USA > Ohio > Clark County > Springfield > Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th > Part 99
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John H. Kobelanz was a small boy when his parents moved to his present farm and here he was reared, and he at- tended the country schools. He was mar- ried to Anna Maria Snyder, a daughter of Abraham Snyder, of York County, Penn- sylvania. Mrs. Kobelanz came to Clark County in 1861. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kobelanz: Elva May, who married Peter A. Dillahunt; Charles Edwin, who died aged two and one-half years; Harry, who lives at home; Daisy, who also lives at home; and Mary, who married H. G. Miller. Politically Mr. Kobelanz is a Democrat and at one time was a candidate on that ticket for county commissioner in a Republican stronghold, but was defeated. In Novem- ber, 1907, he was elected township trustee on the Democratic ticket.
CHARLES R. MILLER, a well known general farmer of Mad River Township, whose property contains 1441/4 acres, was born on his present farm May 9, 1851, son of Charles Dickerson and Belle M. (McClelland) Miller.
Moses Miller, great-grandfather of Charles R., came, with his family, from New Jersey at a very early period and settled in the timberlands of Mad River Township, near our subject's present farm. He lived here for the remainder of his life, passing away a few years after his arrival in this locality. Dayton Miller,
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his eldest son, and grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, was a young man when he came to the wilds of Clark County with his parents. He cleared the farm now owned by Charles R. Miller, built the residence and planted the trees, which are still standing in front of the house. He was married in Miami County to Eliza Morrison, a native of New Jersey, and after his marriage came to live on the property that now forms our subject's present farm, residing for a time in a hewn log house, which then stood on the land. He died here in 1860 at an ad- vanced age, and his widow survived him until 1874. They were the parents of five children, namely: W. D. Miller, who was a manufacturer of plows at Enon; Henri- etta, who is now deceased; Charles Dick- erson, father of Charles R. Miller ; Maria, who married H. Tannehill, and, with her husband, is now deceased; and Robert, who died at the age of five years.
Charles Dickerson Miller was born and reared in the old log house on the farm where his son, Charles, now resides. He followed the occupation of threshing for twenty years. He married Belle McClel- land, a native of Fairfield County, Ohio, and they reared a family of four children, one of whom died in infancy. Of the oth- ers, Mary E. married J. R. Wooden and resides in Iowa; Agusta, married H. Ja- cobs, of Clark County, Ohio; Charles is the direct subject of this sketch; and Frank B. is a resident of Springfield, Ohio. Mr. Miller died in 1868 and his wife in 1904.
Charles R. Miller was reared on his present farm, remaining at home until thirty-six years of age. He then spent nine years in Darke County, Ohio, where
he bought a quarter section of land. Sub- sequently returning home, he purchased his farm from the Miller estate in 1897, and has been engaged in general farming, also raising many hogs. Mr. Miller was united in marriage February 29, 1885, to Tillie R. Hamaker, a daughter of John Hamaker. Of this union there are two children: Lucy Florence, and Mary E. Politically Mr. Miller is an independent voter, but was elected township trustee in 1905 on the Republican ticket.
SAMUEL SNYDER, a prosperous farmer of Springfield Township, residing on a farm of 108 acres situated about two miles northwest of Springfield, on the St. Paris Pike, was born February 18, 1837, in York County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Henry and Mary (Frey) Snyder.
Mr. Snyder's parents were prosperous farmers of York County, Pennsylvania, where they both died, the mother passing away when our subject was quite young. The father died at the advanced age of eighty-seven years.
Samuel Snyder spent his boyhood days on his father's farm in York County, and on October 13, 1859, was married there to Lydia Ginter, a daughter of John Gin- ter, who died when she was very young. In 1864 Mr. Snyder, his wife and one child, came to Clark County, Ohio, where he rented for twenty-seven years the old Maria Snyder farm, in Springfield Town- ship, and engaged in general farming. In 1894 he bought and moved to his present farm of 108 acres, where he has since been engaged in agricultural pursuits, and although now past 71 years of age, still operates his own farm.
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Mr. and Mrs. Snyder reared a family of six children, of whom the eldest child was born in Pennsylvania. They are: Alice, Henry, Ida, Samuel, Lydia, and Ward. Alice, who married John H. Sanders, of Lawrenceville, has four children, namely : Lydia, wife of Harry Helfrish; Samuel D., Walter, and William Dewey. Henry married Cora Lorton and has two chil- dren, Robert and Mildred; they reside in Springfield. Ida, wife of Christ C. Grauer, lives with the subject of this sketch; Samuel and Lydia are twins. Sam- uel married Pearl Hook, and has four children, Oris, Paul, Harold, and an in- fant son; Lydia, who married Rev. Wil- liam Rilling, pastor of the Millersburg Lutheran Church, has a family of four children, Reginald, Pauline, John, and an infant son. Ward Snyder is a resident of Toronto, Canada. He is connected with the National Cash Register Company, of Dayton, Ohio. Mrs. Snyder died Septem- ber 22, 1899.
ABRAHAM MARTIN, a much es- teemed resident of Bethel Township, re- siding on a farm of fifty-six and three- quarters acres, was born October 23, 1827, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of David and Esther (Martin) Martin.
David Martin was born and reared in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. In his earlier years he engaged in farming, after which he conducted an inn until a railroad line was built through that sec- tion of Lancaster County, when, finding this interferred with his business, in 1840, packed his belongings into a two-horse wagon and brought his family to Ohio.
They came on the newly-built Dayton Turnpike through Springfield to Dayton, where they had relatives, and thence to Enon. Mr. Martin remembers that there his mother sent him into a store to buy eggs, and he received just 100 eggs for twenty-five cents. The little store where the purchase was made is still in exis- tence. They then proceeded to Tippeca- noe City, Miami County, then to Medway, Bethel Township, and finally purchased land in Donnelsville. Mr. Martin con- ducted a hotel at Medway for some time, but later followed gardening. His death occurred in 1864, when eighty years of age. He was survived by his widow until 1866, when in her eighty-first year. There were ten children born to David and Es- ther Martin, namely : Fanny, who married Frank Hawthorn, both deceased; Hattie, who married Dr. Miller, both deceased, her death occurring in California when in her ninety-first year; Ann, who mar- ried John Steele, both deceased; Chris- tian, deceased; David, deceased; Magda- lena, who died in youth; Mary, who mar- ried George Alban, both deceased; Henry, who is a resident of Dayton, Ohio; Eliza, who married James Allen, both deceased; and Abraham.
Abraham Martin was a lad of thirteen years when his parents removed from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to Clark County, Ohio, Springfield being at that time a very small village. He received his education in the district schools of the pioneer type, with the slab benches, and he assisted his father in clearing the land and chopped many cords of wood for others at twenty-five cents per cord. He learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed until about fifty years old, and
JOHN E. MELLINGER.
BENJAMIN F. MELLINGER.
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during his younger days also taught school during the winter months.
Mr. Martin was married October 12, 1848, just eleven days previous to attain- ing his majority, to Sarah Ann Allen, a daughter of Joseph and Mary Allen, both of whom came to this county at an early age, the former from New Jersey in 1804, at the age of four years, and the latter from Kentucky when young. Mr. and Mrs. Martin have had five children, name- ly : Minerva, widow of Lewis Schaffner, who died in 1887, has two children, Ber- tha, who married W. Ebersole, and has four children, and Cassius L., who mar- ried Alice Smith, has two children; David, who died aged 35 years, married Fanny Ziegler, also deceased, and had four chil- dren, Thurza, Sadie, Abraham, and Ros- coe; Mary (Mrs. W. Hicks) has three children, Abraham O., Gertrude, and Ruth; J. Cassius married Rosette Miller, and has seven children, Harry, Viola, de- ceased, Irene, Ethel, Della, Abraham, Edna; Nora, deceased wife of Willis Morningstar, is survived by four chil- dren, Otto, Fern, Frank, and Nellie. Mr. Martin is the great-grandfather of four- teen and the grandfather of twenty chil- dren.
In the year before his marriage Mr. Martin had purchased one acre of land upon which he erected a small house, and since then has always owned his own home. In 1862 he purchased forty acres of his present farm from Frederick Gor- don, later adding sixteen and three-quar- ters acres. In May, 1864, he entered the army, enlisting in Company E, One Hun- dred and Fifty-third Regiment, Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry, and served until Septem- ber, 1864. Upon his return to Clark
County he engaged in carpenter work for several years, building bank barns as a specialty, his sons in the meantime oper- ating the farm for him. Mr. Martin sub- sequently conducted the farm himself for a time, but acquired the larger part of his ample fortune by loaning money. For some time he has rented his land, taking care to have reliable tenants.
Mr. Martin is one of the oldest men in the township, and although past eighty years of age, is still remarkably hale for a man of his years, and has but once since his marriage required the services of a physician for himself. Politically he is a Republican, and has served his township in various offices. He is a member of the Mitchell Post, G. A. R., and has been a member of the Masonic order since 1857.
BENJAMIN F. MELLINGER, a much esteemed citizen of Mad River Township, who is engaged in general farming on a tract of seventy-eight acres, was born July 17, 1851, in Mad River Township, Clark County, Ohio, and is a son of John E. and Mary Elizabeth (Pfoutz) Mellin- ger.
John E. Mellinger was born in Lancas- ter County, Pennsylvania, and was the eldest of a large family of children, of whom those now living are as follows: John, father of our subject; Jacob, Henry, a resident of St. Louis, Mo .; Da- vid; Mrs. Beard; and Elizabeth, who is unmarried and lives in Pennsylvania. The father, Benjamin Mellinger, followed farming in Pennsylvania all his life, also operating a small distillery and mill for some years.
John E. Mellinger was reared on his
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father's farm in Lancaster County, and his business in the store. The last few assisted in the work of the mill, distil- years of his life were spent on a farm, where he died at the age of seventy-two. He was the father of three children: Emma, wife of our subject; Frank W., who lives on the home place in Green County, Ohio; and Charles S., who con- ducts an undertaking establishment at Xenia, Ohio, and is coroner of Green County. lery and farm. He was married in Ha- gerstown, Maryland, to Mary Elizabeth Pfoutz, a native of that village. In about 1851, when forty years of age, he and wife came to Ohio and settled on a farm in Clark County. They subsequently bought the farm, which the subject of this sketch now owns, from the. Martin heirs, and there his wife died shortly after, leaving two children: Benjamin F., and Ann Elizabeth, the latter of whom is unmar- ried and lives at Yellow Springs, Ohio. Mr. Mellinger subsequently married Sarah A. Lewis, who died twenty years later, in 1870. There were no children born of the second union. Mr. Mellinger died in June, 1901, at the advanced age of ninety-one years.
Benjamin F. Mellinger has spent the greater part of his life in Mad River Township, where he has always been en- gaged in agricultural pursuits. His early life was spent on the home farm, assist- ing in Les work, and he attended the Rock Point district school for three months during the winter. He was married Janu- ary 10, 1878, to Emma L. Johnson, who was born at Yellow Springs, Green Coun- ty, Ohio, and is a daughter of Asahel and Mary A. (Gilmore) Johnson. Her father came to Ohio from Kentucky, and here married Sarah E. Elwell, who died leav- ing no children, and he later married Mary A. Gilmore. Mr. Johnson's occupation in early life was that of a wagon-maker, but he subsequently conducted a general store at Yellow Springs, during which time he was appointed ticket and freight agent of the Little Miami division of the Penn- sylvania Railroad, conducting that part of
After Mr. Mellinger's marriage he spent four and a half years on his father- in-law's farm in Greene County, and on April 1, 1881, returned to the old home farm in Mad River Township and pur- chased his sister's interest in the farm. Here he has since been successfully en- gaged in general farming, and is recog- nized as one of the township's substan- tial and representative citizens. The large brick house which he and his family occupy was erected in 1869 by his father, who had the brick burned on the place. Mr. and Mrs. Mellinger have one child, Charles J., who was born July 16, 1881. He passed the Boxwell examinations at the age of thirteen years, attended the Spring- field High School for two years, as a grad- uate of Wilts Commercial College of Day- ton, Ohio, and also attended the Ohio State University a short time. Politically Mr. Mellinger is a Republican.
REUBEN SCIFERS, one of Moorefield Township's representative men, residing on his excellent farm of fifty-six acres which lies on the Springfield-Urbana turnpike, one mile north of the corpora- tion limits of Springfield, was born in Shenandoah County, Virginia, February
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14, 1833. His parents were Jacob and Nancy (Romick) Scifers.
The Scifers family originated in Ger- many. It was established in Loudon County, Virginia, by the grandfather of Reuben Scifers. Grandfather Scifers, wishing to escape military service, ran away from home and gained a vessel which brought him to the American colo- nies during the Revolutionary War, in which he served for six years. Jacob Scifers, father of Reuben, was born in Loudon County, Virginia, in 1787. He served in the War of 1812. He married Nancy Romick, who was born in Shenan- doah County, Virginia, where her father owned a large plantation. They had eight children born in that county, Reuben be- ing the youngest, and seven more were added to the family after settlement was made in Mad River Township, Champaign County, Ohio. One of his sons, James H., served four years in the Civil War.
Reuben Scifers was less than one year old when his parents left the old Virginia home, in September, 1833, and crossed the mountains in wagons to Champaign County, Ohio, where they settled on a rented farm. The father had previously bought a farm, but had never moved there and later sold it. He was a man of ster- ling character and reared his large fam- ily to respected maturity. In 1844 he con- tributed, with his neighbors, to assist in the building of Wittenberg College, his contribution taking the form of a load of lumber, and it was his son, Reuben, then a boy of eleven years, who delivered this first load as a beginning of that notable edifice.
In 1854, when he had reached his twen- ty-first year, Reuben Scifers left home
and went to Urbana to learn the plaster- er's trade, at which he worked until 1856, and then came to Springfield, where he worked as a journeyman plasterer until 1860 when he went into plastering con- tracting, for several years being associ- ated with David Stevens. From 1872 until 1880 Mr. Scifers continued in business alone, doing a great deal of the plaster work on Springfield buildings. It was done with the slow, careful methods which make for permanence, rather than with the cheapening hurry of the present day, which too often entirely destroys the sub- stantial character of a building. In the spring of 1868, Mr. Scifers bought his present farm, to which he moved in the following fall and resided on it until 1876, when he spent two years at Springfield, in order to give his children city school advantages. In 1878 he returned to the farm and resumed agricultural pursuits.
On January 30, 1859, Mr. Scifers was married to Mary Hulinger, who is a daughter of Valentine and Elizabeth (Maggart) Hulinger. Mrs. Scifers was born and reared in Mad River Township, Champaign County, where her parents had married, although her father was born in Pennsylvania and her mother in Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Scifers have two children : Alice Ada and Ulysses G. Alice Ada Scifers married Charles O. May, who is a contracting plasterer at Springfield. They have four children, namely: Ford A., who married Ross Poysell; Margaret; John R .; and Blair, the latter of whom was accidentally drowned on Decoration Day, in 1904, when within one week of being twelve years of age. This was a sad blow to every member of the family
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and aroused the sympathy of the whole community. Ulysses G. Scifers resides at Springfield. He married Mary Clouse, and they have one son, Robert B.
Mr. Scifers is a Republican, and he was elected township trustee and faithfully served through his term of three years. For the space of eighteen years he was a member of the Board of Agriculture. With his family he belongs and gives lib- eral support to the Fourth Lutheran Church at Springfield.
HARRY S. KISSELL, one of Spring- field's leading business man, president and treasurer of The Kissell Real Estate Company, and identified with other Springfield interests, was born in this city September 24, 1875, and is a son of the late C. B. Kissell a native of Mary- land who came to Clark County in child- hood.
Harry S. Kissell was educated in the Springfield schools and at Wittenberg College graduating from the latter well- known institution in the class of 1896. After his graduation he entered his fath- er's real estate office, the latter having been engaged in this line of business for some twenty years. A partnership was formed under the style of C. B. Kissell & Son, which continued until the death of C. B. Kissell, which took place in 1903. Harry S. Kissell was the organizer of The Kissell Real Estate Company, which was incorporated in 1906, with a capital stock of $10,000. This firm deals entirely in Clark County and Springfield prop- erty, doing some platting and building, and their honest, straight-forward meth- ods have built up for them an extensive
business. Mr. Kissell is a director and was one of the incorporators of The American Trust & Savings Company, and he is identified with other successful en- terprises, being vice president of The Fairbanks Building Company, and also of the Springfield Commercial Club.
In 1901 Mr. Kissell was married to Miss Olive Troupe, who is a daughter of Theo- dore Troupe, one of Springfield's leading citizens. Mr. and Mrs. Kissell have one son, Roger Troupe Kissell.
Fraternally he is a 32nd degree Mason and is an officer in the Grand Lodge, F. & A. M., of Ohio, and is a past master of Anthony Lodge, No. 455, F. & A. M. He is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church and is president of its board of trustees. His social connections are with the Lagonda and Country clubs.
GEORGE H. FREY, JR., a prominent business citizen of Springfield, who is closely identified with the city's railroad interests, was born at Springfield, Ohio, August 27, 1856, and is a son of George H. and Jane Q. (Ward) Frey.
For many years the father of Mr. Frey was prominent in the business life of Springfield, in which city he now lives re- tired. The mother of Mr. Frey was a member of one of the old established fam- ilies of this section. She died in 1881. Of the twelve children which made up the family, five still survive, George H. being the third in order of birth.
George H. Frey, Jr., acquired his liter- ary education in the schools of Springfield, at Wittenberg College and at Wooster University. He prepared for the legal pro- fession, but later went into business, in
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1879, succeeding to his father's quarry in- terests. For some years he was engaged in a banking business at Omaha, Ne- braska, where he continued until 1885. He then returned to Springfield and for the following two years served as treas- urer of the Mast-Foos Manufacturing Company. He then went again to the West and for three years carried on a stone business in Kansas, but in 1890 he came back to Springfield and has since been identified with railroad and other im- portant business enterprises.
Mr. Frey married Belle Mast, a daugh- ter of the late P. P. Mast, and he and his wife are the parents of three sons. Mr. Frey is a Republican in politics.
ARTHUR Z. SMITH, one of the enter- prising and successful farmers of Pike Township, who ably operates his father's farm of 200 acres, which is situated thir- teen miles northwest of Springfield, was born July 15, 1873, on the farm in Pike Township, Clark County, Ohio, which is now the property of William Sturgeon. His parents were Christian and Mary Jane (Zinn) Smith.
This Smith family came to Ohio from Virginia and it was the great-grandfather of Arthur Z. Smith who brought the fam- ily first to Pike Township. The parents of Arthur Z. Smith were born in Clark County, where the father lives retired, having long been one of Pike Township's most substantial citizens. The mother of Mr. Smith was a daughter of Daniel R. and Matilda (Sturgeon) Zinn, and she died March 21, 1883. There were eight children born to Christian Smith and his first wife, as follows: Marcellus Z., Al-
bert Z., Matilda A., Orren Z., Della May, Arthur Z., Clarence Z. and Alice E., the last named being the wife of Cassius Schaffner. The second marriage of Christian Smith was to Carolina D. Tener, who died in the following year, and his third marriage was to Wilhelmina Dresh- er. To this last union were born the fol- lowing children : Margaret, Cynthia, Helen, Vernon, Gilbert and Luther. Helen and Vernon are deceased.
Arthur Z. Smith was three years old when the family moved to the present farm and he attended the old Yale School in this district. He assisted in clearing this farm and has devoted himself to its cultivation and improvement ever since boyhood. He engages in a general agri- cultural line, raising fine stock and grow- ing grain.
On December 2, 1900, Mr. Smith was married to Bertha Jordan, who is a daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Myers) Jordan, old pioneers of Pike Township. Mr. Jordan still survives. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two sons, Harold C. and Lloyd Parker. In politics Mr. Smith is a Democrat and in January, 1908, his party elected him a member of the School Board of Pike Township. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Junior Order of American Mechanics and to the National Protective Legion.
WILLIAM MILLER, who is now liv- ing in retirement at his home in Spring- field Township after many years of busi- ness activity, is owner of considerable property in different parts of the county. He has seven or eight acres within the limits of the city of Springfield, a tract
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of twenty-five acres across the road in Springfield Township and another tract of eighty-two acres in the same township, and in Moorefield Township has a farm of ninety-two acres. He is a native of Clark County, Ohio, having been born on the old Isaac Miller farm, April 10, 1846, and is a son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Sitz) Miller.
The paternal grandparents of William Miller came from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, of which they were natives, to Ohio, and took up their residence in German Township, Clark County. The grandfather, a hardy old pioneer, sowed the first clover seed in Clark County, having brought it in from Butler County.
Isaac Miller was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and was seven years of age when he accompanied his parents to Clark County. He attended the primitive schools of German Town- ship, and at an early age learned the trade of carpenter with James Humphrey, who lived on the Urbana Pike. He en- joyed a long and useful life, being nearly ninety-two years old at the time of his demise. He married Elizabeth Sitz, whose father, Henry Sitz, was a farmer and an early resident of the county. This union resulted in the following issue: David, who died at the age of forty-two years; William and Henry, twins; and Mary, wife of James M. Sheaff.
William Miller received an excellent education in the district schools of his native township, and throughout his long and active business career engaged in ag- ricultural pursuits. He farmed the home place until his marriage, in 1871, then rented a place south of the city of Spring- field. After a short residence there he
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