his hearty endorsement and, as far as time will permit, his active cooperation. He has also figured in Coshocton's material development through his asso-
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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY
ciation with business interests, assisting in the organization of the Coshocton Gas Company, of which he became a director, while he was also active in organizing Coshocton's first Building & Loan Company, of which he was likewise chosen a director. He was a director of the Western Theological Seminary and of the University of Wooster for several years and the cause of education has ever found in him a stalwart champion. In 1876 he wrote and published a history of the county under the title of Historical Collections of Coshocton County-a valuable addition to the historical literature of the state. He has been a frequent contributor to church papers and the local press and has also written various articles for magazines. ITis reputation in connection with the church is by no means a local one. He has served on several occasions as a delegate to the general assembly and also as mod- erator of the Synod and Presbytery. The church in Coshocton under his guidance made substantial growth and proved an influential factor in up. holding the moral status of the community.
In 1855 the Rev. W. E. Hunt was married to Miss Caroline A. Totten, of Pittsburg. Pennsylvania, and unto them were born seven children, of whom Charles B., Robert T., Mary M., Carrie E., and Harry B., all reside in this city. A daughter, Mrs. Charles E. Williams, makes her home in Franklin, Ohio, while another daughter, Mrs. A. W. Boyd, is living in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
It would be tantological in this connection to enter into any series of statements as showing him to be a man of strong intellectual and scholarly attainments for this has been shadowed forth between the lines of this review. It is, however, a matter of justice to say that added to his intellectual strength is a deep and abiding human sympathy and a most kindly and helpful spirit.
R. D. KEESEY.
R. D. Keesey, a progressive and enterprising business man of Fresno, is one of Coshocton county's native sons, and a natural product of the solid, substantial character of his environments. He was born in White Eyes town- ship, November 4, 1873, a son of Christopher and Catherine (Raymer) Keesey. His father was born in Maryland in 1812 and came to Coshocton county with his parents in 1830. In early manhood he wedded Catherine Raymer, who was born in Keene township, this county, in 1833. They be- came the parents of six children, of whom two are now living, namely : Frank, a resident of West Lafayette: and R. D., of this review. In 1871 Mr. Keesey purchased a farm of one hundred and four acres in White Eyes township, on which he made his home for the remainder of his days. He was a successful man and besides this place owned two other farms at the time of his death, which occurred in 1886. In politics he was a democrat and was an active worker for his party's interests, having been elected to various offices. He was also active in church work. His wife survived him for a number of years, her death occurring in 1905.
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R. D. Keesey was reared to agricultural pursuits and received a common- school education. At the age of fifteen years he began working on the farm by the month, and for a number of years had full control of his father's place. In 1904 he and a number of others formed a stock company, known as the Avondale Glove Company, for the manufacture of cotton and canvas gloves. They incorporated under the laws of the state of Ohio and issued ten thousand dollars worth of stock. The plant is fitted up with twenty power machines and has an output of three hundred dozen gloves per day, thirty- five people being engaged in the work. Since the time of its organization Mr. Keesey has been superintendent of the factory and a director of the company. The business was the outgrowth of the demand for a concern of this character, and from the first has enjoyed a liberal patronage which has insured its success.
Since age conferred upon him the right of franchise, Mr. Keesey has given his political allegiance to the democracy. He has taken a leading part in the work of his party and has served for four years as central com- mitteeman. Fraternally, he is a member of Fresno Camp, No. 11688, M. W. A.
GEORGE D. KLEIN.
George D. Klein, engaged in the active practice of law, was born in Chili, Crawford township, Coshocton county, March 19, 1872. His parents, Charles and Elizabeth (Miller) Klein, were both natives of Germany and came to the United States in early manhood and womanhood, their marriage being celebrated in Crawford township. The father was a shoemaker by trade and was connected with that line of business until 1882 when he en- gaged in farming. He was killed in a runaway in the spring of 1907, when sixty-four years of age, and his death was the occasion of deep regret to his many friends who esteemed him for his sterling characteristics. His widow still survives and is now a resident of Fresno, Ohio.
Careful home training qualified Mr. Klein to meet the demands of the world when he started out for himself. He was afforded good educational privileges, supplementing his public-school course by study in the Scio (Ohio) College and in the Ohio State Normal at Ada. He began teaching at the age of twenty years and successfully followed the profession for fifteen years, during which time he was principal of the Chili school for two years and also taught the grammar department in the Baltic and Roscoe schools. He was an able educator, imparting readily and clearly to others the knowledge he had acquired, but believing that he would find a more congenial and profitable field in connection with other professions, he took up the study of law while still engaged in teaching, Judge Roche acting as his preceptor and directing his reading until he entered the law department of the Ohio State University at Columbus, in September, 1907. So thorough had been his pre- liminary reading and research that he was admitted to the bar on the 4th of December, of the same year.
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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY
Mr. Klein then returned to Coshocton and entered into partnership with George E. Roche, a business relation between them continuing until the 1st of September, 1908, when Mr. Klein entered upon an independent prac- tice. He is one of the younger members of the bar but his friends predict for him a successful future, as he is thorough and painstaking in all that he undertakes and is well versed in the law. Moreover, he has broad gen- eral knowledge and is a fluent German scholar.
Mr. Klein numbers many friends among his fellow members of Fidelity Lodge, No. 135, K. P. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church and to the Coshocton Bar Association. He is pleasantly situated in his home rela- tions and the Klein household is a most attractive one. He was first married in May, 1899, to Miss Ella Barth, of Chili, who died in January. 1902, leaving one son, Carl F. In October, 1903, Mr. Klein was again married, his second union being with Miss Loretta M. Deeds, a daughter of Solomon Deeds, a prominent factor in democratie circles, in this county. To this union a daughter was born August 3. 1908, Thelma Loretta Klein. Mr. Klein is also an ardent advocate of democratic principles but has never been an aspirant for office. He prefers to concentrate his energies upon his busi- ness affairs and possessing laudable and firin determination he will undoubt- edly earn for himself a prominent place in the ranks of the legal fraternity, being already numbered as a leader among the younger members of the bar.
WILLIAM L. ROBINSON.
William L. Robinson, who is engaged in farming and stock-raising in Franklin township, Coshocton county, is numbered among the substantial citizens of this section of the state. He was born in Franklin township, De- cember 26, 1851, and son of James E. and Anna E. ( Frew) Robin-on. The family was one among the first settlers of Coshocton county and were large landowners in the Muskingum valley, being extensively engaged in farming and stock-raising. In 1837, James E. Robinson removed with his family to Delaware, Ohio, where they remained for four years, the purpose of their removal being to afford their children good educational advantages. In 1871. however, they returned to the home farm, the father having died during their residence in Delaware. The mother still survives. The family numbered four children : Mary J., the deceased wife of James S. Stocking, a resident of Washington, Pennsylvania; William L .: Charles F., who is deceased; and Ella R., the wife of W. H. McCabe, of Coshocton.
William L. Robinson, whose name introduces this review, spent his boyhood and youth in much the usual manner of farm lads, assisting in the work of the fields during the summer seasons, while in the winter months he pursued his studies in a private school and later enjoyed the advantages of the high school at Delaware, Ohio, and the Ohio Wesleyan University. After the death of his father he took charge of the home farm and this occupation has claimed his time and attention to the present day. He is extensively
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engaged in general farming and is numbered among the county's most pro- gressive citizens.
Mr. Robinson was married April 28, 1881, to Miss Elmora Lee, a daughter of Dr. Samuel H. and Anna (Triplet) Lee, of Coshocton. Their union was blessed with a son and daughter, James L. and Elizabeth L. The wife and mother was called to her final rest June 25, 1887. On the 6th of August, 1890, Mr. Robinson was again married, his second union being with Helen E. Kyle, a daughter of Rev. John and Sarah (Gordon) Kyle, who were former residents of Granville, Ohio, but now make their home in Riverside, Cali- fornia. The Kyles established their home in the Buckeye state in 1858, coming thence from Vershire, Vermont.
Mr. Robinson is a republican in his political views. He is interested in the welfare of the country at large and is ever found on the side of right, reform and progress. He is highly esteemed in the community in which he has so long made his home, numbering his friends by the score.
MILTON N. WOLFE.
Milton N. Wolfe, who is now living retired in West Lafayette, Ohio, has been identified with both the mercantile and agriculture interests of this section of the state. He was born in Evansburg, Oxford township, Coshoc- ton county, August 24, 1837, the third son and third in order of birth in a family of seven children born unto Philip and Elizabeth (Meek) Wolfe. The father was born in Pennsylvania in 1806, and the mother in Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1808, being the daughter of Jacob Meek, an old time Methodist Episcopal minister and a soldier of the war of 1812. Philip Wolfe was a tanner and harnessmaker by trade, following those occupations in Evansburg, Coshocton county, until death, which occurred October 7. 1854. The mother of our subject died April 16, 1847. In their family were seven children: Lambert B., a resident of Ness City, Kansas; Jacob, who died August 21, 1836; Milton N .. of this review: Mrs. Jemima Fletcher. of Isleta. Coshocton county; Mrs. Margaret E. Thompson, of West Lafay- ette; Joseph G., of Almira, Washington ; and Philip HI., who was a member of Company E, Fifty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry and who died and was buried in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, National Cemetery, May 8, 1864. His brother, Milton, placed a tablet in his family bronze monument which stands in Fairview cemetery, West Lafayette, Ohio, to the memory of his brother Philip II. Wolfe. After the death of his first wife, the father of these chil- dren married Mrs. Caroline (Powell) Spalding. By Mr. Spalding she had three children, Thomas, Freeman and Lyman. By Philip Wolfe she had three children, half-sisters to the three boys mentioned above; Mrs. Harriet Dana, a resident of Fairfield, Iowa; Mrs. Henrietta Criswell, of Hastings, Nebraska; and Mrs. Sarah Jane Huff, of New Comerstown, Ohio. Not only our subject but also his three brothers and his three step-brothers were soldiers of the Civil war, and one of the former and all of the latter laid
MR. AND MRS. MILTON N. WOLFE.
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down their lives on the altar of their country. Philip Wolfe and his second wife both died of typhoid fever and were buried on the same day, October 9, 1854, in Evansburg cemetery, and in October, 1907, their remains were removed to Fairview cemetery, West Lafayette, Ohio, and interred by Milton N. Wolfe in his cemetery lot.
Milton N. Wolfe acquired his education in the common schools but labored mostly with his father in his tanyard until he was sixteen years old, and then at the harness trade with his father until his demise. Following his father's death. however. he took up the shoemaker's trade and after com- pleting his term of indenture worked at the same in Orange, Coshocton county, for two years. He then engaged in the same business on his own account for several years. Having heard favorable reports concerning the western country, he started for Kansas in 1860, at the age of twenty-three years, and there entered one hundred and sixty acres of government land, to which he added a tract of similar size by purchase. In the fall of that year he returned to Coshocton county and resumed work at his trade in Orange. On landing home from his 1860 tour he had just three shillings left with which to commence business again.
On the 2d of March. 1861, Mr. Wolfe was united in marriage to Miss Harriet A. Emerson, one of four children born of the marriage of Timothy and Annora A. Emerson. Five children blessed this union, namely: Nora E., the wife of H. C. Davis, a resident of Great Bend, Kansas; Lulu L .. the wife of George Peacock. of Coshocton; Claridon C., who died April 22. 1881, at the age of sixteen years: Minnie L., the wife of George Walters, of West Lafayette; and Ina M .. the wife of Bert Leighninger, now operating a lumber and planing-mill in West Lafayette.
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