USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 96
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township schools. He has spent two of his summer vacations in the capacity of a bookkeeper for the Champaign National Bank of Urbana. The record which Mr. Nichols has made in the school room stamps him as one of the coming teachers of his county. Though young in years, he has evinced unusual aptitude for the profession to which he has devoted his career thus far. He is a member of the Champaign County Teachers' Association, and of the Ohio State Teachers' Associations, and in other ways keeps in close touch with the best educational thought of the day.
On December 29, 1914, Frank Nichols was married to Hazel Elizabeth Dallas, a daughter of Willliam Boyd and Charlotte Margaret (Hutchison) Dallas. Mrs. Nichols was born in Urbana township, this county, March 6, 1893. Her father was born on May 4, 1854, and her mother, October 23, 1866. Mr. and Mrs. Dallas are the parents of four children : William Russell, Hazel Elizabeth, Matthew Boyd and John Ross. Mr. and Mrs. Nichols have one child, a daughter, Virginia Margaret, born on January 16, 1916.
Mr. Nichols is a Republican and takes a keen interest in general prob- lems of government, but the nature of his profession has kept him from active political work. He is a member of the Kings Creek Baptist church.
FRANK M. PRINCE.
Frank M. Prince, head of the Prince Motor Car Company, of Urbana, and proprietor of one of the best-equipped garages and service stations in this part of the state and local distributor for several popular makes of automobiles, is a native son of Champaign county and has lived here all his life, a resident of Urbana since 1910, in which year he engaged in the auto- mobile business in that city. He was born on a farm in Mad River town- ship on August 5, 1880, son of Peter W. and Mary ( Browning) Prince, the former of whom also was born in this county and the latter in Morrow county, this state, and the latter of whom is still living, now a resident of St. Paris.
Peter W. Prince was born on the old Prince home farm in Mad River township, of which he later became the owner, and there spent all his life, except four years, his death occurring there on April 26, 1910. He was a son of Capt. William and Sarah (Norman) Prince, both members of in- tuential pioneer families. Capt. William Prince, who was in command of
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a local militia company during the forties, was born in Kentucky in 1807, a son of Adam and Eve (Buroker) Prince, natives of Virginia, who emi- grated from that state to Kentucky in 1805 and from the latter state to Ohio in 1809, settling in Mad River township, this county, where, in that same year or in the year 1810, he entered a quarter of a section of govern- ment land, the deed to which bore the signature of James Madison, Presi- dent of the United States. That land later was conveyed to Capt. William Prince and then to the late Peter W. Prince, and is still in the family, hav- ing been thus held since its original conveyance to Adam Prince nearly a hundred and twenty years ago. Upon coming to this county seeking a loca- tion for a home, Adam Prince was attracted to the spot he located in Mad River township by the presence on the same of a fine spring. Another settler had also become attracted by the desirability of that same location and had started for the land office at Cincinnati to make his entry the day before Adam Prince had decided to go. The latter, however, by riding all night, passed his neighbor on the way, reached Cincinnati in good time, made his entry and was on his way home when he met his neighbor, whom he informed that the tract in question no longer was open to entry. During the War of 1812 Adam Prince passed six months on the frontier in the northwestern part of the state, leaving his family during that time in the charge of a neighbor. The Prince tract originally was covered by a mag- nificent growth of hard timber which gradually was cleared away to make a tillable farm. In addition to being a good farmer, Adam Prince also was a locally noted mechanic and manufactured barrels, wooden locks and all needed farm implements; his locks, particularly, being marvels of ingenuity and much in demand among his pioneer neighbors. Adam Prince prospered in his pioneer farming operations and was able to provide all his children with tracts of land when they came to make homes for themselves. His wife died in 1828 and he survived her twenty-one years. They were members of the Lutheran church and their children were reared in that faith. There were four of these children, Elizabeth, Mary, William and Nancy. Eliza- beth Prince was twice married, her first husband having been Isaac Smith and her second, James Crabill. She reared a large family and her de- scendants are now a numerous connection of the Prince family. Mary Prince married Adam Pence and also reared a large family, the Pence con- nection throughout this part of the state being a considerable one. Nancy Prince, the youngest daughter, married David Vance, a kinsman of Gov-
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ernor Vance, and reared five children, two of whom, John and David, be- came ministers of the Methodist Episcopal church.
William Prince, only son of the pioneers, Adam and Eve Prince, grew up on the pioneer farm in Mad River township and made the most of the scholastic opportunities presented in his early environment, becoming locally noted as an excellent mathematician and a fine penman. In 1827 he married Sarah Norman, daughter of Christian Norman, who had emigrated from the Shenandoah valley to this county in 1805, the year in which Champaign county was created, and who became one of the substantial pioneers of this section of the state. In 1833 William Prince came into possession of the land that had been entered from the government by his father and, in addi- tion, became the owner of considerable tracts of Western land. In 1841 or 1842 he received a commission as captain of the local militia company and held the same until the company eventually was disbanded. Captain Price was a man of large and helpful influence in his community and throughout this section of the state generally and did much to promote the common welfare, a firm and consistent supporter of all local good works. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, six of whom, Mary, David N., Peter W., Elizabeth, Benjamin F. and Lydia, grew to maturity. Mary Prince married Rhinehart Snapp, who died six years later, after which she made her home in Jackson township. David N. Prince, who married Mary Jones, was a soldier of the Union during the Civil War and was mustered out, after more than three years of active service as captain of Company I, Forty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, later making his home in Shelby county. Elizabeth Prince married John Wiant and died in 1873. Benjamin Prince, now living at Springfield, this state, for many years professor of history and political science in Wittenberg College, was graduated from that institution in 1865 and at the opening of the next session proceeded to the study of theology. In the spring of 1865 he was appointed tutor in the college; in 1869 was made principal of the prepara- tory department and assistant professor of Greek; in 1873 was made pro- fessor of natural history; in 1878, professor of Greek and history, and later professor of history and political science. In 1869 Professor Prince married Ella Sanderson, daughter of J. Sanderson, a Philadelphia lawyer and editor of the Daily News of that city, and has ever since made his home in Springfield.
As noted above, Peter W. Prince was reared on the old home farm in Mad River township and later became owner of the same, making many
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substantial improvements on the place. There he spent the rest of his active life, upon his retirement moving to St. Paris, where he died four years later, a well-to-do and influential resident of that community, his death occurring on April 26, 1910. His widow is now living at St. Paris. She was born, Mary Browning, in Morrow county, this state. To Peter W. and Mary (Browning) Prince were born five children, namely: John, who is farming in Mad River township; Minnie, deceased; William, deceased, and Benjamin and Frank M. (twins), the former of whom is deceased.
Frank M. Prince was reared on the home farm in Mad River township and received his school in the common schools. He was married in the spring of 1904 and continued to make his home in Mad River township, farming there and in Concord township, until 1910, in which year he left the farm and moved to Urbana, where he engaged in the automobile busi- ness, founding the Prince Motor Car Company and establishing a place of business on East Court street, remaining at that location until in De- cember, 1914, when he bought his present garage building at 117 West Water street, and has since then been doing business at the latter number. Mr. Prince has a building one hundred feet by forty feet in dimensions and has there an admirably equipped garage and general service station. "Service" is his motto and his many pleased customers testify to the appro- priateness of the same. Upon engaging in business at Urbana Mr. Prince secured the agency for one of the most popular cars then on the market and has since acquired the agency for two other well-known cars. He carries besides a full line of automobile accessories and supplies for motor- ists and makes a specialty of the high character of the repair work turned out of his garage. Mr. Prince was raised a Democrat and voted that way until 1914, since then he has been a Republican, but has not given special attention to political affairs. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the lodge of the Knights of Pythias at Westville and with the local lodge of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics at Urbana.
On May 25, 1904, Frank M. Prince was united in marriage to Grace I. Stover, who also was born in Mad River township, a daughter of Joseph and Lucy Stover, who were the parents of four children, those besides Mrs. Prince being Leander Stover, of Springfield, this state; Laura, who is now living in Louisiana, and Lulu, of St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Prince are members of Grace Methodist Episcopal church at Urbana and give proper attention to the various beneficences of the same, as well as to other local good works.
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G. FRANK STABLER.
G. Frank Stabler, a well-known and enterprising farmer of Adams township, the owner and proprietor of a fine farm of eighty acres located on rural route No. I, on the Quincy-Carrysville pike, two and one-half miles north of Carysville, was born on a farm in Adams township, December 23, 1870, the son of C. G. and Catherine (Pencil) Stabler, the former of whom was a native of Germany, and the latter of Montgomery county, Ohio.
C. G. Stabler was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, and lived in his native country until he reached the age of seventeen or eighteen years, when he came to the United States, coming direct to Logan county, Ohio, where he had an uncle, and with whom he worked for some years. There he met and married Catherine Pencil, who was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, her parents being also of German ancestry. After his marriage, he and his wife located on the farm in Adams township, near where his son, G. Frank, now lives, and here the wife's death occurred. They were the par- ents of five children, four of whom are now living: Mary B., wife of B. S. Young, of Rosewood, Ohio; Barbara, who died at the age of twenty years; William, a farmer of Adams township; G. Frank, the immediate subject of this review, and John E.
G. Frank Stabler was reared on his father's farin, receiving his educa- tion in the district schools of his home neighborhood, and early in life learned the rudiments and principles of good farming. For two years after his marriage, he lived on the home place with his father, but in the spring of 1904, he purchased fifty-seven acres of land, where he is now living, making a total of eighty acres which he owns at the present time, and has since made this place his home. He carries on a general system of farming and stock raising, and ranks among the progressive and successful farmers of his township.
On August 12. 1902, G. Frank Stabler was united in marriage to Daisy D). Stem, who was born in Logan county, Ohio, May 30, 1882, the daughter of William J. and Mary M. (Willard) Stem, both of whom were natives of Frederick county, Maryland, the former born in 1839, and the latter in 1844. They were married in Maryland in 1861, and in 1865, they came to Logan county, Ohio, where Mr. Stem's death occurred on October 22, 1901. Mr. and Mrs. Stem were the parents of eleven children, nine of whom are now living: William Earl, of Shelby county, Ohio; Ida A., wife of Armor Deitrick, of Logan county, Ohio; John, living in the state of Wash-
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ington; Minnie, also a resident of Washington, the wife of Charles Moore; Clara, wife of Van Ford, of Logan county, Ohio; Charles, also a resident of Logan county; Eva, wife of Alva Armstrong, living in Michigan; Daisy D., wife of Mr. Stabler, and Joseph G., of Illinois. The mother of these children is still living in Logan county, Ohio.
Mr. and Mrs. G. Frank Stabler are the parents of two children: Mary Catherine, born December 10, 1905, now a student in the second grade in the Rosewood schools, and Lillian Isabelle, born May 24, 1911, a student in her first year in the Rosewood schools. Mr. Stabler is a member of the Lutheran church, while Mrs. Stabler is an adherent of the United Brethren church. Politically, Mr. Stabler is a Republican, but is broadminded and liberal in his judgment of men and affairs.
CHARLES A. WIANT.
Charles A. Wiant, a farmer of Johnson township, this county, was born in Mad River township, this county, November 28, 1870. He is a son of Isaiah and Nancy (Smith) Wiant, both also natives of Mad River township, the father having been born on the same farm as was the subject of this sketch, the old Wiant place having remained in possession of the family several generations, dating back to the pioneer days. The parents of the subject of this sketch grew to maturity in Mad River township, and there they married and established their home, near Westville, and where they spent the rest of their lives, Isaiah Wiant's death occuring on February 17, 1895. They were members of the Myrtle Tree Baptist church, in which they were both active. He was one of the trustees of the church for many years. He was a Democrat, and served for some time as trustee of Mad River township.
To Isaiah Wiant and wife the following children were born: F. R., who is a carpenter at Springfield, Ohio; A. E., who lives at St. Paris, this county ; Frank E., who lives at Springfield, Ohio, and is employed as motor- man by the street railway company; Mary C., the wife of T. E. Lutz, of Urbana ; Martha E., wife of V. E. Snapp; Charles A., the subject of this sketch; Anna E., the wife of Warren .E. Neer, of Tremont City, Clarke county, Ohio, and Minnie O., who died in infancy.
Charles A. Wiant was reared on the farm in Mad River township, attending the district schools and continued working with his father on
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the home place until he was twenty-seven years old. On June 2, 1897, he married Dollie B. McMorran, a daughter of David and Susan (Norman) McMorran, who lived on a farm in Johnson township, where Mrs. Wiant grew to womanhood and attended the district schools. She was born on May 28, 1878. Mr. and Mrs. Wiant began housekeeping on the Norman farm, renting the place at first, then bought the place, consisting of eighty acres. In the year 1909 Mrs. Wiant's parents transferred to them the ad- joining eighty-acre tract where they now reside. the original quarter section there having been formerly owned by Benjamin Norman, Mrs. Wiant's maternal grandfather.
The family of Mr. and Mrs. Wiant consists of five daughters, namely : Nevo B., born on January 11, 1899, who was graduated from the St. Paris high school with the class of 1917; Gertrude I., November 20, 1901, who is attending high school; Susan N., August 8. 1909, who is attending the district schools; Martha C., April 7, 1913, and Mary E., October 2, 1916.
Mr. Wiant is a Democrat. He and his wife are members of the Myrtle Tree Baptist church, in which he is clerk and a deacon and one of the most active members of the church.
FRANK C. GAUMER.
In a peculiar sense newspaper men are like poets; they are born rather than made. Theirs is a gift in somewhat the same sense that the ability to write poetry is a gift. The trite expression-"a nose for news"-means all that it says, and he who is not born with the newspaper nose never attains the highest pinnacle of newspaper success. The operation of a newspaper at the present time is a far different proposition from what it was in the days of Benjamin Franklin, and the part the newspaper man plays in the life of the community served by his paper is constantly increasing in importance. It is his duty to follow the life of his fellowman from the time he was born until his death; to chronicle both events, and set forth for the public eye all that he does between these two important dates. It may be said that no man in the community knows more about what is going on- it is a part of his business to know-and the best newspaper man is the one who comes the nearest to being in touch with all phases of the life of the people he seeks to serve; in other words, he must, in a sense, be omnis- cient : he must be a cosmopolite.
That Frank C. Gaumer measures up to a high standard in the newspaper
FRANK C. GAUMER.
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world is evidenced by the success which has come to him in the management of the Urbana Daily Democrat. For eighteen years he has been the manager of the Democrat, has seen it grow from a weekly to a bi-weekly, from a bi-weekly to a tri-weekly, from a tri-weekly to a daily. Beginning his con- nection with the paper in 1899, when only twenty years of age, he has so conducted its affairs that he has made it the strongest paper in the county, by all odds. This is all the more remarkable when it is taken into considera- tion that the county is strongly Republican.
When Mr. Gaumer took charge of the paper in 1899 it was a small affair, humbly housed, with a wavering circulation, with meager equipment, and with little prestige in the community. Under his skillful guidance it has grown to such proportions that it was necessary during the present year to erect a large building to handle the immense amount of business which had been developed. From a mediocre sheet of uncertain circulation it has grown to a point where the daily edition of the paper enjoys a circu- lation of five thousand. At the same time he has made it an advertising medium second to none in the county, and one of the best in the state for a city the size of Urbana.
Many newspaper men are content to center all their efforts on their newspaper. but the best men count this only a part of their work. . The wideawake newspaper man now makes more money out of his job print- ing than he does out of his newspaper proper. It is in this field that Mr. Gaumer has made a distinct success. In his new building he has a room set aside for what he denominates the commercial-printing department. Here may be found two Mergenthaler linotype machines, there being four others in the building. and both of these machines are devoted exclusively to cata- logue work and miscellaneous job printing, including the setting of the type for the American Friend, the Friends' national weekly publication, and the Missionary Advocate, the Friends' monthly missionary journal. The development of this department has been little short of phenomenal during the past few years, and its present standing is a glowing tribute to the energy and business acumen of Mr. Gaumer.
Such, in brief, is the career of Frank C. Gaumer in the newspaper world. He is still a young man and the future holds still more good things for him. With his beautiful new printing house, and with the place which he now holds in his profession, there is no reason for not presaging for him in the years to come a niche high among the newspaper men of his state. He has recently acquired the Urbana Daily Citizen, the Republican
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organ of the county, and will print it and conduct its business policy, its- editorial management remaining in the hands of a Republican editor. How well he may succeed in this sort of an arrangement, only the future can tell. The intricacies of the newspaper history of the county are set forth in detail in the chapter relating to newspapers in the historical section of this work, and in that connection may be traced the relation of Mr. Gaumer to the complicated newspaper situation of Urbana.
A brief personal mention of Mr. Gaumer is in order. He was born at Adamsville, Ohio, December 16, 1879, a son of Dr. Thomas M. and Eliza M. (Cone) Gaumer. A sketch of Doctor Gaumer appears elsewhere in this volume, to which the reader is referred for the genealogy of the family. Frank C. Gaumer was educated in the public schools of Urbana, and as soon as he was graduated from the high school he entered the printing office of his father in the city. While he has centered his energies on his newspaper, he has found time to take an active part in the every-day life of the community which his paper serves.
Mr. Gaumer was married on September 20, 1917, to Sarah Rhodes, a daughter of John C. and Minnie Rhodes. With his marriage, Mr. Gaumer enters upon life with a new vision of things, and with the inspiration of his accomplished wife to aid him in his chosen profession, it can truly be said that his work will henceforth be more pleasant for him. He is a inember of the Lutheran church, and his wife a member of the Episcopal church. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, and a member of the Ancient Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Dayton.
BILLY "SINGLE" CLIFFORD.
Shakespeare employed his diversified talents to delineate more traits of character and to sound depths of deeper passions than any man who ever lived. In his plays may be found more than a thousand different char- acters, and there is not an emotion, not a passion. that is not given expres- sion by one of these hundreds of characters of the Bard of Avon. Truly. as Shakespeare says, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."
One of these players was born and reared in Urbana, and is known throughout the length and breadth of the nation as one who can say, "Let me play the fool; with mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come." If an
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Urbanian were asked to name the one man of the city who has done more to spread sunshine over the country and cause two smiles to spread where only one spread before, there would be but one answer-Billy "S." Clifford.
Let him who will, explain why a man with a decent Christian naine trades it off for a second-hand patronymic; it is one of the inscrutable stage mysteries. Be that as it may, there was born in Urbana on January 24, 1869, William Clifford Shyrigh, so called by his parents, Levi and Sarah Shyrigh, long residents of the city. But to the people of the United States at large he is known as Billy Clifford, or Billy "Single" Clifford. the middle appellation being acquired in the course of his varied stage career. Some wise man has said that as the twig is bent so grows the tree, and. by analogy, Billy Clifford, while still a twig was a show boy and as the twig grows to treehood, so did the boy grow to be a showman.
On the site of the present theater bearing his name, Billy Clifford staged his first show while still a boy in his teens-more than thirty years ago. He must have been a lineal descendant of old Thespis. for if buskined sock ever fit a youth of Urbana, it fit this youthful follower of Aristophanes. It was but a step from the stage in the old barn to his first entry into real theatrical circles. And he has stepped in his buskins like unto him who wore the seven-league boots-big steps and ever advancing steps. He started out with the Miles Orton circus, but the experience he acquired during three seasons with this company brought him to a realization that there were better things in store for him. Accordingly, when he was nineteen years of age he welcomed the opportunity to associate himself with George Fuller Golden. one of America's foremost monologue artists of his day.
During the three years Clifford was with Orton, he served in the triple capacity of snare drummer, ticket seller and, finally and terpsichorially, he had a song-and-dance turn. While with the circus Clifford became interested in the acrobatic work of George Marsh, one of his fellow townsmen, better known by the enigmatical title of "Moats." This Moats possessed an un- usually supple pair of legs, and Clifford conceived the idea that he and Moats might make a good team on the stage. After a thorough course in the beating of a bass drum, Moats was ready to join Clifford, and the two drummers joined in a singing and dancing act which was sufficiently attrac- tive from a box-office standpoint to keep them in steady employment. It may be added that Moats became the principal clown of Ringling Brothers circus, and was with them at the time of his accidental death in a railroad accident.
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