USA > Ohio > Allen County > History of Allen County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part Two > Part 39
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ersox and is the mother of two children- Irene and James Cecil; and Harley, born April 12, 1884, who married Jesse Long and is the father of one child, James Wayne. Mr. Alexander is a member of the United Breth- ren Church of Allentown, and a man of integ- rity and sterling worth.
T. AGERTER, secretary and treasurer of The Lima Locomo- tive & Machine Company, whose works are among the largest in- dustrial plants of this city, was born in Wyandot County, Ohio, October 16, 1859, and is a son of John Agerter, formerly a well-known civil engineer who now lives re- tired at Upper Sandusky.
Mr. Agerter was reared and educated at Upper Sandusky, and later completed a com- mercial course at the Poughkeepsie (New York) Business College, after which he en- tered the employ of F. B. Hedges & Company, at Pittsburg, as bookkeeper. On January I, 1881, he assumed a similar position with The Lima Machine Works. In 1884, on the death. of his uncle, Frederick Agerter, he became sec- retary and treasurer of the Lima Machine Works, and continued in the same capacity after the reorganization of the business and the forming of The Lima Locomotive & Ma- chine Company. He has other business con- nections, being proprietor of The Dairy Im- plement Company. He is also interested in the "Glen Oak Stock Farm," situated 10 miles west of Lima on the Auglaize River. He owns much valuable live stock, all of high grade and much of it registered.
Mr. Agerter married Carlotta Disman, a daughter of George W. Disman, one of the proprietors of the Lima Machine Works, who died in 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Agerter have two children-Rose E. and W. T., Jr., both of whom are attending school at Lima.
For eight years Mr. Agerter was a mem- ber of the Lima Board of Education and is one of the most useful members of the Lima Pro- gressive Association.
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Politically Mr. Agerter is a Democrat. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Fra- ternally he is a Knight of Pythias, an organi- zation which, in Lima, numbers the majority of the business men. Socially, Mr. Agerter belongs to the Lima Club and the Shawnee Country Clubs.
€ MORY H. DORSEY, one of Lima's hustlers, was born in Carroll County, Maryland, in the year 1868, being a son of A. C. Dorsey, who was a painter by trade. In the year 1871, when three years of age, he came with his par- ents to Lima, which city has since been his home.
He began his active business career in 1889 at the age of 18 years as a clerk in the grocery of Watson & Company. Later he opened a store himself, engaging in the flour and feed business with a very limited capital, which business he conducted with very good success. In the year 1900 he added a complete line of staple groceries, since which time he has pros- pered beyond his expectations. He is re- garded as one of the leading business men of Lima.
In 1899 Mr. Dorsey erected the Dorsey Block, a beautiful two-story structure at Nos. 206-208 South Main street, in which the lower floor is divided into two fine business rooms, while the upper floor is arranged in two ele- gant flats. This building he recently sold and then purchased the Judge Collett property at No. 218 South Main street, and is at the pres- ent time preparing to erect a three-story. struct- ure upon the lot with ground dimensions of 52 by 100 feet. The lower floor is to be di- vided into two business rooms, while the sec- ond and third floors are to be fitted up into up-to-date flats. He also owns other very valuable real estate in Lima, among which is a very modern and comfortable home at No. 742 West Spring street, in which the family reside.
In 1888 Mr. Dorsey was married to Ella Anspach and to them have been born three
children: Two sons-Earl C. and Karl J., aged 16 and II years respectively-and one daughter-Gail, aged.nine years. All the chil- dren are attending school. Mr. Dorsey be- longs to that class of citizens whose push and energy have so materially assisted in the devel- opment of the city, and in bringing about its present prosperity.
ASSIUS M. JOLLEY,. one of Lima's most esteemed residents and older business men and also an honored veteran of the Civil War, was born in Marion County, Ohio, in 1844, and is a son of Elisha and Achsa (Davis) Jolley.
Elisha Jolley was a pioneer at Lima, coming here first from Harrisburg, Pennsyl- vania, in 1833. He remained but a short time, locating then in Marion County, but in 1845 he returned to Lima and engaged in a mer- chant tailoring business during the remainder of his active life. His wife was born in Ohio.
Cassius M. Jolley was only one year old when his parents came to Lima, and this city has been his settled home ever since, his ab- sence from it being only during the years in which he was at the front as a soldier of the . Civil War. He was one of the earliest to en- list after the first call for. troops; during this term of three months he suffered so severe an injury to his foot that he was obliged to return home. About two years passed before the member was sufficiently strong to enable him to again return to the ranks. In 1864 he was a second time accepted and became identified with Company F, 32nd Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf., being mustered into the service at Columbus.
The 32nd Ohio immediately joined Sher- man's army in the historic campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta, taking part in the seige of the latter city. Mr. Jolley witnessed the mortal wounding of the brave and beloved General McPherson, and, as the regiment was under almost daily fire, saw many of his com- rads fall. He was engaged with his company in the battles at Jonesboro and Bentonville, and
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participated in the Grand Review at Washing- ton. He was mustered out at Louisville, Ken- tucky, July 5, 1865.
Upon his return to Lima, Mr. Jolley im- mediately entered into business. For the first 12 years he engaged in making boots and shoes, then was interested in. a grocery, and later in the manufacture of nitro-glycerine and in shooting oil-wells. For about 15 years he engaged in the manufacture, handling and use of that explosive without any accidents, but since October, 1904, he has carried on a safer business. He is now engaged in the cigar, tobacco and periodical business, with his son, Erle E., under the firm name of Jolley & Jolley, having excellent quarters in the Lima House Block, on East Market street. He is one of the substantial business men of the city, and owns some valuable prop- erty, including five acres of land, situated in German township, adjacent to the city.
Mr. Jolley was married, in 1873, to Grace Weiler, who is a daughter of William and Ann E. (Filson) Weiler, both natives of Pennsyl- vania. Formerly Mr. Weiler was a farmer in Wayne County, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Jolley · have five children, namely: James L., con- nected with the Michael Clothing & Shoe Com- pany, at Lima; Erle E., of the firm of Jolley & Jolley; Ralph C., engaged in a milk business at Lima; Lena Dot, wife of Bert Wilson, of the L. E. & W. Railroad shops; and Iva, living at home. Mr. Jolley and family belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is an active member of Mart Armstrong Post, No. 202, G. A. R.
W. PAGE, assistant superintendent of the South Lima Division of The Buckeye Pipe Line Company, is a native of_ Nova Scotia. He is a son of James M. Page, who was engaged in handling monuments for many years, but is now retired from business and residing at Rothesay, New Brunswick. Mr. Page was educated in Nova Scotia, taking an academic course and then locating in Bos- ton, Massachusetts, where he conducted a
drug-store for about five years. From 1890 to 1895 he was engaged in the same business in Brooklyn, and then accepted a place on the construction gang of the Eureka Pipe Line Company, which was stationed at Sistersville, West Virginia. He was made assistant fore- man of the company and sent to Marietta, Ohio, later going to Kentucky as foreman of the Cumberland Pipe Line Company. For a time he was located at Van Buren, Indiana, as foreman of the Indiana Pipe Line Company, and thence came to Lima, on July 1, 1905, as assistant superintendent.
Mr. Page was married, in 1896, to Zaidee Fullerton, of Montclair, New Jersey, a lady of many pleasing qualities. They have four chil- dren, namely : Florence Virginia, Lawson Ful- lerton, Elvena and Daniel. Mr. and Mrs. Page are prominent and popular members of: the First Baptist Church of Lima. Mr. Page was made an Elk in the Marietta lodge, and still retains his membership in that body.
C. RICKETTS, locomotive en- gineer on the Lake Erie & Western Railroad, with a passenger run between Lima and Tipton (Indi- ana); is one of the well-known and valued citizens of the former place, whose residence here covers a period of 25 years .. He is also an honored survivor of the Civil War. Mr. Ricketts was born near Morrow, Warren County, Ohio, in 1843, and is a son of Zadock Ricketts.
The Ricketts family is one of age and dis- tinction in old Virginia, and there the father of Mr. Ricketts was born in 1803, at Fairfax Court House, Culpeper County. He came to Ohio about 1830 and settled in Warren County, where he became a man of substance and a leading agriculturist.
M. C. Ricketts attended school in Warren County until he was 15 years of age, and then assisted on the homestead for two years longer. At the age of 18 years he enlisted for service in the Civil War, joining Company A, 35th Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf., entering the service at
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Hamilton, Ohio, and being mustered out at Chattanooga, Tennessee. The years inter- vening were filled with the hardships which attend a soldier's life, and that his service was one of constant activity and danger may be inferred by recalling the battles in which he participated. The list includes : Perryville, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, . Buzzard's . Roost, Corinth, Chickamauga, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, the fall of Atlanta and the "March to the Sea."
Upon his return from the army, Mr. Rick- etts resumed work on the home farm until January 19, 1872, when he began railroading. For four years he served as fireman and for one year as engineer, on the Cincinnati & Muskin- gum Valley Railroad, and then became an en- gineer on the Cincinnati Southern Railroad. In 1881 he located at Lima, becoming con- nected with the Lake Erie & Western Rail- road, of which he is a trustworthy passenger engineer running between Lima and Tipton, Indiana.
On October 26, 1871, Mr. Ricketts was married to Cynthia Brant, who died October 10, 1899, leaving one son, F. B., who is em- ployed in the drug-store of Harold Cunning- ham in Lima. Mr. Ricketts was married on August 28, 1903, to Jennie R. Conrath, who is a daughter. of Israel Conrath, of Lima. Mr. Conrath was born in Indiana County, Pennsyl- vania, where he married Elizabeth Lydict. Mr. Conrath is now 80 years of age, while his wife is 76; they have long been residents of Ohio.
In political sentiment, Mr. Ricketts is a Republican. He cast his first presidential vote on the occasion of the second election of Abra- ham Lincoln, and has consistently supported the party candidates and measures ever since. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Loco- motive Engineers and of the Masonic and Odd Fellow fraternities. In religious views he is a Methodist, while Mrs. Ricketts is a member of the Christian Church. The pleasant fam- ily home is located at No. 514 South Pine street, Lima.
ADISON L. BOWYER, a vener- able and esteemed farmer of Ger- man township, has been a resident of Allen County for almost three- quarters of a century. `An only child of Isaac and Elizabeth (McMullen) Bowyer, he was born in Monroe County, Vir- ginia, January 12, 1826. His father · was a son of Adam Bowyer and was born in Monroe County, Virginia, in 1802. The mother was born in Bedford County, Virginia, and was a daughter of Matthew McMullen. When our subject was a child of four years, his parents decided to try their fortunes on the broad and fertile prairie lands of Illinois, the new terri- tory which was alluring so many settlers to the then far West. Accordingly all their household goods and farming implements were loaded into wagons and the journey begun. It was a tedious trip, through an almost trackless forest with the houses of the settlers sometimes miles apart, but as no quicker mode of trans- portation was then known in the section of country traversed the travelers doubtless thought they were completing their journey in very good time. Winter found them still on the road and, as the weather was severe, it was thought best to stop over until spring. The halting place was in Ross County, Ohio, where the winter of 1830 was spent. When they resumed their journey the following year, they came only so far as what is now Allen County, settling on a farm near Elida. This property is still owned by our, subject and was the home of the family for over 60 years.
Madison L. Bowyer has been twice mar- ried, his first wife being Elizabeth Priddy, a native of Ohio and daughter of William Prid- dy. They had the following children: Jose- phine, who married James Leech of Lima and has two sons, Guy and Dale, both of whom are married, the former having four children, of whom one is dead; Martha Jane, who mar- ried Anderson Llewellyn; Clara Lindi, wife of Lon Bower, of Lima and the mother of four children, three of whom are living; Amanda Ellen, wife of Albert Busha, of Cleveland; Isaac; John; Charles ; Mary ; Annie Eliza; and Georgia, the three last named having passed
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to the higher life. About 28 years ago Mr. Bowyer was married to his present wife who was then Delia Strayer, daughter of Daniel Strayer, of Fairfield County, Ohio. The one child born to this union was with them here but a brief space, before it was taken to the home above. ' Mr. Bowyer has been a hard- working, industrious man and has richly earned the prosperity which has attended him and enables him and his estimable wife to spend their declining years in ease amid the scores of warm friends by whom they are sur- rounded. Mr. Bowyer is a Republican and for a number of' years was a school director in German township, an office he accepted on ac- count of his deep interest in all educational matters. He is a consistent member of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, of Lima, and a man of the strictest integrity.
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EVI BALSBAUGH, superintendent of the boiler department of the Lima Locomotive and Machine Works, the largest manufacturing plant at Lima, efficiently fills a very responsible posi- tion. He was born at Harrisburg, Pennsyl- vania, and is a son of Henry Balsbaugh, also of that city.
Mr. Balsbaugh was reared and educated in his native city. When a lad he began to take an interest in machinery, with the result that when he was only 20 years old he had so thoroughly mastered the boiler-makers trade that he was sent to Roanoke, Virginia, to take the position of assistant foreman of the Nor- .folk & Western Railway shops. This position he filled for five years, learning every practical detail in connection with the complicated machinery used in the great plant. From this responsible position in Roanoke, he entered the Richmond, Virginia, Locomotive Works as a journeyman worker, and served in every ca- pacity until he became foreman, remaining with that company for 10 years. His next place of employment was with the Baldwin Locomotive Works, at Philadelphia, which are the largest in the United States, and he re-
mained there for five years as assistant fore- man. With this record behind him he came to Lima, in 1903, to become superintendent of the boiler department of the Lima Locomotive & Machine Works. He is a skilled artisan and a man thoroughly competent to also exercise executive authority.
In 1887 Mr. Balsbaugh was married to Rosa Hoover, who is a daughter of Alexander Hoover, of Wytheville, Virginia.
Mr. Balsbaugh has associated himself with the Young Men's Christian Association since coming to Lima and has won the esteem and friendship of those with whom he has come in contact. He belongs also to. the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (both the subordinate lodge and the encampment). He is largely a self-made man and the success he has won has been secured through his own efforts, persis- tently and intelligently directed.
5 OWARD L. KAY, one of the progres- sive young business men of Spencer- ville, conducts a large real estate, loan and investment business, with office on Broadway. Mr. Kay was born at Watseka, Iroquois County, Illinois, and is a son of James W. and Adeline (Ellingwood) Kay.
The father of Mr. Kay was born in Illinois and the mother in Indiana. They were pioneer in Iroquois County, where they became pros- perous farmers, and there the father still lives, advanced in years. The mother died February 19, 1889. Their children were : Wendell P., who is master in chancery at Watseka, Illi- nois; Howard L .; Wilbur Jones, late of the Chicago University, who now fills the chair of public speaking, in the faculty of Washing- ton and Jefferson College, Washington, Penn- sylvania; and Miriam Ruth, who married Ralph Fraser Paine and resides near Paines, Michigan.
Howard L. Kay completed the primary school course in his native locality and con- tinued his studies in Grand Prairie Seminary at Onarga, Illinois, where he was subsequently
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graduated. He then entered Northwestern' University at Evanston, Illinois, as a member of the class of 1897. In addition to being an excellent man of business, Mr. Kay, from childhood, has possessed musical talent. This talent has been cultivated and he is an accom- plished musician. His fine tenor voice has been carefully trained under celebrated vocal teach- ers, both in New York and Chicago. He has entire charge of the choir of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Spencerville, and the music rendered in the services of this church would reflect credit upon a musical organiza- tion of a much larger place.
Howard L. Kay was united in marriage with Bessie Bice, who is a daughter of Will- iam and Tabitha (Sunderland) Bice. They have two children, viz: Webster Bice and James Philip. Mrs. Kay, like her husband, is a talented and accomplished musician. She has had musical instruction from many of the noted teachers of the country, and her beauti- ful, sweet, clear soprano voice assists in mak- ing the music redered by the Spencerville church choir especially enjoyable. She be- longs to one of the old and honorable families of substance in this part of Ohio, one which has been connected with its material develop- ment for many years.
WILLIAM BICE, father, of Mrs. Kay, was born at Salem, Columbiana County, Ohio, March 18, 1824, and died on his homestead, in Allen County, just out of Spencerville, on February 8, 1900. He was first married on January 20, 1847, to Anna Sunderland, and there were two children born to them, viz: Francis and Orlando. The latter married Lucretia Courtshire, who was reared by Leon- idas Post, another of the old settlers of the western section of Allen County. On Decem- ber II, 1856, William Bice was married to his second wife, Tabitha Sunderland, who was born September I, 1836, and is a daughter of Dye and Mary (Berryman) Sunderland. The Sunderlands were the fourth white family to settle in Allen County. They had 12 children, of whom one died in infancy, and another at the age of three years; the remaining 10 all reached maturity and reared families of their,
own. Mrs. Bice and her sister, Mrs. Mary Jane Mars, now past 88 years of age, a resi- dent of Decatur, Illinois, are the only sur- vivors.
The children of William Bice born to his second union were nine in number, the sur- vivors being as follows: Amarilla, who is the wife of R. T. Sutton; Anna M., who is the wife of S. W. Kemp, of Spencerville; William Adolph, who married Effa Gallant; Mercy Naomi, who is the wife of B. G. Hover, of Lima; Andrew W., M. D., who was coroner. of Allen County from 1902 to 1905; and Bes- sie, who is the wife of Howard L. Kay.
The late, William Bice was reared among the Quakers at Salem, Columbiana County, and all his life lived according to their upright teachings. After his second marriage, he set- tled on the homestead now occupied by his widow, which is situated just south of Spencer- ville. At present Mrs. Bice's son-in-law, Mr. Kay, has the historic old farm under lease. An old Indian burying ground once occupied a part of it, and Dr. Andrew W. Bice has taken a great interest in making a collection of relics of the days of the aborigines found here. Mr. Kay has recently stocked the old farm with a fine assortment of sheep and hogs, and the management has been entrusted to an exper- ienced farmer, and stock-raiser.
Mrs. Bice belongs to one of the oldest fam- ilies in the county, as mentioned above, and her recollections of the days of her girlhood and early married years are most entertaining and instructive. It scarcely seems possible, in con- versing with this animated, intelligent and well-perserved lady, to believe that she lived. in the days when the Indians still wandered in numbers over all this country and sat at her father's hearthstone, receiving his bounty. She recalls only their friendliness and their willingness to barter fur for, food. In the days of which Mrs. Bice tells, it was not con- sidered a very great hardship to live in a log cabin with earthen floor and with home-made quilts hung at the open door for protec- tion.
Mr. Bice kept on accumulating land until he owned 530 acres. Subsequently he gave
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his children all but 225 acres, retaining this in the home stead farm, which is now a proper- ty of large value. Mrs. Bice recalls well the old walnut canoe which was used in early days to cross the Auglaize River. She was care- fully reared by an excellent mother who taught her all the housewifely arts of those days. Her. mother was a famous weaver and she taught her daughter to spin and weave and also to dye the coverlets, such as are now oc- casionally found in the possession of, old families and are preserved as treasures. The. old Bice homestead has many of these wonder- ful examples of industry and taste.
At school Mrs. Bice stood as one of the best spellers, that being quite a distinction in her day. She was also an expert horsewoman and relates that upon one occassion, being in- vited to attend the wedding of Lenora Pupi- nore with Thomas Leach, she started on horse- back, with a party consisting of six couples. Upon reaching the home of the bride there being no gates, she jumped the bars and as she was the first on the scene had the honor of re- ceiving the first taste of the "wedding bottle," a feature of these occasions. General Black- burn was present at this wedding.
Looking at the life lived in the early days of Mrs. Bice, it seems to modern views to have been one filled with toil, hardship and privation; but it was not so regarded by many of those who still survive; for they undoubted- ly possessed a will and courage equal to the emergencies they met and successfully over- came, and a practical habit of thought that converted their necessary industry and frug- ality into pleasure. The old orchard standing on the homestead was partly set out by Indians who thus assisted Mr. Bice, with whom they were always on friendly terms. Under on old locust tree still standing in the orchard is the old horse mill where Mr. Bice converted bushels of apples into sweet, wholesome cider. It gave the family refreshments during the long winter evenings; Mrs. Bice also boiled it down for cooking purposes, making in one year 60 gallons of the real old-fashioned apple- butter, which she disposed of in Delphos, rea- lizing the sum of $300 for her work.
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H. WOOLEVY, senior member of the firm of Woolevy & Ramseyer, proprietors of the City Book Store, the oldest institution of its kind in Lima, was born in 1854 at Selma, Alabama, where he lived until after the close of the Civil War, when his parents moved to Miami County, Ohio.
Mr. Woolevy began his business career as traveling representative of the National Wall Paper Company, which he served for II years. For the past six years, in partnership with Otto F. Ramseyer, he has been interested in the present enterprise, the firm having pur- chasd the business from Mr. Robinson.
Both Mr. Woolevy and Mr. Ramseyer are also interested in the National Anchor Com- pany.
In 1881. Mr. Woolevy was married to Emma Leyburn, and they have one daughter, Nellie, who is the wife of W. O. Davis, who is a conductor on the Lake Erie & Western Rail- road.
ACOB EDWARD BOWSHER, one of the representative citizens and intelli- . gent farmers of Amanda township, was born April 2, 1873, in Shawnee township, Allen County, Ohio, and is a son of Israel and Elizabeth (Killian) Bow- sher.
L Mr. Bowsher comes of pioneer ancestry in Ohio, and of a family which is numerous all over the United States. His grandparents, Benjamin and Elizabeth (De Long) Bowsher, came to Shawnee township, Allen County, in 1836, settling in what was then a wilderness. The family lived in an Indian wigwam until the round-log house of the period was con- structed, it being necessary to clear a site on which it could be erected. The father of our subject, Israel Bowsher, was not born here, being six years of age when the family came, but he was reared in Shawnee township, mar- ried here and reared a very large family. The survivors are: Elias, a farmer of Shaw- nee township; Franklin, of Shawnee town- ship; Mary E. (Mrs. Ridenour), of Paulding
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