USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 25
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David .1. Pool was reared on a farm and completed his schooling in the schools at Degraff, after which he taught school for a time. On May 10, 1864, he then being but eighteen years of age, he enlisted for service in the Union army and went to the front as a member of Company F. One Hundred and Thirty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served until the close of the war, the greater part of the service being performed in the line of guard duty at Bermuda Hundred. Virginia, on the James river. Upon the completion of his military service
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Mr. Pool returned home and after the death of his father in 1869 he took charge of the home farm. After his marriage in the spring of 1871 he located on a farm in Shelby county, where he remained for five years, at the end of which time he came to this county and located on a farm in Adams township, later moving to a farm in Salem township, where he established his home and where he remained, quite successfully engaged in farming, until 1909, in which year he retired from the farm and moved to Urhana, buying a house at 115 Lincoln avenue, where he and his wife have since made their home and where they are very comfortably and very pleasantly situated.
It was on March 2, 1871, that David A. Pool was united in marriage to Louisa J. Harbour, who was born in Concord township. this county, daughter of Henry and Nancy Harbour, pioneer residents of that community. who spent their last days there, and to this union eight children have been born, namely: John H., night clerk in the Urbana postoffice, who first mar- ried Myrtle Neeld and after her death married Charlotte McDarr: Thomas Emmet, a mail carrier at Columbus: Otto, who married Effie Powell and is engaged in farming in Salem township, this county; Clarence, who married Lulu Wood nancy and is farming his father's farm in Salem township, Verdie, who married Fern Anderson and who since the death of her hus- band has been making her home with her parents: Carl, unmarried, who is farming in Alberta, Canada; Harry, a member of the class of 1918, North- western Medical College, Cleveland, and Raymond D., who died in 1902, at the age of twelve years. Mr. and Mrs. Pool are members of Grace Metho- dist Episcopal church and take a proper part in church work, as well as in the general good works of the community. Mr. Pool is a member of W. A. Brand Post No. 98, Grand Army of the Republic, at Urbana, and takes an active interest in the affairs of that patriotic organization.
SAMUEL F. BLACK.
Samuel F. Black, farmer, who owns land in both Rust and Wayne townships. Champaign county, was born in Wayne township, this county, November 26, 1851. He is a son of Peter and Catherine ( Felgar ) Black, who were married March 9. 1850. Peter Black was born in Wayne town- ship, Champaign county, and he was a son of Peter Black of Pennsylvania, who married Mary Hughes of that state. He was of German stock. He was the first of the Black family to come to Champaign county, Ohio, and
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was an early settler in Wayne township, becoming owner of one thousand acres at Brush Lake, and here he spent the rest of his life. His family con- sisted of the following children; Isaac was the eldest; Sarah married Samuel Mitchell: Hannah married, first, J. Harlan, and later Hartland Gowey; Lydia married John Chapman: Peter. father of Samuel F. Black of this sketch.
Peter Black was reared on the home farm here and attended the early- day schools, taught in a log house. He went to Iowa about 1849, locating in Henry county, where he spent one year, then returned to Champaign county and bought a farm in Wayne township, on which he spent the rest of his life, dying December 26, 1900. His wife died February 1I, 1907. He became, like his father before him, one of the leading farmers of his locality. owning about one thousand acres of valuable land at Brush Lake, and car- ried on general farming and stock raising on an extensive scale. His family consisted of nine children, namely: Samuel F., subject of this sketch ; Isaac F .. born October 3, 1853. married January 2, 1876, Eliza Corbett, and they live near Mechanicsburg. this county ; Henry E., born January 14, 1856, married Jennie Swisher, who lives near Cable, Champaign county, he being now deceased; Jasper A., born September 26, 1858, died November 8, 1864; Peter A., born September 25, 1861, married Elsie Freeman and they live in Rush township; Mary L., born August 28, 1863, married William Berry, of Cable : Emma, born April 2, 1866, died December 20, 1891, she had mar- ried Joseph Diltz, December 27, 1888: Charles B., born March 10, 1868, is engaged in the real estate business at Ithica, New York ; he married a Miss Giten, first, and later Bertha Shistzer: Cora, youngest of the seven children, was born September 18. 1871, and died February 11, 1896.
Samuel F. Black was reared on the home farm, and he attended the district schools in Wayne township. He remained at home until 1876 when he took up farming for himself in Wayne township on rented land, later bought his present excellent farm, in January, 1907, on which he has made many improvements and has since carried on general farming and stock raising successfully. He has a good farm of one hundred and thirty-seven acres and a fine home and good outbuildings. On September 8, 1890, he married Laura G. Stokes, of Salem township, this county, and a daughter of William and Margaret (Petty) Stokes, of Salem township, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. Black also owns fifty acres in another part of Wayne township. He carries on general farming and stock raising successfully. He raises a good grade of cattle, horses, hogs and sheep. Politically, he is a Republican.
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SAMUEL CHANCE, M. D.
The late Dr. Samuel Chance, formerly and for years one of Urbana's best-known druggists and physicians, was a native of this county and here spent all his life. He was born in the village of Westville on September 15, 1833, a son of James and Mary ( Kenton) Chance, the latter of whom was the daughter of Thomas Kenton. James Chance was a native of Maryland, who came to this county in the days of his young manhood and later married and established his home on the old Kenton homestead, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was twice married, his second wife having been Deborah Morris, widow of John Morris. By his first marriage he was the father of four children and by his second, two.
Reared on a farm, Samuel Chance received his early schooling in the Westville schools and afterward taught school and sold clocks for a time. He then entered Miami Medical College and was graduated from that insti- tution in 1859. He married in that same year and after a year spent in hospital work entered upon the practice of his profession at Kings Creek, in this county, where he was located for five years, at the end of which time he moved to Urbana, where he opened a drug store and was there engaged in the drug business and in the practice of his profession until his retire- ment in 1888. After his retirement Doctor Chance continued to make his home in Urbana and there spent his last days, his death occurring in 1892. Doctor Chance was a Democrat and took an active part in local politics. He was a Knight Templar Mason and took a warm interest in Masonic affairs. He was a member of the Baptist church and took a proper interest in church work.
It was on June 1, 1859, that Dr. Samuel Chance was united in marriage to Elizabeth Steinbarger, who was born near Urbana, a daughter of David and Lucy H. (Gaines) Steinbarger, both natives of Virginia, the former of whom was a son of John Steinbarger, a native of Germany and a soldier in the patriot army during the Revolutionary War, who first settled in Vir- ginia and later moved to Indiana Territory and settled near Taylorsville, in the White Water valley, where he spent his last days. After the death of his father David Steinbarger came over into Ohio and settled in this county. engaging in the milling business on Mad River. To Dr. Samuel Chance and wife two children were born, Lucy, who is at home with her widowed mother and who has for years been the assistant secretary of the Home Loan Com- pany of Urbana, and Frank S., station agent for the Erie Railroad Company
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at Urbana. Frank S. Chance was born at Urbana on September 15, 1870, and was graduated from the high school there in 1891. After a year spent in a drug store at Dayton he entered the employ of the Erie at Urbana and in 1916 was made agent for the company at that place. He married Stella Whittaker and has two children, Harry and Helen.
DARIUS T. RUNKLE.
Darius T. Runkle, agent for the Erie Railroad Company at Mingo, this county, president of the school board of that village and for many years actively identified with the growing interests of that place, is a native son of Champaign county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm in the Mt. Tabor neighborhood, in Salem township. September 22. 1850, son of Lewis and Janet ( Parks) Runkle, natives of New Jersey, who were married in that state, where they remained. Lewis Runkle was there engaged in the blacksmithing business until about 1840, when they came to Ohio and settled in Champaign county, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Upon coming to this county Lewis Runkle bought an eighty- acre farm near Mt. Tabor and there established his home. He was a good farmer and prospered in his operations, becoming one of the substantial and influential farmers of that section of the county, giving all his children, after their marriage, ample assistance in the way of securing homes for themselves. Lewis Runkle died at his honre in Salem township on February 23, 1901, and his widow survived him for eleven years, her death occurring in 1912. They were the parents of six children, those besides the subject of this sketch being as follow: John H., of Mingo: Dr. W. S. Runkle, of Washington, Kansas; Don P. Runkle, of Mingo; Ida, wife of Frank Benson, of Le Mars, Iowa, and Ada, wife of Robert Kelly.
Reared on the home farm, Darius T. Runkle received his early school- ing in the schools in the neighborhood of his home and upon completing the course there went to Columbus, where he took a course in a business college. upon the completion of which he was engaged as a clerk in the store of J. L. Guthridge at Mingo. Two years later he began working in the local office of the Erie Railroad Company at Mingo and on October 1. 1874, he then being twenty-four years of age, he was made agent for the Erie at that station and has ever since occupied that position, having thus been in the service of the railroad company longer than any other station agent on that division of
DARIUS T. RUNKLE.
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the road. Mr. Runkle has ever given his close attention to the duties attend- ing his service with the railroad company and has likewise labored diligently for the upbuilding of the village in which he so long has made his home. He is now president of the local school board and in other ways has con- tributed of his time and energies to the public service, long having been recognized as one of the leading citizens of Mingo.
In 1874 Darius T. Runkle was united in marriage to Louie J. Johnson. daughter of Jonathan and Sarah J. (Guthridge ) Johnson, and to this union one child has been born, a daughter, Nellie, who married L. C. Petry and has one child, a daughter, Ruth Mary. Mrs. Runkle died on December 28. 1902. Mr. Runkle is a member of the Baptist church and for forty-five years has been clerk of the local congregation of that church. He also is a member of the board of deacons of the church and has ever given his earnest attention to church affairs. He is a Knight Templar Mason and gives his close attention to the affairs of the order.
LEVI S: RAFF.
Levi S. Raff. an honored veteran of the Civil War and a retired car- penter and cabinet-maker living at Urbana, was born in Wayne county, this state, September 29, 1848, son of Henry B. and Jane ( Rutter ) Raff, both of whom were born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and who had come to this state in the days of their youth, their last days being spent in West Liberty.
Henry B. Raff was left an orphan when seven years of age, one of the four children left by his parents, three sons and one daughter, the other sons having been John and Christopher. He later came to this state with the Rutter family and with them settled in Logan county, Levi and Polly Am Rutter and their family being among the early settlers of that county. They had seven children, Jay. James, Levi, Josiah, Louis, Mattie and Jane. Henry B. Raff grew to manhood in Logan county, receiving a limited schooling in the primitive schools of that time and place. He married Jane Rutter. youngest daughter of Levi Rutter, and then located in Wayne county. For some time he was engaged as a foreman in railroad work and in 1853 returned to Logan county, where he was living when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted for service in the Union army and went to the front as a mem- ber of Company I, Forty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and
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served for three years in the Army of the Cumberland, under General Grant. In the meantime his wife and the family moved to West Liberty and upon the completion of his military service he rejoined them there and engaged in the carpenter trade at that place, there spending the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1906, he then being eighty-six years and ten months of age. He was an active member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic at West Liberty and he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They were the parents of nine children of whom the sub- ject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth, the others being as fol- low: Jerry, who enlisted for service in the Union army during the Civil War, a member of Company I, First Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died in camp in Kentucky in 1862; Christian, who died in January, 1866; Mary Jane, unmarried, who is living at West Liberty; William, a lawyer, living at West Liberty; James A., a stonecutter, of West Liberty ; Rosalie, wife of Edward Mathews, of West Liberty : Osmer L., a cigarmaker, now deceased, and Elmer, who died at the age of three months. After the death of the mother of these children, Henry B. Raff married, secondly, Esther Elder, of West Liberty.
Levi S. Raff received his schooling at West Liberty and when fifteen years of age enlisted at that place for service in the Union army during the continuance of the Civil War, going out with Company C, Twelfth Regi- ment, Ohio Volunteer cavalry. At Camp Cleveland the Twelfth Ohio was divided, part of the regiment going to Columbus, another part to Camp Denison and a third, to Johnson's Island. It was at this latter station that Mr. Raff found himself stationed at the beginning of his service and he remained there until March, 1864, when the detachment to which he was attached was sent to Camp Denison and was there mounted, equipped and drilled for the cavalry, a few weeks later being ordered to Louisville, Ken- tucky, as a part of the First Brigade, First Cavalry, and was sent through the South on scouting service, being known as Burbridge's "Night Owls." One June 9, 1864. this detachment was in action against Morgan's raiders at Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, and on June II at Cynthiana, thence back to Lex- ington, where it remained in camp a few weeks, at the end of which time it was sent on a raid through Kentucky and Virginia, doing general scout duty. On October 2, 1864, these "Night Owls" met with a reverse at Saltville, Virginia, and returned to their base at Lexington, later joining Stoneman's forces at Nashville, Tennessee, a part of the noted force known as Stone- man's Raiders, and from Nashville made a dash through to Chattanooga, Knoxville, Strawberry Plains, Bean Station, thence on another extensive
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raid through Virginia, Georgia, the Carolinas, Alabama and Tennessee, being seventy-three days in the saddle with very little rest, operating on Sherman's extreme left wing. and were later ordered back to Tennesse to join General Thomas and thereafter performed scout duty until the close of the war. During this taxing period of service Mr. Raff was laid up for nearly two months with an attack of typhoid fever and his health was badly impaired. He was mustered out at Nashville on November 14. 1865, and returned to Ohio, where he received his final discharge.
Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Raff returned to West Liberty and there became employed at cabinet-making. After his marriage in 1873 he located at St. Paris, in this county, and five years later moved to Urbana, where he has since made his home. Upon taking up his residence in Urbana Mr. Raff took up his trade as a carpenter and cabinet-maker and continued thus engaged until his retirement from active business.
As noted above, it was in 1873 that Levi S. Raff was united in mar- riage to Mary C. Long, of St. Paris, this county, daughter of Jesse and Nancy Long, the former of whom was a tailor, and to that union was born one child, a son, Frank B. Raff, a telegraph operator for the Big Four Rail- road Company at Urbana. Frank B. Raff married Victoria Brown and has three children, Gladys, Lucille and Richard. He is a Mason and a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Urbana. Mrs. Mary C. Raff is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
CHARLES EDMUND GAUMER.
It is not too much to say that the career of a newspaper man is richer in possibilities than practically any other vocation in life. His business is to find out what other people are doing, and having found this out, to present such of it to the public as in his judgment the public should know. Too often the editorial management finds itself in conflict with the business man- agement of the paper. Just what shall be said of the citizens of the com- munity the paper serves, and just how much, are two considerations that the editor must face day by day. Shall he tell all he knows of official short- comings or shall he keep such facts out of his paper-if a promoter comes to his city with a dubious proposition shall he tell his readers about it-if anything goes awry in the community shall he set forth the facts? In
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other words, it is a wise man who can run a paper these days and do full justice to both the editorial and business sides of his paper.
Charles E. Gaumer is a newspaper man who has tried to the best of his ability to manage a paper from both viewpoints, and the results of his efforts show that he has been attended with an unusual degree of success. He has been in the business since his boyhood days; in fact, it might be said that he grew up in a newspaper office, his father before him having been a newspaper man. While still in the Urbana high school he was helping his father edit the Democrat, and immediately on his graduation from the high school in 1894, at the age of eighteen, he took over the com- plete management of the paper. He continued as head of the paper until August 28, 1898, when he bought the Monticello, Illinois, Bulletin. He remained there three years and then, June 10, 1901, bought the Middletown, Ohio, Signal, which he managed successfully for the following seven years. His next change took him to Champaign, Illinois, where he served on the editorial staff of the Daily Notes from September 15, 1908, to August 1. 1910. On the latter date he returned to his old home at Urbana, and be- came associated with his brother. Frank C., as managing editor of the Democrat.
Mr. Gaumer remained with the Democrat in the capacity of managing editor for seven years, leaving the paper in AAugust. 1917, to become assistant managing editor of the Marion, Ohio, Daily Star, of which Senator Warren G. Harding is owner and publisher. During his long connection with the local paper in Urbana he had the satisfaction of seeing its circulation increase from year to year, and no small credit for this steady growth was due to his ability as editor. Possessed of a ready pen and a gift for pungent ex- pression his style was of the kind which makes a paper readable. His long acquaintance with the people of Urbana was another factor which enabled him to write clearly of local happenings from day to day, while he naturally added to his store of knowledge of local conditions with each succeeding year. However, he decided that a change of location would be an advantage to him and when the opportunity presented itself to become associated with the Marion Daily Star he decided to accept it. He still retains his interest in the Gaumer Publishing Company. His many friends in Urbana regret to see him leave the city, and wish him continued success in his new field.
Mr. Gamer was horn in Marseilles, Ohio, November 28, 1876, a son of Dr. Thomas M. and Eliza M. Gaumer. His father died in 1893 and his mother is still residing in Urbana. A sketch of Doctor Gaumer appears else- where in this volume and the reader is referred to it for the genealogy of
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the Gaumer family. It might be added, however, in this connection, that Doctor Gaumer was a practicing physician for several years before he engaged in newspaper work. He spent the last several years of his life in the editorial chair. His three sons have followed in his footsteps, each of them now being in active newspaper work.
Charles E. Gaumer was married on September 7, 1898, to Effie Aletta Landis, a daughter of Samuel M. and Jennie M. Landis. Mrs. Gaumer was born in Urbana on August 17, 1879, and is the youngest of four children. the others being James, George and Earl L. Mr. and Mrs. Gaumer have three children : Lois Mahala, born November 30, 1899; Edmund Landis, born January 29, 1901 ; Robbin Irene, born May 14, 1906. The family are members of the Urbana Lutheran church. Mr. Gaumer is a deacon in the church and was superintendent of the Sunday school for the four years preceding 1914. Fraternally, he is a member of Harmony lodge. Free and Accepted Masons.
ELIJAH A. PETTIGREW.
Elijah A. Pettigrew, a well-known and substantial retired farmer of Champaign county, now living at Urbana, where he has made his home since 1907, is a Virginian by birth, but has been a resident of this county since he was twenty-one years of age. He was born in Nicholas county, in West Virginia, March 9, 1859, son of Andrew Jackson and Sarah J. (Stephenson ) Pettigrew, she born in West Virginia and he in Virginia. and whose last days were spent in Nicholas county.
Andrew Jackson Pettigrew, whose father was a native of Dublin, Ire- land, who had come to this country in his youth and had established his home in Virginia, grew up in Rockbridge county, that state, near the "nat- ural bridge." and became a carpenter, later moving to Nicholas county, in the western part of the state, where he began working at his trade and where he married, established his home and spent the rest of his life. He died many years before his wife, who survived him until 1914, she being eighty-two years of age at the time of her death. She was a cousin of George Wesley .Atkinson, former governor of West Virginia and for years judge of the United States court of claims. She was a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church and her husband was a member of the Baptist church. They were the parents of eleven sons, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fifth in order of birth. the others being as follow: David, who is a farmer
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living in Ashtabula county, this state; John, a carpenter, who died in Clay county, West Virginia, in 1908: George, who died in his youth; Samuel F .. a toolmaker, living at Springfield, this state; James, a merchant, of Sum- mersville, West Virginia; Albert, a merchant, of Jefferson, this state; Harvey B., a rural mail carrier living at Urbana; Charles, a farmer living in Green- briar county, West Virginia; Walter, a farmer living in Nicholas county, in that same state, and Henry, a farmer, living at Akron, this state.
Elijah A. Pettigrew was reared on a farm in Nicholas county, receiv- ing his schooling in the schools in the neighborhood of his home, and re- mained there, farming, until he was twenty-one years of age, when, in the spring of 1880, he came to Champaign county and became engaged in farm- ing in Concord township and was there for three years, or until after his marriage in 1883, when he located in Mad River township. Two years later he moved on a farm on Pretty Prairie, in Urbana township, and there established his home and made that his place of residence until his retire- ment from the active labors of the farm and removal, in 1907, to Urbana. where he has since resided and where he is very comfortably situated. Mr. Pettigrew is the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and twenty-nine acres on Pretty Prairie and continues to give his close personal attention to the general management of the same. In addition to his general farming he has given considerable attention to the raising of live stock, including sev- eral race horses that have attained more than local fame. Mr. Pettigrew is a Republican and gives a good citizen's attention to political affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office.
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