USA > Ohio > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of Wayne County, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families > Part 18
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In polities Mr. Funck was originally Springfield, Tuolumne County, operating "a Whig, but identified himself with the
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Republican party in 1860, casting his bal- lot for Abraham Lincoln, who, while he was city marshal, appointed him United States marshal under Earl Bill, he having jurisdiction over the northern district of Ohio. When Johnson succeeded to the control of the Government, Mr. Bill was removed, and consequently the official ax fell upon his neck. He had no compro- mises to make with official renegades, and maintained his allegiance to his party and its principles. July 20, 1863, Mr. Funck joined, as private. Company D, Fifty-see- ond Regiment, Battalion of Ohio National Gnards, under Capt. Hughes, in which he served honestly and faithfully until May 1, 1866, when, by virtue of an act of Gen- eral Assembly passed April 2, 1866, he was "honorably discharged from the mili- tary service of Ohio and the United States, except in case of insurrection or inva- sion. By order of Gov. Jacob D. Cox; B. R. Cowan, adjutant-general of Ohio."
He afterward, for about a year, clerked in the hardware store of the late R. R. Donnelly, and then, in 1568, set sail on the broad, safe sea of insurance, to which he has ever since closely and assiduonsty applied his energies and talent. He rep- sents a dozen of the leading and reliable fire and life companies, and has the agency for the Mutual Life of New York, the old- est company in the United States, and the largest in the world, its assets aggregating
$126,000,000. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the Blue Lodge and the Chapter; is active in the circles of the Knights of Honor, and is a charter member of the Grand Lodge of the Royal Arcanum of Ohio (and which he aided in establishing in Wooster), and was one of its first grand trustees. He was chosen as first president of the Woos-
ter Co-operative Foundry Association, and two years thereafter re-elected, which po- sition he still holds. He is a member of the Wayne County Pioneer Association, and one of its active, inflexible friends.
He was married, in 1559, to Miss Matilda, danghter of William and Susan Imhoff, of Ashland County, who emigrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio in pioneer days. The result of this union was six children: Ross W., Alice M., Earl B., Frank, Harriet Immeretia and Chloe De- voua. Earl B. and Frank are numbered with the dead; Harriet L. is in the uni- versity, class of 1891, and Chloe D. in the high school, class of 1890; Alice M. grad- nated at the university, class of 1857, and is the wife of Orin C. Baker, editor of the Home Weekly. published at the Ohio Sol- diers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home, Xenia, Ohio, and Ross W. is a member of the Wooster bar. He was born January 11. 1861, and graduated at the high school and university, at the latter. in the class of ISS3. He studied law with Hon. John
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MeSweeny, and then went to the law col- lege at Cincinnati, entering the senior class and graduating therefrom. He was elected city solicitor in the spring of 1887, a position which he now holds; is presi- dent of the Wooster High School Alumni Association : vice-president of the Univer- sity Alunni Association; secretary of the Wayne County Republican Excentivo Committee; regent of the Royal Arcanum, ; and a Chapter Mason. He is a young man of fine education and abilities, excel- 1 lent character and the strictest honesty. :
Mr. Daniel Funck, the subject of this sketch, is in the prime of life, in good health, vigorous in action, and has many years of usefulness and activity before him. His temperament is of the sanguine. vital order; his nature is buoyant and joyful, and life to him is a boon indeed, for he appreciates its privileges and pleas- ures. He is full of jest and humor, en- joys a good story as well as a breakfast, and will never grow old if he can wheedle Old Time with a California anecdote. He is singularly fortunate in his domestic re- lations, and has reared a Family reflecting fine accomplishments and culture. That ho is a champion of education is demon- strated by the manner in which he has directed and controlled the intellectual necessities of his children. He is publie- spirited and enterprising, and readily en- dorses any project calenlated to stimulate !
the development and prosperity of his city and county. He is generous and affable, his sympathies expressing them- selves in kindness to friends and charities, where they are merited. It may be said of him, in all the relations of life in which he is summoned to act, that he is trust- worthy, constant and honest, with well- settled habits of industry and application. His wife is a member of the English Lutheran Church, while other members of his family are Presbyterians. Mr .. Funck is an attendant upon church serv- ice, though not a member of any eccle- siastical organization. He believes that religion is a matter of conscience, and therefore should not be interfered with,. as he believes that polities is a matter of principle, in which men honestly differ.
WILSON DAGUE was born in Norton Township, Summit Co .. Ohio, June 29, 1834, and is a son of Michael D. and Elizabeth ( MeEl- henie) Dagne. He was reared in his native township and educated in the com- mon schools and Western Star Academy (Ohio). In 1571 he located in Doyles- town, Chippewa Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, and entered the employ of Dague Bros. & Co. as clerk, serving in that
1
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capacity until 1878, when he was ad- , follows: Jacob, Harriet (Mrs. John mitted as a partner into the above-named firm, in which he still continues. May 10, 1876, he married Lucretia, daughter of William and Mary A. ( Frederick) Turner, of Doylestown, Ohio, and by her he has two children: Mattie M. and William M.
William Turner, the father of Mrs. Johnson) and Mary A. ( Mrs. William Dague, was born of Pennsylvania stock, | Turner). Mr. and Mrs. Frederick lived to see all their children married, and all the latter lived to attend the funeral of their mother, whose death was the first to occur in the family.
January 23. 1822, and was a resident of Wayne County, Ohio, as early as 1840. He learned the carriage maker's trade at Doylestown, where he carried on business for several years. On account of ill health he spent three years in California, and on his return engaged in the coal business in Doylestown. In 1859 he conneneed farming, which he continued until his death, which occurred in Septem- ber, 1869. He had six children, of whom four are yet living, viz .: Matthew E., William H., Lucretia ( Mrs. J. W. Dagne ) and Elias G. The maternal grandpar- ents of Mrs. Dagus were Thomas and Elizabeth ( Shawk) Frederick, natives of Pennsylvania, who were the sixth family to settle in Chippewa Township, Wayne County. They located in 181kon See- tion 10. one-half of which Mr. Frederick purchased from the Government, and of which he cleared 200 acres, planting the first orchard in the township. He reared a family of fourteen children, named as
Brouse ), Margaret ( Mrs. Isaac Middle- ton), Sophia ( Mrs. Charles Wall), Rea- son, Dolly ( Mrs. Samuel Galehonse ), Rachel (Mrs. Samuel Young), Matthew E., William, Henry, Catherine A. ( Mrs. William Basinger), Sarah A. (Mrs. Jo- seph Watts), Elizabeth ( Mrs. William
Mr. Dagne, whose name heads this sketch, is a leading citizen of Doylestown, and an enterprising business man. He has been a member of the Presbyterian Church since fifteen years of age: in polities he is a Democrat.
H ON. ADDISON S. MCCLURE, at- torney at law, was born at Woos- ter, Ohio, October 10, 1539, His paternal grandparents, Matthew and Margaret (Brandon) MeClure, natives of Pennsylvania, came with their family to Ohio in 1823. locating in Wooster, where he (Matthew ) embarked in the hardware business, being a tinner by trade. They had a large family of children, all born
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in Pennsylvania. Their eldest, Charles MeClure, who was a boy when his parents moved to Ohio, married Lneetta Rogers, and to them were born three sons, Addi- son S. being the only one now living: William Il. was a soldier in the War of the Rebellion, a member of Company E, Fourth Ohio, and was shot through both legs at Chancellorsville (he never fully recovered, and died from the effects of his wounds in 1886): Matthew, the second son, died in 1877.
Addison S. MeClure was from child- hood an apt scholar, and in 1853 was ready for college, entering the junior pre- paratory year at Jefferson College, from which he graduated in 1559. In college he was studious, standing at the head of his classes, and distinguishing himself for his proficiency in some branches. After leaving school he went South. where he taught one year: then began the study of his chosen profession, his preceptors being Hon. Levi Cox and Judge Martin Welker. He was admitted to the bar in March, 1961, and a few weeks later, in April, enlisted, at the call of President Lincoln for men to suppress the Rebellion, as a private in Company E. Fourth Ohio Infantry, becoming afterward sergeant- major of the regiment. In June, 1861, he re-enlisted in the same company and regiment for three years, or during the war, and in October Following was trans-
ferred to the Sixteenth Ohio, and promot- ed to captain of Company H, serving with this regiment until his discharge, in Angust, 1864. He participated in the Vicksburg campaign under Gen. Grant. and in Texas and the Red River cam- paignis under Gen. Banks. He was capt- ured near Vicksburg December 29. 1862. and was held a prisoner until May. 1863. in the prisons at Vicksburg, Jackson, and Libby, at Richmond. After his dis- charge he returned home and resumed the practice of law. He was appointed postmaster at Wooster in May, 1567, and hold the office twelve successive years. He was a delegate to the National Repub- lican Convention held at Chicago in 15ti>. when U. S. Grant was nominated for the presidency : and again, in 1876. to the con- vention at Cincinnati, when R. B. Hayes received the nomination. He has been a member of the Republican State Commit- tec at different times, and for several years has been chairman of the Repub- lican Central Committee of Wayne Coun- ty. He was elected to Congress in 1990. by the Eighteenth Congressiond District, composed of Lorain, Medina, Sommit and Wayne Counties, and was unanimously renominated, in 1552, by the Twentieth District, but lost the election by 110 votes. Since his return from Congress, in 1883, he has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession. His conn-
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sels are always the result of careful delib- eration, his client feeling that his canse is just when it is advocated by Mr. Me- Claire. His pleas are terse and to the point, and are devoid of much that so often is heard in the court-room. A gen- tleman of the highest type, he never for- gets to be a gentleman, and always wins the respect of judge and jury. Wayne County bar is honored by having so dis- tinguished a member as A. S. MeChre.
Capt. MeClure was married September 26, 1866, to Miss Mary L. Brigham, a native of Monroe County, Mich., born Feb- ruary 13, 1841, a daughter of Eldridge G. and Mary L. ( Mitchell) Brigham. Mr. Brigham located in Monroe, Mich., in 1832, where he was a manufacturer of and dealer in furniture. He was one of the most prominent citizens of the place, and held various official positions, among others those of supervisor, alderman, treasurer and mayor. Mr. and Mrs. Mc- Clare have one son, Walter C., who was born in August. 1880. They are descend- ants of old Puritan families, their ances- tors being members of the Presbyterian Church, and in the doctrines of this . church they were educated, Mrs. McClure being a member of same. They have a : beautiful home on Beall Avenue, where 1 hospitality reigns supreme, and they are never so happy as when ministering to the comfort and enjoyment of their chance, the usual way," and were here
friends. Capt. MeClure is never wearied in telling, or in listening to his comrades tell, of the trials and privations of their army life. He is thoroughly patriotic. a true American citizen, and is an active member of Given Post No. 155, G. A. R.
D R. JOE H. TODD. Among the successful specialists of Wayne County ranks high the physician whose name heads this biographical me- moir, and who is a native of the county. His paternal great-grandfather, who was. of high Irish blood, and married to a Welsh woman, came with his son James. (grandfather of our subject) to America, and located at Baltimore, Md., where he- followed boating. He also ran a coasting vessel, sailing as far south as the West Indies, his son being engaged with him until, overtaken by misfortune, they lost their all. The son was then appointed by the Government to a squireship, which continued for life. The maternal grand- parents of Dr. Todd came from Holland about the year 1780, settling near Phila- delphia. The parents were both natives of York County, Poun .. and came to Wayne County, Ohio, in 1828, then un- married and strangers, but "met by
Les 76 Yode,
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married. The father, James Todd, was for forty years a drover, and purchased horses for the Philadelphia market.
The subject of this biographical memoir attended the academy at Hayesville, and later the one at Fredericksburgh, Ohio, and commenced thestudy of medicine in 1861, finishing in 1865. He was a student of the celebrated Frank H. Hamilton and Stephen Smith, and graduated in March, 1865, from Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York. Locating at Shreve, Wayne Co., Ohio, the Doctor here first began the practice of his chosen profes- sion, remaining in the town some twelve years; then moved to a farm which it was his intention to superintend, but, changing his mind, he came to Wooster in 1576, and purchased a home on West Liberty Street, where he now resides. While on the farm he visited, in 1870, New York, where he was assistant (1870-71) in the physiological laboratory of Austin Flint, Jr. The Doctor's practice was at first a
general one, but having made a special study of surgery, he has gradually almost exclusively confined himself to that branch of the profession and chronic diseases, where exactness in diagnosis is required, which keeps him and an able assistant fully occupied. His chief art in the science of surgery lies in the success- ful treatment of deformities; and in this specialty his skill is known throughout 12
Wayne and adjoining counties, many pa- tients coming considerable distances to consult him. The Doctor paid a great deal of attention to the study of micro- scopy, which at present is one of the branches to which he gives much atten- tion; and differential diagnosis is one of his greatest delights, receiving at his hands a large portion of his time.
In 1872 Dr. Todd married Ophelia, daughter of James Campbell, and a native of Pennsylvania, of Scotch extraction, a scion of the celebrated Campbell family, one of whom, the Marquis of Lorne, is married to a daughter of Queen Victoria. Our subject and wife have one son, James Campbell Todd, born March 17, 1574. The Doctor and his estimable wife attend the services of the Methodist Church; in polities he is a Republican.
D AVID NICE. This well-known and prosperous merchant of Wooster was born in Medina County, Ohio, July 26, 1851. His father, Aaron K. Nice, was a native of Pennsylvania, and when a young man removed to Ohio, where he married Sarah Lesher. The mother passed from earth in 1871, and in 1877 the father followed her to the grave. David Nieo is a self-made man. He
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first worked at farming, and afterward for two years was employed as newsboy on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. In 1873 he came to Wooster to learn the trade of book-binder, at which he worked for seven or eight years, and then turned his atten- tion to mercantile pursuits, for which he has shown himself eminently qualified, and in which he has been very successful. Alter giving up book-binding, he em- barked in the hat and cap business, to which he afterward added gents' furnish- ing goods, and has built up a fine trade, which is steadily increasing in magnitude. In 1886 he moved to his present quarters, adding boots and shoes to his already large stock. He keeps a full line of these goods, and of the kindred articles usually found in first-class stores of the kind, do- ing the largest business in the county in this line, and much greater than is to be found in many larger cities than Wooster. He keeps a full line of domestic and for- eign goods, carrying a stock valued at $20.000. May 22. 1879, Mr. Nice was united in marriage with Miss Alice, a daughter of Samuel and Snsan ( Albright) Taylor, natives of Wayne County, and they have three children: Mabel, Walter and Mary. David Nice is prominent in the social as well as the business circles of Wooster. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum, of the Knights of Honor, and of the Odd Fellows order, lodge and encampment.
He and his wife are both members of the English Lutheran Church.
The success Mr. Nice has met with in business is due to the energy and taet he has always displayed. He knows the valne of reputation to a merchant, and always aims to do a little better than he promises, and his stock is always kept up to the de- mands of his patrons. He is universally recognized as one of Wooster's enterpris- ing and progressive young business men, and has undoubtedly a bright career be- fore him.
M RS. HANNAH FUNK, daughter of George and Sophia Spangler, was born in Union County. Pen., in 1817, where she remained until 1834, when she came with her parents to Salt Creek Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, where they located on- a farm, on which the mother died. After this her father removed to Erie County, Ohio, but event- ually returned, and died in Wayne County. To the parents were born nine children, of whom three are now living: Hannah, now Mrs. Funk: Sarah, now Mrs. Samuel Hanson, of Wooster. Ohio, and Rebecca, how Mrs. John Bistle, also of Wooster.
Hannah first married Jacob Bambard- ner, and had five children: Ineinda, now
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Mrs. Isaac Rainey, of Ashland County, Ohio; Harry, who is married, and lives in Wooster, Ohio; Franklin, in Minnesota; John, in Iowa, and F. Merriam, who died in Nebraska. Mr. Baumbardner died at Findlay, Ohio, and his widow then mar- ried America Funk, and located on the farm now owned by William Griffith, in Clinton Township, Wayne County. Mr. Fuuk was one of the representative men of his locality, was a successful farmer, and died in 1873, leaving three children: Emma T., now Mrs. Irwin Tyler, of In- diana; Alice, since deceased, and Re- becea, now Mrs. Addison Cushman, of Chicago. Mr. Funk had previously been married, and was left with three children, of whom one was killed in the army, and the other two are still living. Mrs. Funk is now a resident of Shreve, and in her declining years, although separated from her children, is surrounded by life-long friends. She is a member of the Disci- ples Church, and takes an active interest in it as well as in social matters.
ACOB MONGEY. In 1828 Xavier Mongey came from France and sel- tled in America, remaining for at time in New York, where he married Catherine leherd, also a native of " La Belle France," and together they came to
Wayne County, Ohio, where they began farming. To their married life four chil- dren were born, all of whom live in Wayne County, Jacob, whose name heads this sketch, being among the number. In 1869 the mother passed from earth. The father, who is a well-preserved man of seventy- five years, still resides in Wayne County. Jacob Mongey remained on the farm until twenty years of age, when he learned the trade of a carpenter, and at the age of twenty-two he was married to Miss Mary Graber, a native of France, who had come to America with her parents when she was four years of age. Only two years of wedded life, however, were granted to them, for then death claimed the wife, who had become a mother; she left one child, Albert, who now resides in Wooster, this county. In the fall of 1873 Mr. Mongey took for his second wife Fan- nie Graber, a sister of his former wife, and to this union two daughters and one son have been born. For several years Mr. Mongey was a brewer, also dealing in live stock. He is a stanch Democrat, all his life having given considerable time to polities, and has filled various positions of trust in his county. In 1884 he was elected sheriff' of the county, and in ISS6 was re-elected to the same position. Mr. Mongey is a man of liberal ideas, one who at all times extends the right hand of friendship to every deserving man.
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H ON. E. B. ESHELMAN, editor, and a member of the firm of HI. P. Gravatt & Co., publishers of the Wayne County Democrat,* is a native of Mount Joy, Lancaster Co., Penn., a son of Peter and Mary Eshel- man. His father carried on, in a small way, the business of chair-making and tuining, and, being in limited circum- stanees, his son began when but a boy to work to assist in his own mainte- nance. He was for a time errand boy and clerk in a store, and then went into a printing office at Lancaster, Penn., as an apprentice, to learn the trade. After working for a short time as journeyman he turned his attention to editorial work, and, with the exception of four years' edi- torial connection with the Daily Ohio Statesman, from January, 1865, to Feb- ruary, 1869, has given his attention to
editing and publishing Democratie county papers, the most of the time being con- nected with the Chillicothe Advertiser and the Wayne County Democrat. As an editor he understands fully the entire mechanism of a paper, and his editorials are well written and forcible. His influ- ence in favor of Democracy is not con- fined to the limits of his own county, but extends throughout the State, the promi- nent part he has taken in politics making him well known in political circles. His name, contrary to his wishes, has been brought before the people by his friends in the Seventeenth-Twenty-eighth Dis- triet as a candidate for the nomination of State senator, which represents the four counties-Holmes, Knox, Morrow and Wayne. The press of the various coun- ties speaks favorably of him for this im- portant position, and we quote the follow-
*In September, 1826, Mr. Joseph Clingan issued the first number of the Republican Advocate, whose partial mission was the support of Gen. Jackson for the Presidency. This journal continued sone twelve years, when Mr. Clingan sold out to Samnel Littell, who bought the Western Telegraph, which had been established by Martin Barr. These two papers, their politics being identical. Mr. Littell consolidated, and he then issued the Denveratie Re- publican. This sheet, after a three years' existence, was leased to Miller & Carpenter, who published it for a year and then abandoned it. Its successor is the Wayne County Democrat, the recognized official organ of the party whose interests it supports, and first published by Isane X. Hill for a few years, after which Mr. Littell sold the office to Messes. Carny & Means, who continued the publication until the decease of the latter, when Hon. John Larwill se- cured proprietorship of the paper. This gentleman sold the office to Jacob A. Marchand, who owned the paper up till his death. in 1862. The next pur- chaser was, in 1868, John I. Oberly, who. in 1861. sold to Col. Benjamin Pason, who, two years later, sold to Hon. John P. Jeffries, who edited the paper
for a year and then transferred it by sale to Benja- min Eason and Asa G. Dimmock. In IST Mr. Eason sold his interest to Mr. Dimmock. who received Lemuel Jeffries into partnership, under the firm name of Dimmock & Jeffries, and they subsequently sold the paper to James A. Estill. who took charge in April, 1868. Some ten months later. Mr. Estill retiring, Hon. E B. Eshelman. of the Columbus Statesman, purchased his inter. est, the Democrat being conducted by Messrs. Hele elman, Franklin, Harry and John J. Lemon, Mr. Eshelman being the editor. In 1872 the last named sold his share to John H. Boyd, who, in 1876. transferred his interest to Thomas E. Peckinpangh, the business department of the paper being man- aged by him for several years, when he sold out. Mr. H. P. Gravatt purchased, in July. 18SL. Mr Eshelman's half interest in the paper, the latter withdrawing, but in 1886 returning to the part- nership by purchasing the fourth interest belong- ing to the late Dr. 1. Firestone, and resuming its editorship. The timm name now is II. P. Gtt- vatt & Co., Mr Gravati attending to the business of the firm.
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ing from the Columbus Post: "He has had legislative experience, has ability of a high order, and his industry aud push are immeasurable. He would be a credit to the district in the Ohio Senate, as well as a credit to that body." Mr. Eshel- man's popularity is not confined to the borders of his own State, as the following from the Miami County ( Ind. ) Sentinel will show: "We notice that the name of Hon. E. B. Eshelman, editor of the Wayne County (Ohio) Democral, is mentioned in connection with the nomination for sen- ator in the Seventeenth - Twenty-eighth (Ohio) District, composed of the counties of Wayne, Holmes, Knox and Morrow. No better man and no purer Democrat than Mr. Eshelman can the Buckeye State boast of. We say to our old friends in that distriet that if Mr. E. will consent to accept the nomination to give it to him by a unanimous vote. Mr. Eshehnan would take a front rank in the Senate, and the Democracy of Ohio would have a representative of whom they would justly feel proud. 'Old Figures' to the front."
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