USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 43
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On September 29, 1869, Henry Smith was united in marriage to Vic- toria Kite, who was born in Miami county, Indiana, on February 10, 1847, the daughter of Alvin Kite. Her parents came to Mad River township, this county, when she was a girl of about eight years of age, and she received her education in the district schools of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are the parents of three children living and one dead: Elmer, born July 22, 1870, a graduate of high school, taught school for a time, after which he took the civil service examination for the United States railway mail service, and is now a postal clerk on the Pennsylvania railroad, married Emma Grumpard; Estella, born January 27, 1875, is the widow of Frank Ofenbacker, and Lola, born September 30, 1882, the wife of Frank Poor- mån, living in Johnson township. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are earnest and devoted members of the Baptist church at Millerstown, and are active in the affairs of that congregation, Mr. Smith serving as deacon and trustee. He is a Republican in politics, and warmly interested in local public affairs, having held several township offices, in which he discharged his duties faith- fully and well. He is a charter member of H. C. Scott Post No. III, Grand
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Army of the Republic, at St. Paris, Ohio, and has held some of the offices. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are popular in the social and religious circles of their community, and well known and highly esteemed by their neighbors and friends.
HARRY B. HULL.
Harry B. Hull, surveyor of Champaign county, was born at Ada, Ohio, September 9, 1885, son of Daniel J. and Jennie C. (Slechter) Hull, both also natives of Ohio, the former of whom was born in this county and the lat- ter at Ada, who are still living at Urbana.
Daniel J. Hull, former sheriff of Champaign county and one of the best-known commercial salesmen traveling out of Urbana, was born on May 14, 1859, son of George and Mary Ann ( Stout) Hull, both of whom were born in York county, New York, and who came to this county after their mar- riage in New York in 1851 and located at Mechanicsburg. Two years later they moved onto a farm in Salem township, from which they presently moved to a better farm in Union township and on this latter farin spent the remainder of their lives. George Hull was a blacksmith as well as a farmer and was for years one of the best-known men in his part of the county. He was a Republican and he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. She died on December 26, 1879, and he survived until July 21, 1901. Of the children born to them, six grew to maturity, those besides Daniel J. being Louise C., Dr. William H., Jesse E., George C. and Winfield. Upon completing the course in the local schools Daniel J. Hull took a course in the Northwestern Ohio Normal University at Ada and at the age of twenty- one entered the railway mail service and was thus engaged for three years, at the end of which time he became a traveling salesman and continued engaged in that capacity until his election to the office of sheriff of Cham- paign county. He was re-elected to that office, serving two terms, and upon retiring from office resumed his vocation as a traveling man and is still thus engaged. He was married in January, 1884, to Jennie C. Slechter, of Ada, this state, and to this union five children have been born, of whom the sub- ject of this sketch is the first-born, the others being Claudine, Gladys, Dean and Elizabeth Louise.
Harry B. Hull was reared at Urbana and upon leaving high school took employment with the engineering corps of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany, his first work in that connection being performed in connection with
HARRY B HULL
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the double-tracking of that road from Bradford, Ohio, to Logansport, Indi- ana. He was thus engaged for one year, at the end of which time he began working in the office of C. S. Pratt, former surveyor of Champaign county. Two years later. having acquired a fine technical knowledge of surveying and civil engineering, Mr. Hull became engaged in private surveying and engin- eering on his own account and after two years thus engaged entered the county surveyor's office, then under the incumbency of R. F. Darnell, and two years later, in November, 1914, was elected county surveyor. Mr. Hull's services in behalf of the public in this important capacity proved so satis- factory that he was re-elected in the fall of 1916 and is now serving his second term as surveyor. Mr. Hull is a Republican, as was his father, and has from boyhood taken an active interest in local political affairs.
On June 19, 1912, Harry B. Hull was united in marriage to Nina Grace Roberts, daughter of Robert and Lillian Roberts, of Bellefontaine, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Hull are members of the Presbyterian church and take a proper interest in the general social and cultural activities of their home town. Mr. Hull is a Knight Templar Mason and a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and is also a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias.
SIMEON McMORRAN.
Simeon McMorran, a well-known and substantial retired farmer of Johnson township, who for some years past has been making his home in St. Paris, where he is looking after the interests of his farm lands and at the same time engaged in the real-estate business, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm one mile north of. St. Paris, in Johnson township, March 9, 1856, son of Christian and Sarah (Loudenback) McMorran, both of whom also were born in this county and who spent all their lives here.
Christian McMorran was born on a pioneer farm south of St. Paris, in Jackson township, a son of Samuel McMorran and wife, early settlers of that part of Champaign county, who spent their last days on the old farm north of St. Paris. Samuel McMorran was a native of the state of Pennsyl- vania, who came into Ohio and after a brief residence at Dayton came to this county and entered a tract of land in Jackson township, where he estab- lished his home and where he and his wife spent the rest of their lives, influen-
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tial and useful residents of that community. Samuel McMorran set apart a portion of his farm for the establishment of the Evergreen cemetery, and in later years deeding that farm to his son, John McMorran, created a reservation for cemetery purposes, this reservation later being enlarged by John McMorran as the cemetery gradually became crowded. On that pioneer farm Christian McMorran grew to manhood and after his marriage bought from his father a farm in Johnson township, one mile north of St. Paris and there established his home, becoming one of the most substantial and influential farmers in the western part of the county and the owner of six hundred acres of fine land. His first wife, Sarah Loudenback, was born on a pioneer farm in Mad River township, this county, a daughter of Reuben and Sarah ( Wiant) Loudenback, who had come here from Virginia and were early settlers in Mad River township. He later married Susann Louden- back, a sister to the first wife, and four children were born of this second marriage. Christian McMorran was a Republican in his political allegiance and for some years served as trustee of his home township. He and his wife were members of the Baptist church at St. Paris and their children were reared in the faith of that communion. There were eight of these children, of whom two are now deceased, Ellen, who married Jason Kizer, and Abraham Lincoln, the latter of whom died at the age of sixteen years. The survivors, besides the subject of this sketch, are as follow: David, a well-known farmer of Johnson township; Barbara, wife of S. C. Nixon, of Deer Creek, Illinois; John P., who is living on the old home farm in Johnson township; Estella, wife of O. P. Mitchell, of Huntington county, Indiana, and Mary J., wife of William Heater, of St. Paris.
Simeon McMorran grew to manhood on the paternal farm north of St. Paris in Johnson township, receiving his schooling in the district school in that vicinity, and after his marriage began farming on his own account on a portion of the home farm and later became owner of one hundred and twenty acres of the same, which tract he still owns and to the operation of which he continues to give a good deal of his personal attention, although he retired from the active labors of the farm in 1910 and moved to St. Paris, where he since has made his home and where, in addition to looking after his farming interests, deals quite extensively in real estate. Mr. McMorran is the vice-president and a member of the board of directors of the Farmers and Merchants Telephone Company and has done much to extend the interests of that important public utility. Politically, he is a Prohibitionist and has for years exerted his strong personal influence in behalf of the movement against the saloon traffic. He and his family are members of the Methodist
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Episcopal church at St. Paris and for years Mr. McMorran has been a member of the official board of that church and one of the stewards. During his residence on the farm he for years served as a member of the school board in his local district and did much to advance the cause of the schools there.
Mr. McMorran has been twice married. His first wife, who was Flora McLean, of Union county, this state, died at her home in Johnson town- ship six years after her marriage, leaving three children, namely: Neil .... who is living on the home farm; Sarah C., a graduate nurse, living in Colum- bus, Ohio, at Grant Hospital, and Ella May, who is living with her uncle, Jason Kizer, at Millerstown. On March 4, 1885, Simeon McMorran mar- ried, secondly, Mary Janett McLean and to this union two daughters have been born, Minnie J., wife of Floyd Berry, of Mad River township, and Ruth, who is at home with her parents. The McMorrans have a very . pleasant home at St. Paris and take a proper part in the general social activities of their home town.
EARL L. WALTERS.
Among the influential and prominent citizens of Champaign county of the younger generation is Earl L. Walters, the popular and genial pro- prietor of a general store at Westville, Ohio, who was born in this village on August 10, 1881, the son and only child of Charles H. and Susan (Faulkner) Walters, the former of whom was a native of Virginia, and the latter of this county.
Charles H. Walters was born at Martinsburg, Berkley county, Virginia. April 21, 1842, the son of Michael and Catherine Walters, who came from Virginia to Clark county, Ohio, in 1854, when their son, Charles H., was a lad of twelve years. The family lived in Clark county for a few years, when they moved to Champaign county, locating first near Cable, and later moving to a farm in Salem township, where the parents lived the remainder of their lives. Susan Faulkner was born on a farm in Concord township, this county, June 16, 1851, the daughter of Nelson and Anna (Neer ) Faulk- ner, the former of whom was born in Cumberland county, Maryland, and the latter at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. As a young man Nelson Faulkner went from Maryland to Virginia, where he met and married Anna Neer, and a few years after their marriage, in 1850, they came to Ohio, locating in
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Concord township, Champaign county, where he followed his trade as a carpenter and cabinet-maker until he engaged in farming, in which vocation he continued for a time, later taking up his old trade of carpentering and contracting. Upon his final retirement from active business life, he and his wife moved to Urbana, where they spent their last days. Nelson Faulkner and wife were the parents of ten children, only three of whom are now living : Susan, mother of our subject; Clara, of Dayton, Ohio, and Edward F., of Laporte, Indiana. After his marriage to Susan Faulkner, Charles L. Walters lived in Kings Creek in Salem township, this county, where he followed his trade as a wagon-maker for four years, after which he moved to Westville, Ohio, where he continued to work at his trade for many years, later engaging in farming, in which he continued until his death on December 12, 1908. He and his wife were earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Westville, in the affairs of which they took a warm interest. Mr. Walters was identified with the Knights of Pythias, being a charter member of that fraternal organization at Westville.
Earl L. Walters was reared in the village of Westville, receiving his education in the public schools of that place, graduating from the Westville high school. After leaving school he began life for himself by clerking in a store in Westville for a time, after which he went to Springfield, where he worked as a clerk, thus thoroughly equipping himself in the rudiments of the mercantile business. In 1904 he returned to Westville and engaged in the general merchandise business, in which he has continued since with a very commendable degree of success. He has built up a large and lucrative patronage in the village and surrounding community, and enjoys the confi- dence and respect of all who know him both in a business and social way.
On March 16, 1909, Earl L. Walters was married to Elizabeth Elwell, the daughter of Perry and Elizabeth (Galbreath) Elwell, both of whom were natives of Ohio. Perry Elwell was born in Putnam county, Ohio, while his wife was born at West Liberty. Logan county, Ohio, their marriage taking place at DeGraff, Ohio. They made their home in Putnam county for three or four years, after which they moved to Smith county, Kansas. where Mrs. Walters was born on January 30, 1889. In the fall of 1902 they moved from Kansas to Kentucky, where they lived for a short time, later removing to a farm in Concord township, this county. In 1905 the family moved to Urbana, Ohio, where they have since lived. To Mr. and Mrs. Walters have been born two children, Francis Leroy, born May 6, 1911, and Lillian Roberta, born March 21, 1913. The family are devoted mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church and take an active interest in church
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and Sunday school work, Mr. Walters serving as a member of the board of trustees of the church. He is a member of Magrew Lodge No. 33. Knights of Pythias, being past chancellor of his home lodge. Politically, he is a Democrat, and firm in his belief of the doctrines and principles of that party.
FRANK HOUSTON.
In the memorial annals of Champaign county there are few names hield in better remembrance than that of the late Frank Houston, for many years one of the leading merchants and most influential citizens of Urbana, the county seat, whose passing in 1912 was the occasion for sincere mourning throughout the county and particularly in the circles in which he had for so many years quietly and effectually moved, for he had done well in this community those things which his hand had found to do and in all the relations of life had been faithful and true. It was written of him after his passing that he "slipped away as quietly as he had lived. God called him and he was not. His going was on the Sabbath, March 24, 1912, the quiet day that he loved to read and rest and worship."
An appreciation of the life and character of Mr. Houston written as a memorial tribute by his son, William Houston, contains so much of general local interest concerning the manner of man this old merchant was, that the present biographer is taking the liberty herewith to reproduce a portion of the same. Writing of the father whom he had known for more than forty years, William Houston said: "He was a man of faith. He believed in a good God Who was caring for him and his and in that satisfying faith he faced the issues of each day with pleasing hope and assuring confidence. He believed in his fellowmen. Though he saw the sin of men and lived in the midst of it, and reproved it by word and example, it was overshadowed by the good. After doing business for sixty years with all kinds of men and women he was still a believer in the good in the world. There was more good than evil. He always believed the purpose and intentions of meu were good, or would be, if men were not goaded by conditions to do what they disapproved. He trusted and believed men because they are children of God. He was a man of prayer, silent, personal prayer. His daily life was spent in the heart attitude of prayer, which was obedience to the known will of God and doing the things that he believed were pleasing to Him. There was joy in his heart. He lived in the sunshine.
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A frail body, ill health, pain, disappointment, business losses and trade griefs never provoked a grumbling, complaining or fault-finding word. He was on Thanksgiving avenue all the time. However dark the day he was confident the morrow would be brighter. He was a silent man. He bore his sorrows alone. He never added to the burden of another, but in silence and alone fought his battles and bore his griefs. If he had them he allowed no one to share them with him. He was gentle, happy and at peace with the world in which he rejoiced to live. He loved his fellow-men. His sympathy was as broad and wide as the world. He con- sidered not his own, but his brother's interests. Those who new him longest trusted him most implicitly. His personal integrity was absolute. The possibility of failing to keep his agreements or meet his obligations never occurred to him. No reward would suggest to him any connection with questionable acts. His ideals were high. He was temperate and abstem- ious in his personal habits to the point of austerity. He lived for others. There was no selfish blood in his veins. His whole life was one of service for his family, his church, his neighbors, his city and his country. Praise God for a good man."
Frank Houston was born in Fintona. County Tyrone, Ireland, April 22, 1833, son of William and Margaret ( King) Houston, also natives of Ireland, the former born in 1795 and the latter in 1794, who were married on the last Saturday of February, 1818, and to whom were born ten children, of whom the subject of this memorial sketch was the eighth in order of birth, the others being as follow: John, born on December 17. 1818, who died on February 4, 1903: Isabella Maria, December 26, 1820, who died on October 10, 1825: Nancy, January 7, 1823, who died on August 8, 1900; Elizabeth, May 8, 1825, who died on October 16 of that same year: Alex- ander, December 21, 1826, who died on March 4. 1901 : Christopher, March 13, 1829, who died on February 9, 1892; Isabella, July 25, 1831, who (lied on November 8, 1909; Archibald, January 18, 1836, who died April 12, 1916, and Margaret, January 12. 1839, who died on January 8, 1908. The mother of these children died at her home in Ireland on May 4. 1841. she then being forty-seven years of age, and the father survived for many years, his death occurring on May 31. 1878, he then being in the eighty-third year of his age.
It was in the year 1850 that Frank Houston and his brothers, Christo- pher and Alexander, incited to immigrate by reason of the abnormal con- ditions created in Ireland by the memorable famine of 1846-48, came to the United States to seek homes amid conditions they felt would be more
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favorable than any they could hope for at home. Sailing from Liverpool they in due time arrived at the port of Boston and thence came on out to Ohio. locating in Columbus, where Frank Houston remained, working as a clerk in a wholesale grocery store, until 1854, in which year he moved to Urbana for the purpose of entering business on his own account. Upon his arrival in Urbana he opened a grocery store in a small frame building on the site of the present Lyric theater and there met with such pronounced success that it presently became necessary for him to seek larger quarters. With this end in view he bought part of the Union block, on the public square. and there was engaged in business for ten years, at the end of which time he bought the ground on Main street on which stood the building in which he had opened his first store and there erected the building in which the Lyric theater is now located and moved his store into the same. At that location Mr. Houston continued in business for more than thirty years, or until his death, for many years regarded as one of the city's chief business men and most public-spirited citizens. On his arrival in Columbus in 1850 Mr. Hons- ton had remaining of the small sum with which he had started from his native land but fifty cents. At the time of his death he was regarded as one of Urbana's most substantial citizens, his years of square dealing among the people of this community having been amply rewarded in a material way. Mr. Houston was a Republican in his political affiliations and by religions persuasion was a Presbyterian, the faith in which he had been reared in his home in Ireland. He was ever active in church work and in other local good works and at his passing in 1912 left a good memory in the community in which for more than a half century he had quietly and in all sincerity done his part as a man and as a citizen. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity and ever took a warm interest in the affairs of that ancient order.
It was on April 20, 1864. some years after he had become firmly estab- lished in business at Urbana, that Frank Houston was united in marriage to Nancy Tappan, who was born in Steubenville, this state, a daughter of Dr. Benjamin and Oella (Stanton) Tappan, both of whom also were born in that same city. Dr. Benjamin Tappan was a son of United States Senator Tappan, senator from Ohio during the forties and for years one of the strongest forces in the political life of this state, and his wife was a sister of Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war in the cabinet of President Lincoln during the Civil War. Doctor Tappan and wife were the parents of five children, those besides Mrs. Houston being as follow : Dr. Benjamin Tappan, Jr., who was appointed a surgeon in the Union army during the Civil War
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and was killed in service; Rev. David Tappan, now living in San Francisco: James Tappan, of Kansas City, and Dr. Lucy Tappan, of Philadelphia.
To Frank and Nancy (Tappan) Houston were born eight children. namely : Oella Stanton, born on March 15, 1865, who died on October 10. 1901 ; William, November 8, 1867: Lucy Tappan, March 11, 1870; Edwin Macy Stanton, July 5, 1872: Frances Taylor, November 2, 1874: Isabella: March 26, 1877, who died on July 30, of that same year: Frank King. May 15, 1878, and Nancy Margaret, June 27, 1886. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Houston continues to make her home in the old family residence in Urbana and continues to retain a vital interest in the general social activities of her home town, in the social and benevolent life of which she has been a potent factor for many years. When the Library Board was created in Urbana years ago Mrs. Houston was made president of the same and she ever since has been retained in that important position, in that capacity having been a very influential force in the cultural activities of the city. Not only in her church work, but in various other ways Mrs. Houston has given her most earnest attention to the development of those phases of social activity that tend to the advancement of the common welfare and has thus ever been accounted among the leaders in good works hereabout.
HON. H. H. BRECOUNT.
The Hon. H. H. Brecount, an honored veteran of the Civil War, former representative from this district to the Ohio General Assembly and one of Champaign county's best-known and substantial retired farmers and stock- men, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life, with the exception of a few years immediately following his return from the army, when he made his home in the neighboring county of Miami. He was born at St. Paris on March 26. 1840, son of Solomon G. and Tamar ( White) Brecount, who came to this county from Cincinnati in 1835 and here spent their last days, active and influential pioneers of the St. Paris neighborhood.
Solomon G. Brecount was born in the village of Carthage, this state, a few miles north of Cincinnati, in 1810, son of John Brecount and wife, both of whom were born in the vicinity of old Ft. Washington, the pioneer station that later developed into the city of Cincinnati. There Solomon G. Bre- count grew to manhood, becoming a farmer and also a merchant at Cinein- nati. in which city he remained until he was twenty-five years of age, when
H. H. BRECOUNT.
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he and his wife, in 1835, came up to this part of the state and settled in Champaign county, locating on the farm now owned and occupied by David Poorman. There Mr. Brecount opened a country store, bringing down a stock of goods from Carysville, and two years later moved to St. Paris, where he engaged in mercantile business until 1840, when he moved to a farın. He later opened a store at Lena and in other ways was active in the business affairs of that section of the county during his long residence there. When the railroad was projected through St. Paris he took a very active part in the movement and was a member of the board of directors of the company projecting the same and later filled heavy contracts in the construc- tion of the road. As a business man he was far-seeing and possessed of excellent judgment, so that his affairs prospered from the very beginning of his residence in this county and it was not long until he became recognized as one of the leading men in this part of the state. He was for some years extensively engaged in the buying and selling of horses for the Eastern market and was quite successful also in that line. Originally a Whig, he became a Republican upon the formation of that party and for years took a prominent part in local political affairs. For some time he served as justice of the peace and later served for some time as a member of the board of county commissioners and in other ways contributed of his time and his energies to the public service. He always took a prominent part in church work, was a member of the Sons of Temperance, an organization of con- siderable local strength in its day, and was for years an influential force in all good works hereabout. Solomon G. Brecount died in March, 1869, he then being fifty-nine years of age, and his widow survived him until 1897, she being seventy-nine years of age at the time of her death. They were the parents of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first born, the others being Elmer, who went to the front as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, a member of Company C, Ninety-fourth Regi- ment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was killed in the battle of Perrysville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862: Rose, deceased, who was the wife of Doctor Deniman, of Lena, and Miranda, wife of Harrison Toomire.
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