USA > Ohio > Clark County > Springfield > Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th > Part 66
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seven years of age, moved to Springfield and established the "Farm and Fire- side," which has had a long and prosper- ous career, and was probably the first cheap periodical, or publication, to pros. per and obtain a national circulation and reputation. He may feel a just and pard- onable pride in the success attained by this publication, as it was probably the pioneer to demonstrate that newspapers and magazines could be made profitable when sold at a price one-third to one- fourth the price charged previous to 1877.
The publishing house was known as Mast, Crowell & Kirkpatrick for many years. Early in its career they pur- chased "The Home Companion" from Cleveland parties, and changed the name or title to "The Woman's Home Com- panion," under which name it grew in size and influence until it reached a cir- culation of nearly six hundred thousand copies.
At an early age John S. Crowell be- came a member of the Walnut Street Presbyterian Church, at Louisville, and during his residence there, was active in church and Sabbath-school work. At the age of seventeen years he was elected librarian, at twenty became assistant su- perintendent and at twenty-one years be- came superintendent of the Sabbath- school. At twenty-five years of age he was chosen a deacon for life of the Wal- nut Street Church. He and his wife are now, 1908, members of the First Presby- terian Church, of Springfield, which they joined in November, 1877. Our subject, at the age of twenty-seven, was joined in marriage, November 20, 1877, with Miss
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Ella C. Mangold, who comes of an old and prominent Louisville family.
Since coming to Springfield, Ohio, on August 17, 1877, Mr. Crowell has been actively identified with many religious, educational, charitable and business or- ganizations, and also has been an active advocate of the improvement and better- ment of Springfield. His activities have resulted in his being chosen to occupy many positions of trust and honor, such as director of the First National Bank, of Springfield; also a director of the Co- lumbia Life Insurance Company, of Cin- cinnati, and president of the board of trustees of the Western College for Women, at Oxford, Ohio; also president of the board of trustees of the new City Hospital, of Springfield; elder of the First Presbyterian Church, and director of the Y. M. C. A., all of the foregoing positions being held by him at this time, 1908. He has also been president of the Springfield Board of Trade, and a direc- tor of the Associated Charities, and for five years was president of the Spring- field College and Seminary, and for two years president of the Young Men's Christian Association, and president of the Men's Literary Club. He was also elected superintendent of the Sunday- school a number of times, for a term cf one year each, and for nine successive terms of three years each, to the position of elder of the First Presbyterian Church, and is elder of the First Church at the present time, 1908.
A COLLEGE ENDOWMENT.
When Mr. J. S. Crowell became a trustee of the Western College for Women, at Oxford, Ohio, it had existed
for fifty years without an endowment, and no effort was being made to secure an endowment, therefore the college labored under many disadvantages. At the suggestion and earnest solicitation of Mr. Crowell, the board of trustees de- cided to employ a financial secretary cr agent, whose duty it would be to give his entire time and attention to the subject and work, solely and only for an endow- ment, and present the merits of the Western College to philanthropists, and others, interested in educational matters. Up to the present time over $260,000.00 has been subscribed, or pledged. This in- cludes two gifts of fifty thousand dollars each from Andrew Carnegie and the Gen- eral Education Board, which was found- ed by John D. Rockefeller. These two latter gifts are endorsements of the high- est character of the "Western College for Women" and its trustees, as Mr. Car- negie and the General Education Board do not give such large amounts without careful investigation of the merits and standing of an institution.
FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR SAVED FOR MANY YEARS.
In 1887 Mr. Crowell instituted an in- vestigation of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, which is located at Philadel- phia, Pa. This resulted in learning that the board was paying far more than it should for much of its printing, binding, folding, stitching, etc. When a report was made to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, of the United States, it ordered a change in the meth- ods of the Board of Publication, as sug- gested by him, which resulted in a sav- ing of over fifty thousand dollars each
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year, for many years, to the Presbyterian Church. The Presbytery, of Dayton, sent Mr. Crowell as a delegate to the Gen- eral Assembly four years in succession, in order that he might attend to and re- port upon the investigation which result- ed in such a great benefit to the Presby- terian Church.
THE FIRST COMPLETE STEAM RAILROAD IN AMERICA.
Stephen B. Crowell, the father of John S. Crowell, was a mechanic of more than ordinary ability. When he first came west, about 1825, he settled in Lexington, Kentucky, and became superintendent of his Uncle Joseph Bruen's Foundry and Machine Shop. In 1828 parties in Lex- ington requested Joseph Bruen to devise, or invent, some method to carry freight on land, so that Lexington, which was an inland town, could compete with river and seaport cities. Joseph Bruen turned the whole matter over to his nephew, Stephen Bruen Crowell, who designed the plans and made the drawings, and also the dif- ficult parts of the patterns and castings and machine work, and built a locomotive, a train of three cars, also a track in the form of a circle, on which the train trav- eled round and round. This train car- ried cars, passengers and freight, and was able to ascend an incline having a grade of eighty feet to the mile. The his- torian says, "The railroad and cars cre- ated the belief that carriages and heavy freight could be drawn as easily and cer- tainly by steam power upon railroads as hoats could be propelled by steam power through water." The whole outfit was exhibited in Lexington in 1829, and in Frankfort in March, 1830, and afterwards
in Louisville, and it was so convincing to those who saw it, that the full amount of the estimated cost of a railroad from Lexington to Louisville, one million dol- lars, was soon subscribed and the build- ing of the railroad commenced, with great military pomp and civic and re- ligious ceremony. It is now a part of the Louisville and Nashville system. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad used horse power until 1832, which was four years after Stephen Bruen Crowell decided that steam was the proper power for rail- roads. A study of the history of rail- roads will not leave any doubt that Stephen Bruen Crowell, the father of John S. Crowell, was the first man in America to invent, design, build and op- erate a complete steam railroad, with locomotive, cars and track, that carried passengers and freight.
W. O. PADEN, owner of eighty acres of farm land in Green Township, was born November 29, 1848, in German Township, Clark County, Ohio, and is a son of James and Catherine (Whitmer) Paden, and a grandson of James and Nancy (Beard) Paden.
James Paden, grandfather, was a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and after coming to Clark County, he operated a woolen mill near Lagonda until his death, which was caused by accidental drowning while crossing Buck Creek, on a foot log. He married Nancy Beard, who married (second) William Overpeck, a life-long resident of German Township and one of the largest landowners in this locality. She died at the advanced age of ninety-four years. Her marriage with
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James Paden resulted in the birth of three children, of whom James, the eldest, was born near the present site of Lagonda. After the death of his father he went to live with Peter Sintz, by whom he was reared and for whom he worked until the time of his marriage. He then settled at Springfield, where he conducted the West- ern Hotel and livery barn for some time, it being the best hotel the city then af- forded. He subsequently located on Mar- ket Street and operated the Union Hotel, and he opened the first ice-cream parlor in the city of Springfield, and later built an ice house in Springfield, another inno- vation. His death occurred shortly after the completion of that building. He mar- ried Catherine Whitmer, who was born and reared near Tremont and was a daughter of Jacob Whitmer. Five chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Paden. One daughter, Susan, died in young wo- manhood. David, the eldest of the fam- ily, was a soldier in the Union army dur- ing the Civil War. After his return home he bought a farm in Shelby County, Ohio. In 1875 he was accidentally killed while fighting a fire, a burning tree falling on him.
W. O. Paden was reared in German Township and at the age of fourteen started out in the world for himself. He worked on farms by the month for two years, after which he attended school at Lebanon, having obtained his primary ed- ucation in German Township, and after completing his higher course he taught school for eighteen years. Mr. Paden then went to the South, where he engaged in the lumber business for twenty years. Upon his return to Clark County, Ohio, he purchased his present farm in Green
Township, where he has since followed farming in a general way.
Mr. Paden was united in marriage with Laura J. Garlough, a daughter of W. H. Garlough, a life-long resident of Green Township. Mr. and Mrs. Paden have had two children : Gertrude and Junis P. The former married Irvin G. Hamma, who was born and reared in Green Township and is a son of Andrew Hamma. They have three children: Clarence, Thelma, and Gretta. Mr. Hamma formerly followed farming, later conducted a restaurant, after which he was proprietor of a hotel in Kentucky until his removal to St. Louis, where he at present resides and owns a hotel. Junis P. Paden died aged fourteen months. The mother of Mrs. Paden is still living at the advanced age of eighty- four years, making her home with Mr. and Mrs. Paden.
In politics Mr. Paden is a Democrat, and although an active worker in the in- terests of his party, has never cared to hold office. He is a Mason and an Odd Fellow and also belongs to the Grange. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
LUCIUS M. HARRIS, city auditor of Springfield, Ohio, was born in 1849 in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, and has been a resident of this city since 1885. He is a son of Sullivan D. and Marian Harris. Mr. Harris was reared and edu- cated in Columbus, Ohio, where his par- ents moved when he was a small child. Early in life he entered his father's of- fice, the latter publishing the old "Ohio Cultivator," and later went to Cleveland, where his father published the "Ohio
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Farmer." Soon after locating at Cleve- F. & A. M., also a member and secretary land, Mr. Harris learned telegraphy, and of the B. P. O. E., of which he was for five years exalted ruler. in 1864 enlisted in Company A, Sixty- ninth Pennsylvania Regiment, and was immediately transferred and assigned to duty in the telegraph department. After JOHN N. GARVER, a business man at Springfield, is a citizen well known in journalistic and political circles and has been identified with various important in- terests in this section. Mr. Garver was born in Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio, September 28, 1858, and is a son of Benjamin C. and Ruth A. (Rohrer) Gar- ver. the war he was engaged as operator in the train dispatcher's office at Meadville, Pennsylvania, for two years and was then employed for one year in the West- ern Union offices at Savannah. After re- turning north he became chief train dis- patcher for the Pennsylvania Railroad lines, being located at Logansport, In- diana, for twelve years, and from there he went to Chicago, where for a short time he was in the employ of the Chicago and Atlantic Railroad. He then became train- master of the L. N. A. & C. Railroad, be- ing located at LaFayette, Indiana, for three years. In 1885 Mr. Harris came to Springfield and engaged in the wholesale and retail tobacco and news business, in which he continued with success for about eighteen years, when he disposed of the business and assumed the city agency for the traction line. In November, 1904, Mr. Harris was elected auditor of Springfield and was re-elected to that office November 5, 1907. He is now serving his second terms therein and has proved a faithful and capable officer and enjoys the high esteem and good will of his fellow-citi- zens. Mr. Harris was trustee of the water works, but had only served one year when the new code was enacted.
In 1870 Mr. Harris was joined in mar- riage with Miss Frances E. Gardner, and they have one child, Carlton G. Harris, who is employed in the engineering de- partment of the city of Springfield. Fra- ternally Mr. Harris is a member of the
Benjamin C. Garver was born near Har- per's Ferry, Virginia. His grandfather, Christian Garver, emigrated from Ger- many and settled in Washington County, Maryland, where his family of eighteen children were reared. Abraham C. Gar- ver, father of Benjamin C., was born in Maryland but became a resident of Jef- ferson County, Virginia, now West Vir- ginia, in 1819. In 1831 he came to Clark County with his wife and six children, and settled in the forest in Bethel Township, where he had purchased a farm. Later he acquired land aggregating 700 acres. He married Elizabeth Rice, who was born in Maryland. He died in 1857, his wife sur- viving him several years. Benjamin C. Garver was two years old when his pa- rents came to Clark County. At the death of his father he inherited a portion of the land, on which he continued to reside for some years and then moved to Kansas. The closing years of his life were spent as a local preacher in the Methodist Epis- copal Church. His wife Ruth, who was born in Springfield, was a daughter of John A. and Susan (Thrall) Rohrer, who came to Clark County from Pennsylvania,
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in 1840. Benjamin C. Garver and wife had eleven children, the following nine reaching maturity, John N., Abraham R., Frank R., James L., Walter B., Edward M., George G., Clara E. and Arthur C.
After an academy preparation, John N. Garver entered Wittenberg College and continued his studies there from 1876 un- til 1878, and then entered the Ohio Wes- leyan University at Delaware, where he was graduated in the class of 1882. He was then engaged as traveling representa- tive of the Superior Drill Company, of Springfield. He later turned his attention to the study of law, reading for about one year at Emporia, Kansas, and then drifted into newspaper work, for which he had acquired some earlier training as a reporter on the Springfield Republic and as business manager of a college pub- lication. He became editor first of the News and later of the Globe at Emporia. In 1885 he filled the same position on the staff of the Sioux City Tribune. In the fall of 1886 he was appointed land in- spector for the New England Trust Com- pany, for Missouri and Kansas, and late in 1887 he went to Lincoln, Nebraska, where, associated with A. D. Hosterman, now a resident of Springfield, and a num- ber of prominent business men of Lin- coln, he established a publishing house known as the Lincoln Newspaper Unión. This venture proved a great success and in 1888 they disposed of this business ad- vantageously. Returning to Springfield, Mr. Garver, as a member of the Hoster- man Publishing Co., became interested in, and the advertising manager of, the Re- public Times, then one of the leading Re- publican newspapers of southern Ohio. In 1892 Mr. Garver became one of the
owners and the business manager of the Peoria, Ill., Transcript, which he con- ducted successfully for five years, after which, in 1898, he became sole owner of Farm News, which he published with splendid success until 1905, at which time he sold it in order to give his entire time to his western land and local real estate and business interests.
In 1888 Mr. Garver was married to Anna Geiger, a daughter of the late Dr. H. R. Geiger, and Nancy (Hartford) Gei- ger, of Springfield. Mr. and Mrs. Garver live in a beautiful home at No. 619 Wit- tenberg Avenue and are members of the High Street Methodist Episcopal Church. In his political affiliation Mr. Garver has always been a staunch Republican and has taken an active part in public affairs wherever he has been located. He is an alumnus of the Phi Kappa Psi, a college fraternity. He is a member of the several Masonic bodies, including the Knights Templar and the Mystic Shrine. During 1898 he was president of the Springfield Commercial Club, the city's leading com- mercial organization. He is interested in several business concerns in Springfield and elsewhere.
REUBEN M. ROBERTS, who operates a valuable farm of 190 acres, which is ad- vantageously situated within two miles of South Charleston, owns the finest herd of registered Holstein cattle in Clark County and carries on a large stock business. He is one of the substantial citizens of Madi- son Township and was born on Septem- ber 26, 1850, at Alexandria, Virginia. His parents were Reuben and Hannah (Rob- erts) Roberts.
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Enoch Roberts, the grandfather, was a native of New Jersey, and Reuben Rob- erts married Hannah Roberts, a daugh- ter of Josiah Roberts, of Moorestown, New Jersey. They had eight children, five of whom survive. Reuben Roberts died in 1855.
Reuben M. Roberts was educated in the neighborhood of Moorestown, New Jersey, and later worked as a farmer there be- fore coming to Ohio in 1886. He engaged . in agriculture on the Merritt farm, having previously married Susan M. Merritt, who was born April 4, 1852, in Springfield, Clark County. She is a daughter of Ed- ward Merritt, who was born at Mt. Holly, New Jersey, in 1820, and who, in 1832, accompanied his parents, Thomas and Jane (Gaskill) Merritt, to Madison Town- ship, Clark County. Thomas Merritt was a cabinetmaker and followed farming on the present Roberts farm after coming to this section. He had four children. Ed- ward Merritt was married twice and had two children born to his first marriage, and four by his second, Mrs. Roberts being of the second family. Her early home was near the site of the present water works at Springfield. She was edu- cated in the district schools and remained at home until her marriage, September 16, 1886, to Reuben M. Roberts. They have one son, Merritt E., who is a student in the George School in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In political sentiment, Mr. Roberts is a Republican. He is a member of the Society of Friends.
WILLIAM H. SIEVERLING, city en- gineer of Springfield, Ohio, and one of that city's substantial and enterprising
business men, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 29, 1865. There he was reared and received his educational training in the public schools and in the civil engineer- ing department of the University of Cin- cinnati. At the age of nineteen Mr. Siev- erling became a member of the engineer- ing staff of Anderson & Hobby, civil en- gineers, and of the Cincinnati Southern Railway, and remained in Cincinnati en- gaged in civil engineering for a number of years. He then went to Anderson, In- diana, and engaged in preliminary survey- ing for traction lines for about a year and a half. In 1895, at the solicitation of John H. Thomas, he came to Springfield, but after reaching the city entered the engin- eering department of the Ohio Southern Railway, remaining with that company for over two years, when he surveyed the extension of the Findlay, Ft. Wayne & Western Railway to Kankakee, Illinois. One year later he became chief engineer of the Detroit & Lima Northern, which subsequently consolidated with the Ohio Southern under the name of Detroit Southern, with which company he re- mained as chief engineer for two years. On July 17, 1901, he was appointed city engineer of Springfield, which position he held until February 1, 1908. While employed by Anderson & Hobby, he acted as engineer in charge of numerous large projects, notably the building of a town, Grand Rivers, Kentucky, with two 60-ton blast furnaces, opening twelve coal mines and building numerous coking ovens; the building of Ivorydale-Proctor & Gam- ble's great soap works ; the Addyston Pipe & Steel Co.'s plant at Addyston, Ohio; the Anniston Pipe & Steel Co. at Annis- ton, Ala., and the government post of
.
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Fort Thomas, Kentucky, opposite Cincin- nati.
On February 15, 1908, he took service with Gould & Wright, contractors of To- ledo, Ohio, superintending the construc- tion of the main high level sanitary sewer and other sanitary sewers of the sanitary system he designed while city engineer in 1904, the estimated cost of which was $981,000.
In 1894 Mr. Sieverling was joined in marriage with Kate Helen Stoll, of Piqua, Ohio, and they have two sons-Walter J. and Paul Sieverling.
Mr. Sieverling is a member of the Ohio Society of Engineers, and is serving on the board of trustees of that society. He is a Master Mason, belonging to Anthony Lodge, No. 455, Clark County, Ohio. Re- ligiously, he is affiliated with the Center Street Methodist Episcopal Church, be- ing one of the trustees.
JAMES O. TUTTLE, general farmer and stock-raiser in Harmony Township, where he owns ninety-seven and one-half acres of valuable land, was born in Clark County, Ohio, October 26, 1847, and is a son of Sylvanus and Jane D. (Garlough) Tuttle.
The Tuttle family belonged to New Jer- sey prior to settling in Clark County, Ohio. In 1806, the great-grandfather of James O. Tuttle brought his family from that State and settled in Springfield Town- ship and spent the remainder of his life here. His son, John Tuttle, was born in New Jersey and married in Ohio, in 1815. His wife was Margaret Prickett, who was a daughter of Nicholas Prickett, and to them were born fourteen children.
Sylvanus Tuttle, of the above family, was born in Clark County in 1820, and in early manhood he married Jane D. Gar- lough. They had six children, namely : Margaret, John, James, Marion, Tabitha and George H. Margaret is deceased. Her husband, Charles Holland, died in Hardin County, Ohio. They had the fol- lowing children : Robert, William, Charles, Harry, George and an infant daughter. John died in infancy. Marion resides in Clark County. Tabitha is the widow of John Blee. George probably resides in Arizona.
James O. Tuttle attended the district schools during his boyhood and grew to manhood on the home farm. When his father died the property was left to five heirs and subsequently James O., together with his brother Marion, purchased the in- terests of the three others. He carries on general farming successfully raising the usual grains of this section, and gives considerable attention to producing fine stock, his land being well adapted to both industries.
On November 6, 1870, Mr. Tuttle was married in Green Township, Clark Coun- ty, to Catherine Todd, who was born Au- gust 4, 1848, in Madison County, Ohio, and is a daughter of Samuel and Salome Todd, both deceased, who had eight chil- dren, namely : Margaret, Elizabeth, Thomas, Sarah B., Catherine, Samuel, Nancy J. and Jacob. Margaret Todd, de- ceased, married Thomas Baker and they had four children: Elma, who is the widow of Wesley Clark, has three sons, Ernest, Clay and Wesley A. Orval, who married (first) Lottie Blackburn and (second) an Eastern lady, is a professor in a college in the State of New York.
JAMES H. RABBITTS
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Leonard, who lives at Dayton, has three children. Louise died young. These were the children of Margaret. Elizabeth Todd, deceased, married William Billby and left one son, Charles. Thomas Todd served through three enlistments in the Civil War from Indiana. He has married twice (first) Anna Graham, who left two Anna Stillwell. Sarah B. Todd, now the wife of Alfred Stanton and residing in Kansas, was married first to Theodore Brawley. Samuel Todd married (first) Nettie Billby, who left one child, Oliver, and (second) Cynthia Shurett. They have one daughter, Sarah E., who married Al- bert Weider and they have two children, Waldo and Kenneth. Nancy J. and Jacob Todd both died when small.
Mr. and Mrs. Tuttle have had two daughters, Leona, who was born July 2, 1876, died aged twenty-eight days; and Mabel, who was born January 3, 1879. In 1900, she married William Nave and they live in Pleasant Township. Mrs. Tuttle is a valued member of the M. P. Church at Harmony. Mr. Tuttle is identified with the Grange.
Diehl, with whom he remained about four years, later going to the firm of Elder & Tuttle. With the exception of four years, during which he was engaged in a grain business, Mr. Tuttle has continuously de- voted himself to the interests of the hard- ware trade. In 1904 his present enter- prise, the W. F. Tuttle Hardware Com- stantly expanding business has followed.
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