USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 97
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Clifford and Golden were together for years, and played in the lead- ing vaudeville houses throughout the United States. They had a simple skit, but so skillfully and artistically was it staged and acted by these two gifted comedians, that it never failed to win hearty applause. They had a combined song-and-dance turn, to which they added an old-fashioned clog dance, while their finale consisted of a dashing boxing exhibition of three rounds. This fistic encounter usually terminated in favor of Clifford, who, being smaller and more active on his feet, was able to dance around his heavier and slower opponent.
After Clifford and Golden dissolved partnership, Clifford joined Al G. Fields and remained with the latter's show several seasons. His next step took him into vaudeville with Maude Huth as a partner, and they toured the United States with one of the largest vaudeville companies on the road. So famed did this company become that it made a trip to Europe, and there Billy and his partner spread sunshine and laughter before delighted audiences of thousands. For several years Clifford was starred under different man- agements in musical comedy, while for the past few seasons he has had a company of his own on the road. During the season of 1916-17 he headed his own company in "Linger Longer Lucy," a bright, sparkling, musical comedy of his own production.
But despite his wanderings over the world, Billy still calls Urbana his home. It is here that he comes to spend his summer vacations, and it is here that he intends to spend his days when he forsakes the footlights. He has his beautiful theater here, which he built in 1905, one of the largest and best appointed theaters in the country in a city the size of Urbana. He has installed a moving picture outfit in his theater and it is open every night in the year except Sunday. During the theatrical season every year, a number of high-class shows appear in the city, but every night not so taken finds a goodly audience watching the silent drama.
Billy Clifford has done much for his city, but nothing in which the city takes more pride than in his theater. His many friends follow his career from year to year and rejoice with him in the success which has come to him. It has not all been a flowery bed of roses; he has worked hard and faithfully to reach the place he has in the theatrical world. That he is widely known as a clever dancer is shown by the fact that one of the stars on the Keith circuit in the summer of 1917, who has a turn calling for a reproduction of the characteristic dances of famous comedians, starts his program every night with the words-"I will first give an imita-
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tion of the cane dance of my friend Billy 'S.' Clifford." In the years to come Clifford will be remembered as one of the sons of Urbana who have gone forth to win fame, and who, by sheer merit, won a place for himself in the realm of things theatrical.
ALDEN BEATLEY.
Salem township, this county, being an excellent wheat country, the elevator business has necessarily followed and has been engaged in with gratifying results by such men as Alden Beatley, of Urbana. He was born in Franklin county, Ohio, November 26, 1852, a son of Benjamin and Sarah (Alger) Beatley. The father was a native of Maryland, but the mother was born in Franklin county, Ohio, to which county Benjamin Beat- ley migrated from the old Oriole state when he was nineteen years old, and worked out as a farm hand and there he was married. He had little to start with, but being a hard worker he forged ahead by his own efforts and cleared a farm in Franklin county, becoming owner of one hundred and fifty acres, which he operated until 1869, when he moved to Cham- paign county, buying a farm of eighty acres in Salem township. After farming here a number of years he sold out and moved to Urbana, retiring from active life, and there his death occurred in 1893. His wife had pre- ceded him to the grave in 1892. They were parents of seven children, three of whom are living at this writing, namely: Mrs. Almina Shaul, who makes her home in Chicago, Illinois ; Mrs. Alice Seibert, who resides in Urbana, and Alden, the subject of this sketch.
Alden Beatley grew up on the home farm and he worked hard assisting his father with the general crops. He received most of his education in the public schools of Franklin county. He removed with his parents to Cham- paign county and remained on the farm in Salem township until he was twenty-one years old, when he took up farming for himself, renting a farm until the fall of 1884, when he began working at the Payne warehouse at Kings creek, continuing there engaged for a period of nine years; then .- in 1897, he. leased the- elevator at Kings creek, in partnership with Woodcock, which partnership continued until 1900, when the firm pur- chased the elevator, continuing to operate the same in partnership until 1910 when Mr. Woodcock died, leaving Mr. Beatley sole owner. He has since operated the same alone and with ever-increasing success, enjoying
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an extensive trade with the surrounding country. He not only buys wheat and all kinds of grain, but also handles flour, feed, hay, coal and fencing. His business in all lines is constantly increasing as a result of his careful management, industry and honest dealings with his customers. The ele- vator has a capacity of twelve thousand bushels. An elevator has been on this site for a period of more than fifty years and is one of the best known elevators in Champaign and adjoining counties.
In 1873 Alden Beatley was married to Nancy J. Herr, a daughter of Abraham Herr and wife, and to their union four children have been born. namely: Harry, who married Ethel Burke and has one child, Philip; Clif- ford, who married Nellie Taylor and has three children, Cleo, Carroll and Louise; Estella, wife of Ernest Shafer, and C. Earl, who married Alice Carson and has one child, a son, Charles E.
Mr. Beatley is a Democrat. He belongs to the Masonic Order, and is a Knight Templar. He belongs to the Baptist church at Kings creek. Dur- ing his long residence in this locality he has become widely and favorably known.
FOSTER BUMGARDNER.
Foster Bumgardner, one of Champaign county's best-known and most progressive farmers and the proprietor of a fine place of one hundred and fourteen acres on the Jefferson pike, rural mail route No. 3 out of Mechanics- burg, in Goshen township, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life. He was born over tlie line in Pleasant township, in the neighbor- ing county of Clark, October 3, 1876, son of E. P. and Mahala (Clymer) Bumgardner, the former of whom is still living, now a resident of Spring- field, this state.
E. P. Bumgardner, who for years was one of Champaign county's substantial farmers, also was born in Clark county, in that section locally known as "The Knobs," a son of the Rev. Abraham and Nancy (Runyan ) Bumgardner, for many years among the most influential residents of this part of the country, both members of old families hereabout, the Bun- gardners and the Runyans having been among the first settlers in Clark county and originally owners of nearly all that part of the county known as "The Knobs," the two families having bought the same from the govern- ment not long after land in this section of Ohio was opened for settlement. The Rev. Abraham Bumgardner was a widely-known minister of the Metho-
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dist Episcopal church and in his day was one of the most popular circuit riders in this part of the state. He also was a good farmer and became the owner of much land. As his children grew up and started out "on their own" he gradually distributed his holdings in "The Knobs" and then bought a large farm nearby the Pleasant Chapel church in Pleasant township, Clark county, which place is still known as the old Bumgardner farm, and there he and his wife spent their last days, full of years and honor. They were the parents of nine children and the Bumgardner connection is thus a large one hereabout in the present generation.
After his marriage to Mahala Clymer, also a member of one of the old families of Clark county, E. P. Bumgardner settled on a farm adjoining the old Bumgardner home in Pleasant township and there made his home until 1890, when he moved up into this county and bought a farm in Goshen township. On this latter place his wife died in 1896 and he then returned to the old Bumgardner place, adjoining the farm he still owned in Pleas- ant township, and took over the management of both farms, continuing there until his retirement and removal to Springfield, where he is now living, past seventy-two years of age. E. P. Bumgardner has ever taken an active interest in the work of the Methodist Episcopal church and is now one of the influential workers in the Belmont avenue church at Springfield. He formerly and for years was one of the leaders in the work of the Pleasant Chapel church, in the affairs of which the Bumgardners have been deeply interested ever since the establishment of the same. In his more active years he also took considerable interest in the work of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he was a member. To him and his wife were born five children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the others being Sherwin, who is living on a farm nearby the old Bumgardner home in the Pleasant Chapel neighbor- hood; Georgia L., wife of George Turner, also of Pleasant township; Lil- lian, who died at the age of thirty years, and Nellie, wife of Howard Ritchie, of Pleasant township.
Foster Bumgardner was fourteen years of age when he came up into Champaign county with his parents, the family settling in Goshen town- ship, and when his father returned to Clark county he remained here and upon his marriage shortly afterward. at the age of twenty-one, he rented a farm of two hundred and fifty acres in the neighborhood of the place on which he is now living and on that farm made his home for eleven years, at the end of which time he bought a farm, intending to move onto the same, but before he could complete his arrangements for moving, ac-
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cepted an advantageous offer and sold the place. He then rented another two hundred and fifty acre farm in that vicinity and moved on to it, making his home there for seven years. Meanwhile he had bought the farm on which he is now living, a quite desirable place of one hundred and four- teen acres, and in 1916 erected a comfortable house on the same. In the spring of 1917 he moved into that house and he and his family are now very comfortably and very pleasantly situated there. In addition to his general farming Mr. Bumgardner has long paid considerable attention to the rais- ing of good live stock and has done well in his operations. He carries on his farming in accordance with up-to-date principles and his farm plant is one of the best equipped in that neighborhood.
On November 24, 1897, Foster Bumgardner was united in marriage to Mary Alice Reedy, of Union township, this county, and to this union five children have been born, Alta May, Millie, Lewis E., Almeda and Mar- garet, all of whom are attending the Mechanicsburg schools, the three elder in the high school. Mr. Bumgardner is a Republican, but has not been an office seeker. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, his connection with the church remaining at Pleasant Chapel, and hers in the Mutual circuit, and both take an interested part in church work, as well as in the general good works and social activities of their home neigh- borhood, helpful in promoting all agencies having to do with the advance- ment of the common welfare thereabout.
MARCUS C. GOWEY.
Marcus C. Gowey, a prominent attorney of North Lewisburg, was born at North Lewisburg, Ohio, December 25, 1848, the son of Hartland D. and Eliza A. (Willey) Gowey. His paternal ancestry is of Dutch lineage. the family being founded in America in 1630 by his ancestors, who came to New York. His father's grandfather, John Gowey, a native of Vermont, was born in Arlington, December 29, 1791. His wife, whom he married on October 7, 1811, was Fannie Judson, a member of the Judson family, which is of English extraction and was established in America on the Con- necticut river above Hartford, Connecticut. In 1821 his grandparents, who had been living in Arlington, Vermont, since their marriage, removed to New York, and there made their home until 1837 when they became resi- dents of Ohio. In 1852 John and Fannie Gowey went to Towa and located
HARTLAND D. GOWEY
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on a farm where they lived their remaining days. To them were born ten children, of which the second child and eldest son was Hartland D. Gowey. the father of Marcus C. Gowey.
Hartland D. Gowey received his early education in the pine woods of Alleghany county, New York. When his parents removed to Ohio in 1837, he located with them in Licking county, Ohio. There he began teach- ing school and remained in the profession for twenty years. In. 1844 he came to Champaign county and located in North Lewisburg, where he busied himself with the upbuilding of the educational interests of this section of the state, was postmaster for thirty-three years, was elected mayor two terms, and justice of the peace, recorder and city clerk for thirty years. His sterling integrity and fidelity to his principles throughout his long residence in North Lewisburg caused his fellow townsmen to confer official trusts upon him, and endeared him to his neighbors. After these many years of service to his community, he died on September 8, 1909. In 1846 he married Eliza A. Willey, and to them were born two sons. The elder of these, John Franklin Gowey, was born in North Lewisburg, December 7, 1846. In the legal profession, in political circles and in business affairs, he achieved a national reputation. He died while consul-general at Yokohama, Japan, March 12, 1900.
The younger son, Marcus C. Gowey, is the subject of this sketch. He spent his boyhood days in North Lewisburg, where he received his early education in the public schools. He decided to enter the legal profession and studied law in the office of his brother. Soon he entered upon the work on his own account, and in his practice, which has been most suc- cessful, his conduct of his cases has been with highest justice to his client and with a strong conviction of his profession's mission to society. Even though Mr. Gowey has reached the age when many men think that it is time to retire from active business or professional life, he is yet actively engaged in his profession.
On January 3, 1872, Marcus C. Gowey married Miranda L. Mumford, the daughter of M. H. and Lydia (Bennett) Mumford, who died August 5, 1904. On the 27th day of October, 1906, he married Alona H. Sanders, his present wife. They now live in their beautiful home on Townshend street. Mr. Gowey is a strong advocate of fraternal organizations. and in one of these, the Masons, he has advanced quite far. He is a member of Masonic Blazing Star Lodge No. 268, of North Lewisburg, forty-five years ; of Star Chapel No. 126, Royal Arch Masons, and Raper Command-
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ery No. 19 Knights Templar of Urbana. He is also a member of Launce- lot Lodge Knights of Pythias, of Urbana.
By virtue of his gifts as a public administrator, Mr. Gowey has been chosen repeatedly by his neighbors and the people of the county to fill offices of trust. Over his record during his public service like that of his pro- fessional life falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil. In politics Mr. Gowey has always been a Republican.
JOHN HULING.
John Huling, a farmer of Adams township, Champaign county, was born in this township on December 28, 1858. He is a son of James M. and Mary Jane ( Bowersox) Huling. The father was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, and when a boy he came with his father, Samuel Huling, to Adams township, Champaign county, the father buying a farm on which lie spent the rest of his life, and which farm is still in the possession of the Huling family. On this farm James M. Huling also spent the rest of his life. Mary Bowersox was born on this farm, near Mosquito creek, a dauglı- ter of Samuel Bowersox, who came here from Pennsylvania in pioneer days. buying the above mentioned farm and became one of the leading farmers in Adams township. He finally moved from his farm to Carysville, where he conducted a store, and in later years lived in St. Paris, operating a store and a private bank.
After their marriage the parents of John Huling settled on the farm where he now resides, and there the father carried on general farming suc- cessfully until his death which occurred on this place, where he had spent all his life. He was a Democrat ; and he and his wife belonged to the United Brethren church at Carysville, later at Rosewood. Nine children, all still living, were born to James M. Huling and wife, namely: Sarah, the wife of Samuel Guy of Sidney. Ohio; John of this sketch; Orpha A., the widow of John Harvey of St. Paris; Laura, the wife of Ed Ashmore of Sidney, this state; Clara, the wife of Frank Suber of Columbus, Ohio; Margaret, who married David Kizer of St. Paris; Jennie, the wife of William Williams of Columbus ; Nora, at home; and Charles A., living in Adams township.
John Huling was reared on the home farm in Adams township, and he attended the schools at Carysville. On May 5, 1888, he married Sarah V. Ward, a daughter of Lewis and Catherine (Journell) Ward, the former of
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whom was born in Johnson township, this county, and was the son of James and Polly Ward, who came from Virginia when young and here were mar- ried and established their home on a farm in Johnson township where they died. Catherine Journell was born in Johnson township, Champaign county. where she grew to womanhood and attended school. She is a daughter of Charles and Mary Journell, who were of French descent, having come to Champaign county with their parents from France. Charles and Mary Journell spent their active lives on a farm in Johnson township, where they died.
To Lewis Ward and wife six children were born, namely: Alice, the wife of Allen Poorman of Perry township, this county; Enima, who married L. F. Purt of Carysville; Sarah V., the wife of John Huling; Daisy, now deceased, the wife of Charles Evans of Lima, Ohio; Theresa, the wife of Frank Johnson of Beaverton, Michigan: Charles, who lives in Pensacola. Florida.
After their marriage John Huling and wife located on their present farm west of Carysville in Adams township and here they have continued to reside. To their union one child has been born, Thurman H. Huling, who was graduated from the St. Paris high school and later from the engineer- ing department of the Ohio State University at Columbus. He is now liv- ing at Chanute, Kansas, being mechanical engineer in charge of the Ash Grove Portland Cement Company. He married Agnes Hawthorne.
Politically, Mr. Huling is a Democrat : he and his wife are members of the Carysville Christian church.
HARRISON S. BAILEY.
Harrison S. Bailey, one of Champaign county's best-known and most successful horsemen and the proprietor of a fine farm of three hundred and seven acres on Jumping Run creek on the Woodstock pike, one and one- quarter miles northeast of Mechanicsburg, in Goshen township, was born on the David Watson farm, four miles south of London, in the neighboring county of Madison, and has resided on his present place since his marriage in 1885. He was born on January II, 1856, son of John Rives and Char- lotte (Suver) Bailey, the latter of whom was born in that same county.
. John Rives Bailey was but a child when his parents settled in Madi- son county and there he grew to manhood and married Charlotte Suver,
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member of one of the old families of that county, and who died in 1858, leaving three children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the young- est and then but two years of age, the others being Joseph S. Bailey, who after the death of his mother was reared in the family of his uncle, James Suver, of Madison county, and is now living in the state of Illinois, and Laura, who also was reared in the family of James Suver and married Ellis Bolton, of Mechanicsburg. About two years after the death of his first wife John R. Bailey married Ellen McCurdy Watson and moved to Coving- ton, Indiana, and after a sometime residence there moved to Watseka, Illinois, where he established his permanent home.
As noted above, Harrison S. Bailey was about two years of age when his mother died and until his father's second marriage he was cared for by his maternal grandparents. He then was taken by his father to the latter's new home in Covington, Indiana, and later to Watseka, Illinois, in which latter city he completed his schooling and remained until he was past fifteen years of age, when he came back to Ohio and began working on his own account in Madison county and after a while was able to rent a farm there and go to farming. Two years later he married and then, in the spring of 1885, established his home on the place on which he is still living, in Goshen township. this county, where he owns a fine farm of three hundred and seven acres and where he and his wife are very comfortably and very pleas- antly situated. For years Mr. Bailey had given his special attention to the raising of fine horses and has probably raised as many high-grade horses as any man in the county, the products of his well-equipped stock farm being in wide demand. During the years he has been engaged in the horse business he has trained quite a few of his most promising colts for the track and has had considerable success on the Grand Circuit, among the best-known of his race horses having been "Red Light," with a record of 2:131/2 : "Minnie," 2:1212; and "Mary S.," 2:1114. In addition to his general farming and live-stock interests Mr. Bailey has also given consid- erable attention to the general business interests of his home community and is a stockholder in the Farmers Bank at Mechanicsburg. Politically, he is a Democrat, but has not been a seeker after public office.
On January 21, 1885, Harrison S. Bailey was united in marriage to Mary Olive Millice, who was born in Goshen township, this county, a daughter of John N. and Susanna (Coile) Millice, the former of whom was born in that same township and the latter in Shenandoah county, Virginia. John N. Millice was a son of Christopher and Mary Magdalene Millice.
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substantial pioneers of Goshen township, and he grew to manhood in that township. His wife was but two years of age when her parents moved from Virginia to Ohio, driving through in a covered wagon, the family settling on the county line between Knox and Morrow counties, where she grew to womanhood and where she was living at the time of her marriage to Mr. Millice, she then being twenty-one years of age. To that union were born two daughters, Mrs. Bailey having a sister, Etna Clara, who married Orin Bolton, of Columbus, Ohio, and has one child, a son, Calvin R. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey have a very pleasant home and have ever taken an interested part in the general social affairs of their home community. Mr. Bailey is president of the Mechanicsburg Matinee Club and is a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Mechanics- burg and a charter member of the Knights of Pythias lodge at that place, taking a warm interest in lodge affairs.
JOHN T. BROWN.
When Governor Cox was making up his extraordinary commission to promote and conserve the food conditions of Ohio in conformance with the necessities created by the declaration of war against Germany in the spring of 1917 he appointed John T. Brown, of Goshen township, as a member of that important commission for the county of Champaign and the appoint- ment gave general satisfaction throughout the county, for it was conceded that it was a fitting appointment. As lecturer, under appointment of the State University authorities, before the farmers institutes of Ohio Mr. Brown had for years given his close attention to the needs of the agriculturists of this state and to the methods whereby the output of the farms of the state might be enlarged, and was therefore eminently qualified for the responsi- bilities and duties resting upon and attending the new and highly important war food commission. Mr. Brown not only is a good farmer and stock raiser, the owner of a fine farm in Goshen township, having a thorough practical and technical knowledge of the subject of agriculture, but has long been regarded as a soil expert, fully conversant with the possibilities of Champaign county as a food-producing center ; and, as such, fully competent to accept the responsibilities of the new honors thrust upon him by the state.
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