USA > Ohio > Allen County > History of Allen County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part One > Part 55
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O. W. Smith was educated in the local schools and was afforded the best educational advantages possible in the locality at that time. For five years he was a student at Hiram Col- lege, of which the late President James A. Garfield was the head. He taught school in the West for one year and in June, 1864, entered upon the reading of the law. Completing his studies in 1867, he was admitted to the bar, and in the following year established himself in Lima, where he is the oldest attorney at the present time. Here he has continued in prac- tice for almost 40 years and is one of the best known attorneys before the city and county courts. His knowledge and experience make him one of the wisest counselors now in prac- tice, and he has been markedly successful in a number of notable cases of litigation. He now
occupies an office conveniently located at No. 521/2 Public Square. His residence is located at No. 313 South Main street.
On June 23, 1874, Mr. Smith was married to Josephine C. Cunningham, only daughter of John and Emeline Cunningham, who were early pioneers of Lima, Mr. Cunningham set- tling here in 1832. The Cunningham family has a family record going back 800 years, while the Smith family trace their ancestry back prior to the Revolution, in which four of the family served. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have four daughters-Ethel, Helen W., Marian and Lenore. Mrs. Smith was one of the three first graduates of the Lima High School in 1864. After graduating, she was principal of the High School at Bellefontaine, Ohio, for seven years previous to her marriage.
ILBERT L. ROGERS of the well- known, wide-awake law firm of G Copeland & Rogers, was born July 14, 1871, at St. Johns, Auglaize County, Ohio. His parents were Alfred and Catherine ( Morris) Rogers, who were agriculturists and the parents of seven children, five of whom are living at this time.
Mr. Rogers spent his boyhood on the farm, and worked his way from the common schools through law school by his own efforts. After graduating from the schools of Jackson Center, Ohio, in 1889, he engaged in teaching school from 1889 to 1893. He also worked about a year as bookkeeper for the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, of South Bend, Indi- ana. In 1896 he was graduated from the law department of the Ohio Normal University at Ada. He had previously attended the Tri- State Normal College, of Angola, Indiana. After his graduation in law and admission to the bar, he came to Lima in April, 1897, and soon after formed the present partnership with Mr. Copeland. Mr. Rogers is a deep thinker and a logical speaker ; his words carry convic- tion and impress his hearers with their earnest- ness and truth. His success and ability in his chosen work have placed him, even in this short time, among the leading lawyers of the county.
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He is a member of the Allen County, North- western Ohio and State bar associations.
Mr. Rogers was united in marriage with Lulu E. Gullette, daughter of William Gullette, of Lima. They are prominent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Rogers is a Republican.
ILLIAM A. REYNOLDS, one of Spencerville's substantial citizens and representative men, has been identified with the interests of this town for the past 24 years, mainly, but not exclusively, in the line of lumber. Mr. Reynolds was born August 3, 1849, near Wil- mington, Clinton County, Ohio, and is a son of George and Malinda (Moon) Reynolds, and a grandson of John and Julia (Lively) Reynolds.
The grandparents of Mr. Reynolds were na- tives of Greenbrier County, formerly in Vir- ginia, but now a part of West Virginia. In 1862, during the Civil War, they moved to Clinton County, Ohio, where the grandmother died, reaching old age although she had borne and reared nine sons and six daughters. She possessed what has been considered a mark of beauty, perhaps on account of its rarity-one black and one blue eye. The 13th child of the above family still survives, Mrs. Rebecca Flint, who resides at Paulding, Ohio. It is a cur- jous and unusual coincidence that Mr. Flint was also the 13th child in a family of 14 children. The Virginia Livelys were large slave-owners.
George Reynolds, father of our subject, and his twin brother, David, were born in Green- brier County, Virginia, in 1822. George Reynolds was a farmer in the humbler walks of life, dying in 1880, aged 58 years. In 1847 he married (first) Malinda Moon, in Clinton County, Ohio, removing at an early day to Fayette County, Ohio. The children of this marriage were: William A .; James, who died aged six years; Mary Jane, who is the widow of Joseph Workman, a veteran of the Civil War and a resident of Spencerville; and Ma- linda. The last named died with the mother, at the time of birth, and both were laid to rest in the same casket. George Reynolds married
(second) Charity M. Ellis, and five of their seven children still survive.
William A. Reynolds was reared on a small farm in Clinton County, Ohio, and can remem- ber as far back as his sixth year; for then it was that he commenced attending school at Reeseville, two miles distant. It was a long walk to take, but he was always a sturdy lad, and now is a splendid specimen of manhood, being six feet, one inch in height, and carrying easily his weight of 240 pounds. He is the father of three sons, who are but a shade less developed. In the days when Mr. Reynolds was a boy, it was considered advisable for chil- dren to be "hardened" to the weather, and he was 12 years old before he owned an overcoat. At that age he was able to plow as well as his father,; perhaps better, as the latter had been injured by being kicked by a horse, and in later years depended largely on the filial care of our subject. A handsome granite monu- ment has been erected to the father's memory by this same son.
Until he was 24 years of age, our subject continued to work on the home farm, and he assisted in the raising of the flax and in prepar- ing it for the loom; he also collected the walnut bark with which to dye the material after it was woven. He has comfortably worn many a suit of jeans, as his sisters did dresses of linsey- woolsey. He became a thorough and practical farmer and in 1874 worked as a farm hand. In 1875 he moved to Auglaize County and secured work in George Kephart's mill, taking much interest in his job of hauling logs. This was not lost on Mr. Kephart, and he soon made his new employee a fireman in the mill. Later on, when the sawyer quit, Mr. Reynolds was pro- moted to that position, and, as before, worked so faithfully and carefully that Mr. Kephart valued him highly. He remained there for five years, receiving $20 a month for his services. In 1877 the mill was moved to Spencerville and Mr. Reynolds accompanied Mr. Kephart as lead sawyer. In 1879 he branched out on his own account, buying logs and lumber for some two years. At the death of Johnzey Keith, he purchased the portable mill the former had been running, and operated it until it was burned in the great fire of June, 1877. His next
REV. ALOYSIUS I. HOEFFEL
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business venture was the purchase of the old sawmill on the west side of the canal, and some time later he embarked in a lumber business in connection with the mill work. Since 1894 he has owned and operated a large lumber-yard. On August 23, 1897, Mr. Reynolds was again burned out, sustaining a very heavy loss.
Upon resuming business, Mr. Reynolds formed a partnership with C. A. Mauk, and together they purchased the present lumber business, continuing to be associated for two years, when Mr. Reynolds bought his partner's interest and has operated the business alone ever since. This concern has furnished the ma- terial for nearly all the buildings in Spencer- ville since it has been established. Mr. Rey- nolds has many other interests. For about four years he operated a handle factory south of his present office, continuing it as long as condi- tions made it profitable. From the date of the first oil boom, he has been interested in oil de- velopment in this section and is now a con- tractor, with a complete string of tools. He is a large owner of town realty and is also pro- prietor of a farm of 200 acres in Amanda township, located in section 17. At one time 130 acres of it were covered with a heavy growth of timber. This he has utilized and transformed nearly the entire tract into one great grass pasture, having 50 acres yet that is timbered. He pastures a large number of fine sheep. In 1905 he erected a new barn on the farm, with dimensions of 36 by 70 feet, and 20 feet high. A commodious tenant house also stands there.
In 1881 Mr. Reynolds was married in Aug- laize County, Ohio, to Mary C. Dietsch, who is a daughter of Michael and Lydia ( Ber- ringer) Dietsch, who were born in Auglaize County and reside there in the old home, just across the Allen County line. They are aged 74 years. They have two children : Mrs. Sarah Eisley and Mrs. Reynolds.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds are : John, who was educated in a business col- lege at Poughkeepsie, New York; Earl, who took a business course at Delaware, Ohio; Wil- mer, who is a student at Spencerville; Ruth, Myrel and Homer (all students), and Morris, the youngest of the family, who is a bright and
beautiful child of three years. Being seven years the junior of his next brother, he is nat- urally the pet of the family, as well as one of its brightest members. Mr. Reynolds has kept his older sons with him, educating them to busi- ness methods, and now paying them the same salaries they could command elsewhere.
The pleasant family home of Mr. Reynolds is situated on Fourth street, on the Lima turn- pike road, being a modern residence shaded by beautiful evergreens. When Mr. Reynolds came first to Spencerville, there were no pave- ments in the village, nor was it reached by a railroad line. Weeds stood as high as a horse on the present site of the Keith House, and the well-known citizen, Johnzey Keith, owned the greater part of all the land north and south of the present railroad to the river. As a mem- ber of the early Town Council Mr. Reynolds has been personally concerned in much of the development and improvement that have taken place. For over 18 years he has served on the Board of Education, has been president of that body, and was its treasurer when the last addi- tion was made to the new school edifice.
Politically Mr. Reynolds is one of the coun- ty's leading Democrats, and on numerous occa- sions has served as delegate to county and con- gressional conventions. For years he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a trustee, and for some years was the superintendent of the Sunday-school. Mr. Reynolds owns stock in the Citizens' Bank, of which he is one of the directors, and is in every regard one of Spencerville's useful and popular citizens.
® EV. ALOYSIUS I. HOEFFEL, pastor of the Church of St. John the Evan- gelist at Delphos, whose portrait ac- companies this sketch, was born at Lutzelbourg, Lorraine, Diocese of Nancy, France, May 14, 1832, but he has been a resident of Ohio for many years, coming as a pioneer priest to many of the now thickly pop- ulated counties of this State.
Father Hoeffel secured his early education at Cowtrey, Belgium, where his brother Joseph. who died in 1898, was a college professor for.
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a period of 40 years. Father Hoeffel pursued collegiate studies there for five years and he spent four years subsequently at Fenetrange and Pont-au-Mousson, France, completing his class- ical studies. In 1854 he came to America and in January, 1855, was received at St. Mary's Theological Seminary. After three and a half years there, he was elevated to the priesthood by Bishop Rappe, June 13, 1858. On July 2d of that year he was appointed to the parish at Defiance, Ohio, which included work in six counties, his knowledge of German and French making his services of the greatest value. For a decade following, Father. Hoeffel traveled through Paulding, Henry, Fulton, Williams and parts of Lucas and Putnam counties, car- rying to many secluded homes the comfort of spiritual ministrations and performing at many points the various offices of the church.
On January 28, 1868, Father Hoeffel was appointed pastor of the Church of St. John the Evangelist at Delphos, Ohio, since which time he has been identified with the work and people here. What he has accomplished fills an im- portant chapter in church history in this part of Ohio. In 1868 he purchased two lots on which stood a frame house where worship was held. In 1869-70 a new brick school-house, three stories high, containing four rooms and hall, was erected; and in 1872 a Sisters' resi- dence on First street. These narrowly escaped the fire of 1873, when the pioneer church and Sisters' residence were destroyed. In 1875 a new organ was installed in the church, and in 1879 the old wooden structure, which had out- lived its usefulness, was pulled down. On June of this year the corner-stone was laid for the new edifice, which is now entirely clear of debt. The beautiful chime of bells were presented to the church by Father Hoeffel in 1894, when the 50th anniversary of the church was celebrated. A full sketch of the church may be found in Chapter VII of this work in the history of Delphos.
Father Hoeffel is much beloved by his con- gregation and by the general public at Delphos, this feeling of general esteem gaining him the name of the "Good Shepherd" of his parish. After the celebration of the silver jubilee, the good Father was afforded the opportunity to
make an enjoyable trip to Europe. Although a man of scholarly acquirements and literary tastes, as will be seen, he is also a man of great executive ability and most practical ideas.
B ENJAMIN F. WELTY, a leading at- torney of Lima, member of the well- known firm of Welty & Downing and prosecuting attorney of Allen County, was born August 9, 1870, a short dis- tance from .Bluffton, Ohio. His parents, Fred- erick and Catherine (Steiner.) Welty, are en- gaged in agricultural pursuits and own a farm near Bluffton. They had a large family of 17 children, of whom 13 are living.
Having finished the common-school course, Mr. Welty entered college and completed the scientific course, later taking up the law course and graduating from the University of Michi- gan two years later, in 1896. He came at once to the county seat of Allen County and opened an office, being associated at first with Mr. Huber, but afterwards forming a partnership with Mr. Downing, which firm has proved to be a strong combination, achieving success and lasting popularity. Being a young man of de- cision and energy Mr. Welty has taken a keen interest in the management of county and mu- nicipal affairs, and has been prominent in the councils of the Democratic party for several years. When the call came for troops to serve in the Spanish-American War, he was enrolled as a member of Company C, Second Regiment Ohio Infantry, U. S. Volunteers. At the pres- ent time he is commissary, with rank as cap- tain, of the Second Regiment Infantry, Ohio National Guard.
Mr. Welty was secretary of the Democratic Executive Committee in 1898, and for several years has been the efficient city attorney of Bluffton, having been elected to the office in 1897, and remaining in that capacity until the office was changed from an elective to an ap- pointive one, since which time he has been ent- ployed by the village.
Mr. Welty married Cora Gottschack, whose father, Andrew Gottschack, was county treas- urer of Adams County. Indiana, and a pros- perous druggist of that county.
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IMOTHY B. BOWERSOCK, proprie- tor of the "Lima Jersey Stock Farm," located in German township, is one of the most advanced and progressive agriculturists of Allen County and his reputation as a farmer and breeder of thor- oughbred Jersey cattle has made his name fa- miliar beyond the boundary of the State. Mr. Bowersock was born April 28, 1853, in Noble County, Ohio, and is a son of John Bowersock who died in Allen County March 1, 1889, and is remembered by the older residents as a man of sterling qualities. John Bowersock was born' in the State of Pennsylvania, December 16, 18II, and was a shoemaker during his earlier years. Later, he became a miller and followed that occupation for many years, but at the out- break of the Civil War abandoned that calling to purchase horses for the Government. In 1865 he removed from Noble to Allen County, where he purchased 126 acres of land in sec- tion 33, German township, and gave his atten- tion to farming during the remainder of his life.
Timothy B. Bowersock was a lad of 12 years when his parents sought a home in Allen County, and he has grown to manhood and been identified with the leading men of the community ever since. He has always been in- terested in farming and stock-raising, and es- tablished his present beautiful farm in 1878. He began by stocking it with thoroughbred Jerseys, and he still makes a specialty of that breed of cattle, although he buys and sells ex- tensively of other stock, confining his transac- tions, however, to high-grade stock. Many fine animals are disposed of both by public and private sale each year, and the fact that they come from the "Lima Jersey Stock Farm," is considered a guarantee of their superior merits.
Mr. Bowersock has been married twice. On September 25, 1873, he was united to Ellen Kemp, daughter of Rev. J. W. Kemp, and three months later, on December 23, 1873, she was called to her reward. In 1876, on March 25th, he was married to Margaret L. Brew- baker, a lady of many estimable qualities and a daughter of G. W. Brewbaker. Her father, a venerable pioneer of Allen County, was an honored resident within its limits from 1833.
when as a child of seven he was brought here with the family, until his death in 1896 as an old and highly esteemed citizen. Mr. and Mrs. Bowersock are the parents of the following children : George A .; Walter M .; William H .; Nora M .; Roy E .; Oscar and Calvin Brice.
The fraternal societies to which Mr. Bow- ersock belongs are the following : Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Fraternal Order of Eagles and Improved Order of Red Men. He served one year, as worthy president of the lodge of Eagles and was a delegate from the lodge to the national convention that was held at Denver, Colorado, in 1905.
Mr. Bowersock is one of the prominent Democrats of this county, and has borne his full share of the responsibility and labors which should devolve upon all, but usualy fall to the lot of a few of the untiring workers. Time and again he has been honored by election to office, and has served on the Democratic County Ex- ecutive Committee, as township assessor, land appraiser, township trustee and president of the School Board. He is now serving his sec- ond term as township treasurer, and in the dis- charge of the duties of this office, as of all others which he has assumed, has shown earn- estness, faithfulness and ability. For eight years he also served as secretary of the Allen County Agricultural Society, then declining further service in that capacity.
Mr. Bowersock has reason to be proud of the fact that he has acquired prominence solely through individual exertions; further, he has established a fine home and given his children a thorough education, four of the members of his family being teachers in the schools.
HOMAS R. THOMAS, M. D., is a rising young physician and surgeon of Lima, who has already gained an enviable reputation in his profession by reason of the skillful and success- ful treatment of the cases entrusted to his care. His parents are John T. and Marguerite ( Rich- ards ) Thomas, who are farmers of Van Wert County, this State, where our subject was born February 14. 1873.
Thomas R. Thomas is one of a family of
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five children. After finishing the public school course, he entered Rush Medical College, Chi- cago, from which he was graduated in 1899. From there he went to Stillwater, Minnesota, where he became a member of the hospital staff, and during the year spent there, under the best physicians of the State, gained a prac- tical knowledge of medicine and surgery that would have required years of ordi- nary practice to acquire. Thus equipped with all the latest practical and theoret- ical methods for the practice of medicine, he came to Lima in 1900 and has been remark- ably successful in building up a large and con- stantly growing practice. He is frequently call- ed in by other physicians to assist in difficult cases. It is confidently predicted that he will soon stand at the head of his profession in the county.
Dr. Thomas was married to Minnie Wat- kins, daughter of Thomas Watkins, and one child, Lester C., has been born to them. They are earnest workers in the Presbyterian Church, of which they are members and are prominent in the social life of the city. The Doctor is a member of the State and county medical soci- ties and is a Modern Woodman of the World. He is supreme medical examiner for the Col- onial Insurance Union of the United States. He is a Republican in politics.
OSHUA B. COON, who is engaged in a wood and feed business, on the corner of Market street and Washington ave- nue, Lima, and is also the owner of a fine farm of 120 acres, situated in Shawnee township, belongs to a family which was established in America before the War of the Revolution. Mr. Coon was born January 23, 1842, on his father's farm in Allen County, Ohio, and is the eldest son of Wesley and Mary (Flynn) Coon.
George Coon, the grandfather of Joshua B., was born in 1783 in the State of Pennsylvania. After reaching his majority he went first to Kentucky and then to Belmont County, Ohio, still later to Logan County, and in 1832, to Al- len County. He was a pioneer here, a man of
prominence in his day, and when he' died in 1873 he left numerous descendants. Wesley Coon, father of Joshua B., was born in Belmont County, Ohio, in 1807, and there he was reared, under pioneer conditions, and obtained his edu- cation in the primitive schools of that locality. In 1832 he settled permanently in Allen County entering 80 acres of land in section 4, Shawnee township, and there his life was passed, his death occurring in 1866. He was twice mar- ried, first to Mary Flynn who died in 1856, leaving five children, and second, to Caroline Craft, who had three children.
Joshua B. Coon remained on the home farm until the outbreak of the Civil War. He was one of the first in his locality to think of leaving all personal interests behind to serve his country in her hour of peril. In 1861 he enlisted in Company E, 46th Reg., Ohio Volunteers In- fantry; he wore the Union blue through three years and nine months of danger and exposure and, when his services were no longer needed, was honorably discharged. He participated in many of the most serious battles of the great struggle and can speak with pride and knowl- edge of Shiloh, Corinth, Vicksburg, Mission- ary Ridge, Resaca, New Hope Church, Kene- saw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta. Well he remembers the long march through Georgia to the sea and the later triumphal re- turn to Washington where the tattered battle- flags and the old worn-out uniforms testified to the dangers passed, and where the country sought to show, by honors and enthusiasm, a portion of the gratitude it felt toward its brave and loyal defenders.
Upon his return from the army, Mr. Coon purchased his farm in section 5, Shawnee town- ship, on which he resided, carrying on extensive farming and dairying, until 1899, when he moved to Lima, with the intention of living re- tired. A few years of inactivity sufficed, and in 1903, he engaged in his present business, opening a wood yard and a feed mill, and dem- onstrating that he still retains much of his old- time energy and business capacity.
In 1866 Mr. Coon was married to Mary B. Buckley, who is a daughter of William and Eliza Buckley. The father of Mrs. Coon came to Allen County after the Civil War, in which
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he had been a soldier, serving three years as a member of the 18th Regiment, Michigan, Vol. Inf. He conducted a grocery business for some years on the Auglaize River. He survived until 1901, dying at the age of 92 years. Mr. and Mrs. Coon have three surviving children, viz. : Charles, Mary A. and Virgil N. Charles Coon married Maud McClure, a daughter of John McClure, a farmer of Shawnee township, who served through the Civil War as a member of the 99th Regiment, Ohio Vol. Inf. Charles Coon and wife have two sons, Carl and Ralph. Mary A. Coon married R. D. Crites, who is a prominent farmer of Amanda township and a son of Isaac Crites, one of the pioneers of Al- len County. Mr. and Mrs. Crites have these children: Winnifred, Ruth, Harriet, Pauline, Clayton and Robert. Virgil N. Coon married Edith Judy, who is a daughter of Clay Judy, a well-known paper-hanger, of Lima. They have two children -- Roy and Herbert.
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