Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th, Part 70

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1086


USA > Ohio > Clark County > Springfield > Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th > Part 70


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A. L. DUFFEY, who has been promi- nently identified with the city's business activities many years, has resided in Springfield, Ohio, for a period of twenty- eight years and is at present president and treasurer of the Springfield Planing Mill and Lumber Company. Mr. Duffey was born and reared in Highland County, Ohio, the date of his birth being 1859. He remained in his native community until he reached his majority, then came to Springfield, Ohio, and engaged as a wood- worker with Rhinehart & Bullard. He


was next in the employ of St. John's Sew- ing Machine Company, later, of the Springfield Engine and Thresher Com- pany, and then served eight years as fore- man of the wood department of the A. C. Evans Manufacturing Company. Upon leaving the employ of the last named com- pany, he was made first superintendent of the Ohio Planing Mill and Box Company, and in 1895 began his connection with the Springfield Planing Mill. He served as superintendent until 1903, then was elected president and treasurer of the company, whose affairs he has since directed with marked ability. Mr. Duffey was married in 1901 to Miss Mamie A. Johnson of Springfield. Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and belong to the Junior Order United American Mechanics.


ELLIOTT D. WHEELER, owner of a fine farm of one hundred and twenty-nine acres located on Yellow Springs Pike, five miles southwest of Springfield, in Green Township, Clark County, Ohio, has been a resident there throughout his entire life. He was born on his present farm in March, 1846, and is a son of John and Catherine (Inlow) Wheeler.


. Ebenezer Wheeler, grandfather of our subject, came to Green Township from New Jersey while this country was in a comparatively wild state and was among the earliest pioneers. The church on the hill near the Wheeler farm was named in his honor. He and his wife were parents of eleven children.


John Wheeler was born on the same farm as our subject and there grew to maturity, attending the primitive schools


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of that early period. He followed farm- ing throughout life and also conducted a threshing outfit. His death occurred in 1858. He married Catherine Inlow, a na- tive of Clark County, and a daughter of Abraham Inlow. They were parents of seven children, of whom Elliott D. is the sole survivor. Politically, the father was a Republican but never an office seeker.


Elliott D. Wheeler was reared and has always lived on the old Wheeler farm. He engages in general farming and stock- raising, and has met with more than aver- age success. He was united in marriage with Miss Amy Woliston, who was born in Springfield and is a daughter of John Woliston, who for many years followed carpentering in that city. Six children were born to bless their union, namely: Walter, Nettie, Warren (deceased), Homer (deceased), Ralph, and Lola. In politics he has always been a stanch Re- publican and for some years served as a member of the School Board. Although too young to enter the army at the begin- ning of the Civil War, in 1864 he enlisted in the 100-day service and went to the front for that period. He is a man of many admirable qualities, and is held in highest esteem by his fellow citizens.


education was pursued along the line of his natural inclinations and he remained in his native city until 1876, when he came first to Springfield, at that time be- coming connected with the St. John Sew- ing Machine Company, of this city, hav- ing charge of its japanning department. From Springfield he went to Brooklyn, N. Y., where he established a piano plate manufacturing business, remaining there until September, 1889, when he returned to Springfield, which city continued to be the scene of his business successes during the remainder of a busy life. He asso- ciated with him John Chapman, a native of Newark, New Jersey, also a practical man in the business, and the concern was incorporated in the above year. Great preparations were immediately made for the carrying on of a large industry, eight acres of land being secured, adequate and appropriate buildings being erected there- on, and machinery being installed to make the plant one of the best and most com- plete of its kind in the world. Experi- enced and capable workmen were brought together and each year the business as- sumed larger and larger proportions.


On September 28, 1903, the whole plant was destroyed by fire, when Mr. Chapman retired and Mr. Wickham and James Johnson, Jr., organized a stock company pany. A fire-proof structure was erected, it being in every way a much more elab- orate plant, and here the business is still conducted. The manufactured articles include piano plates, piano hardware, the latter designation covering action brack- ets, pedal feet, pedal guards, bearing bars, organ pedal frames and all other devices. Their field of distribution covers


HENRY WICKHAM, formerly one of known as the Wickham Piano Plate Com- Springfield's leading manufacturers, who, at the time of his death, on November 13, 1907, was at the head of the largest house manufacturing piano plates and piano hardware in the world, had been more or less identified with Springfield interests since 1876. Mr. Wickham came of Eng- lish-Irish ancestry and was born in the City of New York June 15th, 1854. His


Henry Wickham


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the world. Mr. Wickham never lost his practical interest in the business, which he thoroughly understood in every detail, and as long as he lived he took a justifi- able pride in the fact that no matter how many changes entered into the business of many competitors, the same high stan- dard of perfection continued in his own as had prevailed at the beginning.


On October 15, 1878, Henry Wickham was married to Theresa Murphy, who was born at West Jefferson, Ohio, and is a daughter of John Murphy, who was in a grocery business in Madison County, for a number of years. Mr. and Mrs. Wick- ham became parents of five children, namely: Grace, who married L. C. Gor- such, residing at Springfield; Edna, re- siding with her mother; Frank, residing at Springfield; and John and Henry, both of whom are students in St. Mary's In- stitute, at Dayton, Ohio. Mrs. Wickham and family are members of St. Raphael's Catholic Church, at Springfield. Mr. Wickham was a consistent churchman and gave liberally in support of charity and to further benevolence. He was a mem- ber of the order of Knights of Columbus. He owned valuable real estate in Clark County, including a beautiful country home and the elegant city residence on the corner of Burnett Road and Harrison Street. In his political affiliation he was a Republican.


CHARLES OSCAR BYMASTER, a well known resident of German Township, who is engaged in general agriculture on a farm of 134 acres, which he owns in partnership with his father, was born July 21, 1870, in German Township,


Clark County, Ohio, and is a son of George W. and Mary J. (Tilton) Bymas- ter.


Charles O. Bymaster was reared and educated in his native township, and with the exception of twelve years spent in Springfield Township, where he operated a dairy in connection with farming, has always been a resident of German Town- ship. In March, 1905, Mr. Bymaster and family moved to his present farm, which is situated five miles northwest of Spring- field on the Clark and Miami Pike at the junction of the old Troy Road. He here follows general farming and is one of the most enterprising and progressive young agriculturists in the township.


On December 23, 1897, Mr. Bymaster was joined in marriage with Mary E. Powell, a daughter of William, Sinclair and Eliza Powell, and of this union have been born three children-Paul, George, Ruth Lucille, and Charles Robert. Mr. Bymaster has always taken an active in- terest in politics and is an ardent sup- porter of the Republican party.


THOMAS H. ROBERTS, whose valu- able farm of 160 acres is situated in Moorefield Township and is the original quarter section which was entered by his father from the Government, almost 100 years ago, is a leading citizen of this part of Clark County. Mr. Roberts was born on his present farm, March 28, 1836, and is a son of James H. and Mary (Wren) Roberts.


James H. Roberts was born in Vir- ginia, in 1785, and came to Clark County, Ohio, in 1810. After securing his land and beginning its clearing and cultivation,


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Mr. Roberts rented it out to another early Charleston Road, just one-half mile south settler and moved to Lawrenceburg, In- of the Mechanicsburg Turnpike, about nine miles northeast of Springfield. This is a beautiful and fertile section of Clark County. diana, near Cincinnati, where he operated a tannery until the death of his first wife, after which he returned to his farm in Ohio. He added more land to his first purchase and at the time of his death, in 1863, he owned 235 acres. Until 1832 he lived with his family in a log house, but then built a one-story brick one, and in the latter his son, Thomas H., was born. James H. Roberts was married (first) to Jane Wilson, in Virginia, and they had one child when they came to Ohio, Will- iam, who was born in Virginia in 1808. Six more children were born to that mar- riage in Ohio. Mr. Roberts was married (second) to Mary Wren, and they had ten children, nine of whom survived infancy. The mother of these children died in 1876. In every sense of the word, James H. Roberts was a typical pioneer. He was a man of robust constitution, of en- terprising nature and of sterling char- acter.


Thomas H. Roberts was reared on the farm on which he was born and which has always been his home, with the exception of two years which he spent at Springfield and an absence of four months in the army. He followed agricultural pursuits after completing the usual country school education, leaving home for the first time when he enlisted in Company E, Sixteenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, April 23, 1861. He served until Septem- ber 7, 1861, although his discharge papers were dated August 18, 1861, being sta- tioned during all this time in West Vir- ginia. Mr. Roberts returned home and resumed farming. His property is situ- ated on what was once the Urbana and


On March 26, 1863, Mr. Roberts was married to Mary Coffey, who was born in Pleasant Township, Clark County, Ohio, and is a daughter of William and Nancy (Curl) Coffey. Her paternal grand- father, Joseph Coffey, came to Clark County in 1803. Both her father and mother were born in Pleasant Township. Her maternal grandfather, Jeremiah Curl, was born in Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have six children, namely : Charles, James William, Annie, Elizabeth, Lucy and Mary. Charles Roberts is the manager of the home farm. He married Josephine Warwick and they have five children : Agnes, Josephine, Thomas Edwin and John. James William Rob- erts is engaged in farming in Moorefield Township. He married Blanche Baldwin and they have one child, Blanche. Annie Roberts married Richard Marsh and they live in Indiana and have four children: Gladys, Grace, Elizabeth and Nathan. Elizabeth Roberts married Harry Bruce and they live at Troy, Ohio. Lucy Rob- erts married Nathan Marsh and they have three children : Douglas, Emily and Mary Catherine; and Mary Roberts married George Maxwell. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have lived to see all their children com- fortably settled in homes of their own. He is a man of quiet tastes, devoted to his home and interested in local matters only so far as becomes a good citizen, taking no very active part in politics. He be- longs to the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic.


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WILLIAM BAYLEY, president of the William Bayley Company, manufacturers of structural and ornamental iron work, has been a resident of Springfield, Ohio, since 1875. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, July 28, 1845, and was there reared to maturity, attending the public schools during his youthful days.


Mr. Bayley remained in his native city until he passed the age of twenty-five years, then went to Wilmington, Dela- ware, where he conducted a machine shop one year. He removed to Springfield, Ohio, in 1875, and thereafter until 1889 was identified with the Whiteley plant. He then entered the employ of the Rogers Fence Company, and subsequently the Rogers Iron Company, which three years later was succeeded by the William Bay- ley Company. The latter company was organized and incorporated with the fol- lowing officers: William Bayley, presi- dent; W. D. Bayley, vice president; G. D. Bayley, second vice president ; L. D. Bay- ley, treasurer, and A. G. Dey, secretary. They do all kinds of structural, ornament- al and artistic iron work and have built' up an extensive business in this section of the state.


In 1871 Mr. Bayley was united in mar- riage with Miss Mary Dicus, of Balti- more, Maryland, and they have five chil- dren living, namely: William D., of Ash- ville, North Carolina; Guy D., of Spring- field; Lee D., of Springfield; Elden D., a ' Madison Township; Jacob H., who died as student at Chapel Hill College in North a result of injuries received at Beverly, West Virginia, during the Civil War; Enoch K., whose name begins this article; William O., of Tremont, Ohio; Thomas, a resident of Springfield; Harriet (Ramy), of Plattsburg, Ohio ; Eliza (Eichelbarger) ; Ezra L., who lives at Pitchin; and Ervin Carolina, and Mary, wife of Prof. J. H. Pratt, chief of the geological department of the state of North Carolina and an in- structor in Chapel Hill College. Fra- ternally our subject is a member of Clark Lodge, F. & A. M. He has taken an ac-


tive interest in furthering the interests of the City of Springfield, and served two years on the board of park commission- ers. Religiously he and his wife are mem- bers of the High Street Methodist Episco- pal Church.


ENOCH K. NAVE, a prosperous farmer and well known citizen of Green Township, Clark County, Ohio, who was born on what is now the Shobe farm in that township, August 24, 1844, is a son of Jacob, Jr., and Mary (Knable) Nave, and grandson of Jacob and Catherine (Garlough) Nave.


Jacob Nave, Sr., was a native of Vir- ginia, and was a young man, unmarried, at the time he came to Clark County, Ohio, in 1807. The Garlough family, into which he married, came to this county at about the same time. He was a soldier in the War of 1812.


Jacob Nave, Jr., was born on what is now the Shobe farm on the banks of the Little Miami River, August 22, 1811, and engaged in farming in Green Township throughout life, dying on the old home place in 1865, aged fifty-four years. He married Mary Knable, by whom he had eleven children, as follows: John G., a farmer of Green Township; Catherine (Shobe), formerly of Green Township, but now deceased; Margaret (Williams), of


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Elroy, a carpenter, of Madison Township. Mrs. Nave lived to the advanced age of eighty-six years,' surviving her husband nearly a half century.


Enoch K. Nave was reared on the home place in Green Township, and lived under the parental roof until he was twenty-five years of age, when he struck out for him- self. When the Civil War was in pro- gress he enlisted for service in the Union Army, serving thirteen months in a cred- itable manner. Upon his return he re- sumed farming operations, which has been his life work. In 1894, he purchased his present farm of eighty-three acres, lo- cated about eight miles southeast of Springfield. He is now retired from busi- ness activity, enjoying the fruits of many years of toil.


Mr. Nave was joined in wedlock with Miss Rachel Mckinney, a native of Clark County, and they have three children liv- ing: William; Mayne (Mrs. W. H. Walker) ; and Mrs. Clara Garlough. Mrs. Nave died in October, 1881, and Mr. Nave took for his second wife, June 3, 1884, Ad- die Swisher, of Gallia County, Ohio. Po- litically, our subject is a Republican, and on January 1, 1908, he completed his sixth year as township trustee, an office he has filled with great credit to himself and the entire satisfaction of his constituents. Re- ligiously, he is a member of the Free Bap- tist church.


JACOB BAKER, a prominent citizen and general farmer, owning seventy-five acres of valuable land in Mad River Town- ship, was born November 11, 1833, in Maryland, and is a son of Jacob and Han- nah (Der) (Youtsey) Baker.


Mr. Baker's paternal ancestors came from Germany and a record is preserved in an old German Bible in the family, which shows that Conrod Baker, his grandfather, held high rank. The record does not further tell why Conrod and his two brothers left their native land and came to America, but the cause was prob- ably either of a religious or political char- acter. Two of the three brothers settled in Virginia, and all trace of them have been lost by the Ohio Bakers. Conrod Baker established himself in Maryland and acquired much land in the neighbor- hood of Middletown, Frederick County, Maryland. He reared several children, but they did not survive him, and his last days were spent with his daughter-in-law, the widow of his son, Jacob.


Jacob Baker was reared on his father's estate, and he, too, became a large farmer. He married Mrs. Hannah (Der) Youtsey, a widow, who was born near Middletown, Maryland. No children were born to her first marriage, and the five born to her second union were: Elizabeth, who is the widow of Armstead T. M. Alexander, lives on the old homestead in Maryland; Susan, who married T. B. Wiles, is deceased; Catherine, who died young; Philip, who was married (first) to Mary Smith, and (second) to a Miss Donovan; and Jacob, who was born four months after the death of his father. The latter had served as a soldier in the War of 1812.


Jacob Baker remained with his mother through childhood, youth and early man- hood, and continued to live in Maryland for eleven years after his own marriage. His wife, Rachel Minnich, was born in Frederick County, Maryland, and at the time of marriage she was earning fifty


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cents a week and his wages were nine dol- lars a month. They left Maryland in Oc- tober, 1864, and after reaching Clark County, Ohio, lived for six months near Snyder's Mill, west of Springfield, from which place they moved to Woodington, Darke County. It was while living there that Mr. Baker learned of the death of his beloved mother, in her home in Maryland, at the age of sixty-nine years. From Darke County, Mr. Baker came to his present farm, which he bought of John Peterson. It was not in very good condi- tion and Mr. Baker subsequently tore down all of the old buildings and replaced them with substantial ones. His farm is now bounded on one side by the Rebert turnpike road, two miles of which Mr. Baker built and hauled the first load of stone over it for the building of the court- house at Springfield, three miles distant. Mr. Baker continues to carry on general farming on his land and has it carefully cultivated.


Mr. and Mrs. Baker have five children, namely : Harlin C., Charles M. F., Isaiah S., Mary Elizabeth, and Anna L. Harlin C. Baker was born in January, 1855, mar- ried Julia Webber and lives at Cleveland. Charles M. F. was born in 1856. He man- ages his father's farm. He married Alice Dudley and they have one child, Stanley H. Isaiah S. was born in 1858, and re- sides in Champaign County, Ohio. He married Emma Esterline and they have ten children, namely: Elizabeth, who has always lived with her grandparents; Charles, Luther, Helen, Mary, Nellie, Wil- liam, Julia, Teddy, and an infant son. Mary Elizabeth Baker married George Sultzbach, and they live north of Spring- field. They have four children: Walter,


Harry, Benjamin and Dorothy H. Anna L. Baker married Judge L. F. Young, of Springfield. Mr. Baker and family belong to the Lutheran Church, of which he has been a member for the past fifty-four years. Politically, he has long been a stanch Republican, but he has never con- sented to serve in any office except that of school director. He belongs to the Junior Order of United American Me- chanics.


HON. JOHN L. ZIMMERMAN, one of Springfield's leading citizens, a prominent member of her bar, and an active and successful politician, was born on a farm in Mahoning County not far from Wash- ingtonville. He comes of pioneer stock and possesses many of the sturdy quali- ties found in his grandfather, who came to Ohio and settled in Columbiana County in 1803.


John L. Zimmerman's boyhood was spent on the paternal farm, and his early education was obtained in the country schools. He was ambitious, and when only seventeen years of age became a teacher and by his own efforts, in a spirit of independence, earned the money to en- able him to pursue academic and collegi- ate studies. He became a student in Mt. Union College, going from there in the fall of 1875 to Wittenberg College, at Springfield, from which institution he was graduated with honors, in 1879. He im- mediately began the study of law, in the office of Judge J. K. Mower, with whom he remained two years, and in October, 1881, he was admitted to the Ohio bar, and on May 1, 1882, he opened his office at Springfield, where he has continued


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until the present. Mr. Zimmerman has been twice elected president of the Clark County Bar Association. For eighteen years he has been a member of the board of directors of Wittenberg College, a part of that time being its president, and has also been a director of the Warder Free Library at Springfield, for a period of twenty-two years. In the business field he is vice-president of the E. W. Ross Company, a large enterprise of this city, in the manufacture of feed cutters, and is vice-president of the D. Q. Fox Company, wholesale grocers.


In 1889, Mr. Zimmerman was married to Miss Helen E. Ballard, who is a mem- ber of one of the leading families of Springfield, and they have two sons, typ- ical young Americans, Charles Ballard, aged sixteen years, and John L., Jr., aged eleven years. Their beautiful home is one of culture and refinement and is frequent- ly the scene of pleasant social functions.


Mr. Zimmerman's name is well repre- sented in Springfield, attached, as it is, to four of the city's most substantial busi- ness blocks : the Zimmerman Building, on Main Street; Citizens' National Bank Building, the three-story structure at No. 7 West Main Street, and the five-story, New Zimmerman Building, situated on the corner of Main and Limestone Streets. Mr. Zimmerman has been one of the city's most liberal benefactors. He donated to Wittenberg College the Zimmerman Me- morial Library, a splendid structure which elicits admiration from every. vis- itor. He gave liberally also to the build- ing of the Masonic, Knights of Pythias and the Odd Fellows' Homes, being a member of the two former organizations.


Mr. Zimmerman calls himself a pro-


gressive Democrat, the principles of Jef- ferson and Jackson claiming his adher- ence. He is a loyal party man and from early manhood had public offices urged for his acceptance, but he never permitted his name to be used prior to his candidacy for Congress in the Seventh District, against Hon. Walter Weaver. In later con- tests, when he has been brought forward for still higher honors, to his great credit may it be said, that in the heat of sharp political campaigns, no whisper has ever been heard impeaching his personal in- tegrity or the honesty of his motives.


WILLIAM C. STEWART, a prominent resident of Green Township, and formerly a well known citizen of Springfield, is lo- cated on the old Stewart homestead, and is occupied in farming. He has five hun- dred and forty acres of land, partly in Greene County, and farms on an exten- sive scale.


Mr. Stewart was born on his present farm along the Little Miami, October 27, 1835, and is a son of John Templeton and Ann (Elder) Stewart, a further record of whom may be found elsewhere in this work. He was reared on this place and re- ceived a meagre educational training in the schools of this vicinity. A natural stu- dent, he applied himself to private re- search, and is at the present time well read on all topics of current interests, being a broad gauged, liberal minded man. He was a little past fourteen years of age when his father died, and he thereafter took care of his mother during her life- time, living on the home place. This con- sisted of 260 acres originally, Mr. Stew- art inheriting 129 acres of it, and the re-


RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM M. ROCKEL, POSSUM HOLLOW


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mainder of his property being acquired through his own hard work and judicious management. He remained on this place for fifteen years after his marriage, then in 1896, in order to give his daughter bet- ter educational advantages, moved to Springfield. Here he took rank among the substantial men and occupied a place high in the esteem of his fellow citizens .. In 1907, after eleven years of retirement, he returned to Green Township, and re- sumed his agricultural operations.




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