USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 81
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Andrew and Milroy Metz grew up on the home farm where they are now living, and in the neighborhood schools received their schooling. From boyhood they were valuable assistants to their father in the labors of developing and improving the home place and continued to live there, running the farm in their father's old age, his death occurring in his seventy- fifth year. After his death they took over the home farm and are now very successfully operating the same, carrying on their farming operations in accordance with modern methods, and, as a result have an excellent and thoroughly up-to-date farm plant, being accounted two of the most progres- sive and wide-awake farmers in that neighborhood. Both are independent in their political views, but take a proper interest in local civic affairs, being stanch supporters of all movements looking to good government and the betterment of conditions in the community in which they live and have lived all their lives.
JOHN V. STEMBEL.
John V. Stembel, a well-known farmer living four miles southwest of West Liberty, Harrison township, this county, was born on the farm on which he now lives in that township, on July 24, 1855. He is the son of Joseph and Mary (Zeigler) Stembel, the former of whom was born on July 29, 1828, in Frederick county, Maryland.
Joseph Stembel was the son of John and Elenora (Sweringen) Stembel, both of whom were born in Frederick county, Maryland, where they grew to maturity and were married. They came to this county in 1830 and settled in Urbana, making the trip in covered wagons. They lived there from the spring of that year until the fall and then settled on a farm one mile east of where their grandson, John V. Stembel, now lives. John Stembel bought two hundred acres of land and immediately proceeded to bring it into a state of cultivation and presently planted a few crops. At the time he settled on this tract of land, the district was but sparsely popu- lated and neighbors were not very numerous. John Stembel was among the early pioneers of Champaign county and was ever regarded as among
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the best and most progressive men of the period in which he lived. At the time that he settled here, wild animals were numerous and settlers had to be constantly on guard against their depredations.
John Stembel was an active member of the Lutheran church, the church services being held in his home for a few years and sometimes in his barn. He was a member of the Masonic order and was always warmly interested in the affairs of that fraternal organization. During his active years, he was an ardent supporter of the Democratic party and had been ever active in its councils. His death occurred in 1861. He was the father of twelve children, six of whom died in infancy and six lived to maturity, Joseph Stembel being the only one living in 1917.
Joseph Stembel was two years old when he came to this county from Maryland with his parents. He was reared on the farm and attended the subscription schools of the district, the present public school system not being in operation when he was a boy. After his school days he worked on the farm his father had entered in 1830 and remained there up to the time of his marriage.
Joseph Stembel was married to Mary M. Zeigler on January 3, 1851. She was born in Perry county, Ohio, on December 14, 1827, and died on January 23, 1911. In 1851 he built the house in which he now lives and which he has occupied since that date. To Joseph Stembel and wife the following children were born: George, deceased, who lived in the state of Indiana; John V., the subject of this sketch; Albert F., deceased; William H., of Newport, Kentucky ; Melissa, deceased; Mary L., who married Robert Kirkwood; Catherine E., wife of John Duff, and Addie E., who married Samuel Brubaker. Mr. Stembel is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and earnestly devoted to its good works. He is a supporter of the Democratic party, but has never been a seeker after public office. Mr. Stembel has in his possession two swords and uniforms worn by his ma- ternal grandfather, who fought in the War of the Revolution and greatly prizes these two reminders of the days when the patriot army carried on the struggle successfully for independence. Joseph Sweringen was a captain under General Taylor in Florida and was an uncle of Mr. Stemble.
John V. Stembel was reared on his father's farm and educated in the public schools of Harrison township. He worked on the farm for some years by the month. On June 18, 1879, he was married to Emma E. Barger, who was born on November 13, 1858, in Concord township, where she at- tended school and was reared. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Stembel six children were born, four of whom are now living, namely: Addie,
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the wife of Frank Bishop; Maudie, who married Godlieb Siegenthalor; Mattie, the wife of Clarence Roberts, and Willie, who married Leota Mason, of Springfield, Ohio. Mr. Stembel is a member of Mad River Lodge No. 161, Free and Accepted Masons, and is a warm supporter of that order.
GEORGE L. BYERS.
George L. Byers, a well-known retired building contractor of Mechan- icsburg, former member of the common council of that city, former city mar- shall, an honored veteran of the Civil War, lieutenant of Company B, Forty- eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and for many years one of Cham- paign county's best-known citizens, is a native of the old Keystone state, but has been a resident of Ohio since he was eight years of age. He was born on a farm in Clearfield county, Pennsylvania, October 29, 1840, a son of George and Harriet (Fry) Byers, the former of whom was a son of Joseph Byers and wife, also natives of Pennsylvania, who spent all their lives in that state.
George Byers was reared in Pennsylvania and there learned the trade of blacksmith, becoming a skilled workman. He married Harriet Fry and continued to make his home in Pennsylvania until 1848, when he came to Ohio with his family and settled in Delaware county, establishing a blacksmith shop at Norton. From the fruits of his labor at the forge, he made enough money to buy a farm where he established his home and set up a smithy. He was thus engaged as a farmer and smith when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted for service, as did four of his sons, Lee W., T. M., A. G. and George L., and died in service at Memphis, Tennessee. T. M. and A. G. Byers served in the hundred-days service. Lee W. Byers enlisted in the company in which his father and brother George were enlisted, and was promoted to the rank of sergeant. At the battle of Sabine Cross Road he was captured by the enemy and languished for six months in a Confederate prison. Upon the completion of his military service, he returned home and some time later was accidentally drowned. The senior George Byers, who died while in the service of his country during the Civil War, was one of the founders of Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware and the family .still holds a life scholarship in that institution.
George L. Byers was reared on the home farin in the vicinity of Norton and early became a skilled mechanic under the direction of his father. He received his early schooling in the local schools and supplemented the same
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by attendance at Ohio Wesleyan University and was in his second year in that institution when the Civil War broke out. On September 17, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company B. Forty-eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and, upon the organization of that company, was made a corporal. After the battle of Shiloh he was promoted for meritorious conduct on the field of battle to the post of first duty sergeant and after the battle of Arkansas Post, as a reward of further meritorious service in the field, was made orderly sergeant. In December, 1864, he was further promoted to the rank of first lieutenant of his company and with that rank was mustered out at the close of the war, after a service of four years and seventeen days, during which period he never was on sick leave. Lieutenant Byers was twice wounded in battle, first at the battle of Jackson, Mississippi, and again in an engagement near Pittsburg Landing. His company took part in twenty- two battles. After the surrender of Vicksburg it was encamped on Jefferson Davis's plantation in Mississippi and while there Lieutenant Byers found his way into the library of the President of the Confederacy and retained as souvenirs of his visit a set of Byron's poetical works and a Webster's Dic- tionary; these he brought home with him and he still possesses, the books still being in an excellent state of preservation. Upon being mustered out. Lieutenant Byers received from his lieutenant-colonel a letter which he still has and which he prizes very highly, commending his courage, patience and bravery, with particular mention of his conspicuous services during the battle of Shiloh and during the siege of Vicksburg.
Upon the completion of his military service, Lieutenant Byers returned to his home in Delaware county and not long afterward became engaged there as a general building contractor, giving particular attention to bridge construction. He was thus engaged there until 1870, the year of his marriage, when he came to Champaign county and located at Mechanicsburg, where he every since has made his home and where he was actively engaged as a build- ing contractor until his retirement in 1913, a period of more than forty years. For many years Lieutenant Byers was one of the best-known building con- tractors in the eastern part of the county and many buildings in and about Mechanicsburg bear the substantial marks of his handiwork, among these being the K. of P. Hall, the Methodist Episcopal church, the C. L. Burn- ham livery barn and others of the best buildings in that city. Lieutenant Byers is a stanch Republican, and has ever given his earnest attention to local political affairs. For six years he served as a member of the common council of his home city and also served for some time as city marshal.
On October 5, 1870, Lieutenant George L. Byers was united in marriage,
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in Delaware county, this state, to Hattie E. Difany, who was born in that county, and to this union three children have been born, John T. Byers, a commercial salesman, now traveling out of Cincinnati; Edward L. Byers. who is engaged in the furniture business at Mechanicsburg, and Mary E., wife of J. W. Grubbs, of Columbus, Ohio. Lieutenant Byers is an active member of Stephen Baxter Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Mechanics- burg, and has for many years taken an earnest interest in the affairs of that patriotic organization. He also is a member of Wildey Lodge No. 271, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Mechanicsburg, and is a past noble grand of the same.
BYRON F. HAWLEY.
Belonging to Champaign county's enterprising class of twentieth- century agriculturists and stockmen, Byron F. Hawley, one of the repre- sentative citizens of Rush township, is deserving of specific mention in these pages. He was born in Union county, Ohio, July 3. 1855. His father, John Hawley, Jr., was born in Stark county, this state, in 1815, and was a son of John Hawley, Sr., a native of northern Ireland, from which country he immigrated to America in an early day. He married a Miss Gregory, who was of Scotch descent. He was a weaver by trade. After living for some time in Stark county he moved to Union county, Ohio, locating two and one-half miles southeast of Milford Center, where he be- came owner of twelve hundred acres of valuable land and there engaged in general farming on an extensive scale until his death. His family consisted of the following children: Gregory, who spent his life in Union county ; John, Jr., the father of the subject of this sketch; George, who spent his life on a farm in Union county ; Samuel, who was a practicing physician in Kankakee, Illinois, where he died; Harvey, also deceased, and Peggie (oldest of the children), who married Doctor Wood, one of the first settlers of Marysville, Ohio, and is also now deceased.
John Hawley, Jr., grew to manhood on the home farm in Union county and there he attended school. He was twice married, first, to Zelphya Maynard, a native of this state, and to their union three children were born, namely : Belle, widow of George Davis, now living at Marysville; Delia C., who followed teaching for many years and is now making her home with the subject of this sketch, and Rose, now deceased, who was the life of Edward Bergen, of Bellefontaine. The second marriage of John Hawley,
BYRON F. HAWLEY.
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Jr., was to Melinda W. Fulton, and to their union two children were born, namely : Byron F., the subject of this sketch, and Dora, born in 1857, who married Herbert Fay, and now lives in Columbus, Ohio. The mother of these children died on April 14, 1902, at the age of eighty-two years, and the father died a few months later, December 17, 1902, at the age of eighty-seven.
Melinda Fulton Hawley, mother of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Livingston county, New York. She came to Union county, Ohio, in 1826. She was a daughter of John Fulton, a cousin of Robert Fulton, inventor of the first steamboat. John Fulton was a native of Scotland, from which country he immigrated to Nova Scotia, Canada, where he learned the shipbuilder's trade. Later he came to the United States and worked in the ship yards in New York City, finally coming West and locating in Union county, Ohio, where he spent the rest of his life on a farm. He married Nancy Wise, a native of Livingston county, New York. Three children were born to them. Mrs. Hawley's sister married John Ross, a kinsman of Betsy Ross, who made the first American flag.
Byron F. Hawley grew to manhood on the home farm in Union county. He attended the rural schools and also those in Marysville, which he attended four years, then studied three years in the Ohio State University at Colum- bus. After leaving college he turned his attention to farming in Rush town- ship, Champaign county, living two years on the Johnson place and on the Kimball place for eight years. He remained on the old home place in Union county until 1883. His parents resided with him until their death in 1902. During the past twenty-three years Mr. Hawley has operated the E. C. Miller place in Rush township, known as the "Pleasant Run Farm," two miles south of North Lewisburg and two miles north of Woodstock. He engages in general farming and stock raising on an extensive scale. He is a breeder of Shorthorn and Polled Angus cattle and Poland China hogs of the large type, also Norman horses. He was the first man to raise "baby beef" in Champaign county. His fine stock always find a ready market owing to their superior qualities. He is one of the best-known stockmen in the county and is regarded as an exceptionally good judge of livestock of all kinds. He has been very successful as an agriculturist, and has fol- lowed general farming all his life with the exception of three seasons, during which he worked as a civil engineer in Union county when a young man. He raises a fine grade of corn and has made exhibits at corn shows for many years.
Mr. Hawley was married on February 28, 1878, to Nellie F. Johnson,
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a native of Champaign county, where she grew to womanhood and attended school. She is a daughter of Horatio and Jane ( Bates) Johnson, who came here from one of the Eastern states and settled on a farm in Goshen town- ship.
Politically. Mr. Hawley is a Republican and is active in local political life. He is a member of the Masonic order, belonging to Rising Star Lodge No. 126, at North Lewisburg; Roper Commandery No. 19, Knights Tem- plar, at Urbana; and the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Dayton. Mrs. Hawley is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
DENTON CROWL.
Denton Crowl, who has spent his entire life in this county, a sub- stantial and progressive farmer engaged in the general raising of all kinds of stock was born in Harrison township on August 1, 1851. He is the son of William and Ruth (Chew) Crowl, the latter being William Crowl's second wife. Ruth Crowl died in 1852 when Denton Crowl was but thir- teen months old. She was also the mother of John, living in Urbana, and of Anna, who became the wife of A. J. Pitts. Mr. Pitts served as a soldier in the Union army during the Civil War. He enlisted in the Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served to the end of the war, seeing much active service while with the colors. He was a sergeant and flag bearer. William Crowl, who was an active farmer all his life, raised his motherless son, Denton.
Denton Crowl, who has spent his entire life in Harrison township, was . educated in the schools of Springhills, and, on the completion of his school course, he taught school for one term. He assisted in the work of cultivating his father's farm and here learned valuable lessons in agricultural matters which proved useful to him when he engaged in farming for himself.
Denton Crowl remained at home up to the time of his marriage when he commenced farming operations on his own account and in all his work in agriculture he has met with a commendable measure of success. He is now the owner of three hundred and five acres of land of the best quality to be found in Harrison township and is engaged in general farming and stock raising. In the latter line he is actively engaged in the raising of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs and finds a ready market for the same. Mr. Crowl has been twice married. His first wife was Sarah Calland and
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they became the parents of three children, namely: Edward S., of Michi- gan; Carrie Belle, who was graduated from high school and later from Wooster College, was a teacher for four years, at the end of which time she became the wife of L. M. Norris, of Owensboro, Kentucky, and Frank D., also a graduate of high school and of Wooster College, also of the University of Pennsylvania, and is now a practicing physician and surgeon at Dayton, Ohio. Mrs. Sarah Crowl, the mother of these children, died on July 17, 1910, and on September 5, 1912, Denton Crowl married Hester Basore for his second wife. To this second union two children were born, Donald R. and John N.
The Crowl family are members of the Presbyterian church at Springhills, this county, and are earnestly interested in church affairs. Mr. Crowl was clerk of the congregation for several years and has been one of the elders of the church. He has always been active in the work of the church, and has been a teacher in the Sunday school for a considerable period. Mr. Crowl was a supporter of the Republican party, and of late years he has been an independent in his political views. He has always taken a warm interest in local government and for fifteen years served as a member of the school board and is a persistent advocate of all that stands for efficiency and progress in the schools of the district and county.
E. R. STOCKWELL, D. V. S.
Dr. E. R. Stockwell, veterinary surgeon at Mechanicsburg and one of the best-known practitioners in that line in Champaign county, is a native of the great Empire state, but has been a resident of this county since 1898. the year of his graduation from veterinary college. He was born at East Wilson, in Niagara county, New York, June 5, 1871, son of Herbert R. and Mildred (Turner) Stockwell, the former of whom is still living there. at a ripe old age.
E. R. Stockwell grew up in the immediate vicinity of his home village, East Wilson, and received his early education in the schools of that place. He early learned the trade of farrier and became an expert horseshoer and gradually also became deeply interested in the treatment of the various ail- ments to which horseflesh is heir, soon becoming locally known as a self- taught veterinarian of considerable skill. After working for eleven years as a horseshoer he entered the Ontario Veterinary College at Toronto, where
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he took a full course and was graduated in 1898, with the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Surgery. The year following his graduation, Doctor Stock- well opened an office for the practice of his profession at Mechanicsburg, this county, and has ever since been located there, having built up an exten- sive practice throughout the territory adjacent to that city. Doctor Stock- well keeps fully abreast of modern advances in his important profession and added to his earlier training by taking a post-graduate course in the McKillip Veterinary College at Chicago. The Doctor is the owner of the establish- ment he has built up at Mechanicsburg, besides other property in that city.
Doctor Stockwell has been twice married and by his first marriage has one child, a daughter, Mildred, born on December 25, 1890. In June, 1898, the year in which he located at Mechanicsburg, the Doctor married Kate Pease, who was born at Wilson, New York, was educated in the schools of that place and who for some years before her marriage had been engaged in teaching school. To this union two children have been born, Donna, born on September 6, 1899, and Herbert R., December 25, 1901, both now stu- dents in the Mechanicsburg high school. The Stockwells have a very pleasant home at Mechanicsburg and take an interested part in the city's social activi- ties. The Doctor is a Republican and, fraternally, is affiliated with Mechan- icsburg Lodge No. 113, Free and Accepted Masons, and with Homer Lodge No. 475, Knights of Pythias, at that place. He takes a warm interest in the affairs of both of these organizations.
WILLIAM H. HUNT.
William H. Hunt, chairman of the board of county commissioners of Champaign county, a retired merchant of Mechanicsburg, for years a resi- dent of that city and one of the best-known and most influential citizens of this county, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life. He was born on a farm in the neighboring county of Clark on December 15, 1868, son of James and Elizabeth Catherine (Welsh) Hunt, the former also a native of this state and the latter, of the state of Virginia, she hav- ing come to Ohio with her parents when a girl and later returning to Vir- ginia, where she was living when she was married. After his marriage James Hunt returned with his wife to Ohio and became established on a farm in Clark county. There he made his home until about 1876, when
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he came with his family up into Champaign county, where he became a well-to-do farmer. He also for years followed the calling of auctioneer and became one of the best-known men in the county. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Protestant church. They were the parents of eight children, of whom six are still living, those besides William H. Hunt being John, Frank George, Ella K., wife of John F. Wright, and. Sarah, wife of John W. Murray, of Urbana.
Having been but eight years of age when his parents moved from Clark to Champaign county, William H. Hunt has spent practically all of his active life in this county. Reared on the home farm in the vicinity of Mechanicsburg, he received his early education in the schools of that city. From the days of his boyhood he was a valued assistant to his mother in the labors of developing and improving the home farm and after his mar- riage in 1890 established his home on that farm and continued to live there until 1892. In that year he moved to Mechanicsburg, where he ever since has resided. Upon moving to Mechanicsburg Mr. Hunt engaged in the grocery business at that place and was thus quite successfully engaged until May 1, 1911, when he sold his store. In the meantime he continued to look after the management of his farm, which he still owns, and still gives the place, a well-improved farm of one hundred acres in Goshen and Union townships, considerable of his personal attention. Mr. Hunt has been a successful business man and in addition to his farming and other interests in and about Mechanicsburg is a stockholder in the Farmers Bank of that place and in the local building and loan association, and is a member of the board of directors of the latter institution.
Mr. Hunt is an ardent Republican and for years has been regarded as one of the leaders of that party in Champaign county, being the present vice-chairman of the county Republican central committee. In 1897 he was elected marshal and street commissioner of Mechanicsburg and in 1913 was appointed to fill the unexpired term of A. P. Fudger as a member of the board of county commissioners from his district. By successive elec- tions has been retained in that office, present chairman of the board, a position he has held for three years. During the incumbency of Mr. Hunt on the board of commissioners, Champaign county has effected numerous important public improvements, including many concrete bridges, the completion of the county hospital, new equipment for the county treasurer's office, a much- needed extension of the court house, valuable drainage extension and other public improvements of value to the entire county. Mr. Hunt has taken an
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