USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 18
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Edwin C. Rader grew up at Xenia, receiving his schooling in the schools of that city, and from the days of his boyhood was instructed by his father in the details of the brick business. Under the direction of his uncles, John, David and William Rader, he also became a skilled bricklayer. He married when twenty-four years of age and for three years thereafter was engaged in the bricklaying business at Jamestown, after which he became engaged in farming in Cedarville township and was thus engaged for five years, at the end of which time he returned to Xenia and there started the general contracting business in which he has ever since been engaged, some of the contracts that have been handled by him having been the office building of the R. A. Kelly Company in West Market street, the new Reformed Pres- byterian church, the Greene County Children's Home, the great brick smoke-
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stack of the Hooven & Allison plant, the building occupied by the Eavey Wholesale Company, the new consolidated school building at Bowersville, the Cæsarscreek township high-school building, the Arnett building and Mitchell Hall at Wilberforce University, the Reformed Presbyterian church at Cedarville and many other buildings that have been constructed through- out Greene county in recent years. In 1894 Mr. Rader erected the house in which he now lives at the corner of South Columbus and Orient streets and has since resided there.
On January 16, 1879, Edwin C. Rader was united in marriage to Jennie B. Carruthers, who was born on a farm on the Federal pike in Cedarville township, this county, December 25, 1861, daughter of Robert M. and Mary Ann (McQuiston) Carruthers, the former of whom died in 1866. The widow of Robert M. Carruthers survived him for many years and her last days were spent in the home of her daughter, Mrs. Rader, at Xenia, her death occurring there in April, 1914. Mr. and Mrs. Rader are members of the Reformed church at Xenia, with the congregation of which Mr. Rader has been affiliated since he was nineteen years of age and of the diaconate of which he has been a member for many years. He is a Republican, but has not been an office seeker.
PROF. GEORGE J. GRAHAM.
There are few men in Ohio who have held a longer connection with the schools of this state than has Prof. George J. Graham, who for more than twenty-five and one-half years was principal of the Xenia high school and later superintendent of the Xenia city schools, a position he occupied for more than four and one-half years, or until his resignation to accept his present position as a traveling salesman for the George Dodds & Sons Granite Com- pany. For seven years prior to his entrance upon the duties of principal of the high school at Xenia Professor Graham had occupied the dual position of superintendent of schools and principal of the high school at Waynes- ville, in the neighboring county of Warren, and prior to that period of service had been for years engaged as a teacher at other points, so that when he resigned his position as superintendent of schools at Xenia in the summer of 1916 he had rendered a service of thirty years in behalf of the Xenia schools and had been actively and continuously engaged in school work for fifty years, a period of service equalled by few, if any, of the educators in the state of Ohio. Professor Graham successfully passed the examination for license to teach school when he was sixteen years of age, began teaching when he was nineteen and in 1886 received a life license as a high-school teacher. He is a member of the Ohio State Teachers Association, the West-
GEORGE J. GRAHAM.
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ern Ohio Superintendents Round Table, the Central Ohio Teachers Associa- tion, the Miami Valley Schoolmasters Club and of the department of superintendents of the National Educational Association, and there are few educators in the state who have a wider acquaintance than he.
George J. Graham is a native son of Ohio and has resided in this state all his life save for a few years during the days of his young manhood when he was engaged in teaching in Illinois. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of Plymouth (now known as Bartlett), in Washington county, Novem- ber 7, 1847, son of Wilson and Sarah (Dickson) Grahamı, natives of West- moreland county, Pennsylvania, who were married in that county and in 1846 came over into Ohio and settled on a farm in the Plymouth (now Bartlett) neighborhood in Washington county, where they spent the remain- der of their lives. Professor Graham's grandparents on both sides lived and died in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, save grandmother Graham, who late in life made her home with her son Wilson and there spent her last days. Wilson Graham and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and their children were reared in that faith. There were five of these children, of whom the Professor was the third in order of birth, the others being Thomas, who died at the age of thirteen years; Dickson, a farmer, of Washington county, who died in 1914; Martha Ann, who married George Goddard and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased, and Margaret, who married William Goddard, a brother of George, and is living at Belpre, in Washington county, this state.
Reared on the home farm, George J. Graham received his early school- ing in the neighborhood district school and supplemented the same by atten- dance at Bartlett Academy. When sixteen years of age he received a certifi- cate to teach school at Marietta, Ohio, but did not begin teaching until he was nineteen, his first examination for license having been merely a tentative step taken to test his scholarship. For two terms Professor Graham taught in his home district and then he went to Sangamon county, Illinois, where he engaged in teaching for four years in the fall and winters, spending the summers on the farm in Ohio, at the end of which time, on account of his father's failing health, he returned home and for two winters again had charge of the home school, and then for three years taught at Plymouth. In 1877 Professor Graham married and later took a course in the National Normal University at Lebanon, this state, and was graduated from that institution in 1879. Upon thus qualifying for high-school work the Professor was employed as principal of the high school and as superintendent of schools in the village of Waynesville, in Warren county, and he held that dual position for seven years, or until 1886, when he was engaged as principal of the Xenia high school and moved to that city, where he ever since has resided.
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For twenty-five and one-half years Professor Graham continued to serve as principal of the high school at Xenia and he then was promoted to the position of superintendent of the city schools, a position he occupied for four years and six months, or until in August, 1916, when he resigned to accept the position he is now filling as a salesman for the George Dodds & Sons Granite Company at Xenia. Professor Graham is a member of the Xenia Business Men's Association.
On December 26, 1877, Prof. George J. Graham was united in marriage to Mary Elizabeth Hosom, who also was born in Washington county, this state, daughter of Benjamin A. and Mary Ann (Becket) Hosom, the latter of whom was born in that same county and the former, in Morgan county, this state, and to this union three children have been born, namely: Fern, wife of L. K. Sone, who is engaged in the real-estate business in New York City; Mabel, wife of Silas O. Hale, former county clerk and present deputy auditor of Greene county, and George I. Graham, proprietor of the Aldine Publishing House at Xenia. Professor and Mrs. Graham reside at 131 West Church street. They are members of the First Methodist Episcopal church and the Professor is a member of the board of stewards of the same. He also is a member of the local lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons.
STEPHEN CALVIN WRIGHT
Stephen Calvin Wright, deputy judge of the Greene county probate court, former editor of the Cedarville Record, former postmaster of Cedar- ville, president of the Cedarville Community Club, a member of the board of trustees of Cedarville College and former head of the normal department of that institution, is a native of the Hoosier state, but has been a resident of Ohio and of Greene county ever since he came to enter Cedarville College in the days of his youth and is thus as well known hereabout as though "native and to the manner born." He was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of the village of Idaville, in White county, Indiana, February 22, 1873, son of John B. and Agnes Isabel (Bailey) Wright, both of whom were born in that same county, members of pioneer families in the Idaville neighborhood, and the former of whom is still living.
John B. Wright, a retired farmer and banker, now living at Idaville, where he has made his home ever since retiring from the farm years ago, was born in 1847, son of Stephen P. and Elizabeth (Billingsley), Wright, who were pioneers of the Idaville neighborhood, and all his life has been spent there. He married Agnes Isabel Bailey, who also was born in that community, daughter of Thomas and Agnes (Morrison) Bailey, early set- tlers thereabout, and after his marriage established his home on a farm
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nearby the village. Not long after his election to the office of trustee of liis home township he retired from the farm and moved to Idaville, where he since has made his home. For two terms he served as township trustee and meantime founded the Idaville State Bank, of which he still is president. He is the owner of two hundred acres of land in his home farm and owns besides another farm and has other property interests. Mrs. Wright died in July, 1916, she then being seventy years and seven days of age. She was a member of the Reformed Presbyterian church, as is her husband, and their children were reared in that faith. There were seven of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born, the others being the fol- lowing : Luella, unmarried, who continues to make her home with her father at Idaville; Mary Elsie, wife of Elliot Crowell, of Idaville; Glenson, who is now engaged in farming in the neighborhood of Creston, Nebraska; Oda May, who died on October 6, 1906, the year following her marriage to Harvey Downs, of Idaville; Laura Belle, wife of Prof. F. D. Francis, super- intendent of schools at Gilman, Iowa, and who is her husband's assistant in that office, and Fannie, who died at the age of fourteen years.
Reared on the home farm, Stephen Calvin Wright, who is better known to the friends of his boyhood as "Cal" Wright, received his early schooling in the Idaville schools and supplemented the same by a course of preparatory work at Wabash College at Crawfordsville, Indiana, after which he entered · Cedarville College, from which institution he was graduated in 1903, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the meantime Mr. Wright had married and upon leaving college he decided to establish his home at Cedarville, a decision he never has had cause to regret. Seeking an outlet for his energies he turned to the "fourth estate" and in that same year, 1903, started the Cedarville Record, continuing as editor and publisher of that newspaper until he sold it in 1911 in order to devote his whole time to the duties incumbent upon the postmaster of Cedarville, he having received the appointment to that office in 1910. Upon the completion of his term of service as postmaster in 1914 Mr. Wright was elected financial secretary of Cedarville College and has ever since been officially connected with his alma mater. It was in that year that the normal department of the college was created, under the pro- visions of the new law, and upon the establishment of that department Mr. Wright was made head of the same, continuing to serve in that capacity until his resignation in August, 1917, to accept the appointment as deputy probate judge of Greene county, under Judge Marshall, which position he now occu- pies, continuing, however, to make his home at Cedarville. Mr. Wright is a Republican, as is his father. He is a member of the board of trustees of Cedarville College and for ten years also rendered service as a member of the local school board at Cedarville. He also served for years as clerk of the
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village. For the past two years or more Mr. Wright has been the president of the Cedarville Community Club, an association of one hundred and twenty. of the business men and farmers of Cedarville and vicinity, formerly known as the Cedarville Board of Trade.
On October 26, 1896, at Idaville, Indiana, Stephen Calvin Wright was united in marriage to Eva Emma Johnsonbaugh, who also was born in the vicinity of that village, daughter of John and Nancy (Marvin) Johnson- baugh, both members of pioneer families thereabout, and to this union have been born four children, namely: Naomi I., who was graduated from Cedar- ville College in 1917; John Calvin, who in December, 1917, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and is now in service; Harry D., who is now a student at Cedarville College, and Marjorie, who is attending high school at Cedarville. The Wrights are members of the Reformed Presbyterian church at Cedarville.
JAMES PARKER CHEW.
James Parker Chew, senior member of the Chew Publishing Company and editor of the Xenia Daily Gazette and Republican, is probably the oldest newspaper editor in point of service in the state of Ohio, having owned and edited a newspaper for more than sixty-five years, continuously thus engaged in Xenia since 1877, his previous experience in the newspaper field having been gained in Pennsylvania and in Indiana. He was born in York county, Pennsylvania, April 10, 1832 ; received a common-school education at Carlisle that state, and learned the trade of printer in the office of the Carlisle Herald. In 1851 he came West and in 1852, six months before he had attained his majority, he bought the Lawrenceburg (Indiana) Press. For twenty-five years Mr. Chew continued to make his home at Lawrenceburg and during all that period continued as publisher and editor of the Press. During the most of this period he also carried on other business of one kind and another and for seven years was deputy collector of internal revenue for the Lawrenceburg district.
On November 1, 1877, Mr. Chew bought the Xenia Gasette, then a weekly newspaper. On November 27, 1881, he established the daily.edition of the Gasette and changed the weekly into a semi-weekly publication. In August, 1888, he bought the Xenia Torchlight and consolidated that paper with the Gasette. A further consolidation of the newspaper interests of Xenia was made in 1915, when the Gazette absorbed the Republican and both are now published by the Chew Publishing Company, of which Mr. Chew is the senior member. Although now past eighty-five years of age, the venerable editor spends a part
JAMES P. CHEW.
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of each day at his desk in the Gazette office and retains an active interest in the affairs of the company.
James Parker Chew has been twice married. On November 23, 1853, at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, he was united in marriage to Harriet Louisa Brown, of that city, and to that union were born three children, W. B. Chew, who for years has been associated with his father in the publishing business and whose son, J. A. Chew, is now general manager of the Chew papers, three generations of the family thus serving actively on the staff of the publica- tions ; Mrs. J. O. McCormick and Mrs. W. E. Hopton, of Syracuse, New York. The mother of these children died on December 5, 1900. In 1902, Mr. Chew married Mrs. Sarah McGervey Meyers.
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DAVID WALTER FERGUSON.
David Walter Ferguson, proprietor of a farm on the Oldtown-Clifton pike in Xenia township, six miles northeast of the city of Xenia, on rural mail route No. 5 out of that city, was born on that farm and has lived there all his life. He is a son of Isaac Alexander and Lydia M. (Kyle) Ferguson. both of whom were born in that same township, members of pioneer fami- lies, and the latter of whom is still living, now making her home in Xenia.
Isaac Alexander Ferguson was born on June 4, 1841, son of William and Nancy (Lackey) Ferguson, the former a native of the Old Dominion and the latter of the state of South Carolina, who had come here with their respective parents in the days of their youth and were married here. William Ferguson was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, grew to manhood in Greene county and after his marriage settled on a farm in Xenia township. He and his wife were members of the old Massies Creek Seceder church and later of the United Presbyterian church at Clifton, in which he was for years an elder, and their children were reared in that faith. There were four of these children, of whom Isaac A. was the first-born, the others being William, who is now living at Yellow Springs: Elvira, now living with her brother Albert on the old home farm in Xenia township, and Albert, who married Etta Barnett and is still living on the old home place.
Reared on the farm, Isaac A. Ferguson became a practical farmer and upon starting out for himself bought the old Moses Collins farm of ninety acres in Xenia township. To this he gradually added until he became the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land. He was a Republican, " held at one time and another various township offices and for years served as a member of the school board. He and his family were members of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia. On October 20, 1864, Isaac
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A. Ferguson was united in marriage to Lydia M. Kyle, who was born in that same township, daughter of David M. and Eleanor (Collins) Kyle, the former of whom also was born in this county and the latter in the state of Pennsylvania. David M. Kyle, a member of the pioneer Kyle family of this county, had a farm on the lower Bellbrook pike. He was a Republican and he and his family were members of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia. He and his wife were the parents of six children, namely : Ruth, who married James Collins and is now deceased; Lydia M., widow of the late Isaac A. Ferguson; Elizabeth, who is now living in Iowa, widow of the late Samuel Raney ; Mary, wife of James Bratton, of Xenia; William, who lives in Montana, and Samuel, who also is living in Montana. To Isaac A. and Lydia M. (Kyle) Ferguson were born five children, of whom the subject of this biographical sketch was the second in order of birth, the others being Jesse, wife of Charles Turnbull, of Cedarville township, this county ; William Neal Ferguson, now living at Albuquerque, New Mexico; Lillian, wife of Dr. Delos Heague, of Springfield, this state, and Prof. James Fulton Ferguson, now an instructor in Bryn Mawr College at Bryn Mawr, Penn- sylvania. Isaac A. Ferguson died on August 28, 1911, and his widow, as noted above, is now living at Xenia.
David W. Ferguson was reared on the home farm and received his early schooling in the schools. of his home neighborhood. "He supplemented the same by attendance at the Xenia high school and at Antioch College, after which he restimed his place on the home farm and for some years before his marriage was in practical charge of his father's farming interests. After his marriage in 1894 he bought a tract of one hundred and forty-nine acres of his father's land, the tract including the old home place, and there estab- lished his home. He has since then remodeled the house, the improvements including the installation of electric-lighting equipment, and has also made other improvements on the farm. For years Mr. Ferguson has given con- siderable attention to the raising of pure-bred Angus cattle and for six years .was a successful exhibitor at county fairs. He now has a herd of thirty and sells quite a few for stock purposes. He is a member of the National Angus Breeders Association. By political persuasion he is a Republican.
On August 23, 1894, David W. Ferguson was united in marriage to Julia A. Anderson, who was born in Miami township, this county, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Tindall) Anderson, and to this union have been born three sons, Lawrence, born in 1896, who is now (1918) a senior in Muskingum College: Warren, 1898, a sophomore in that institution, and Bruce, 1904. The Fergusons are members of the Second United Presby- terian church at Xenia and Mr. Ferguson is a member of the session of the sanie, having been elected a ruling elder several years ago.
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CHARLES F. TAYLOR.
Charles F. Taylor, proprietor of "The Arcade" cigar store and billiard parlor at 28 South Detroit street, Xenia, was born on a farm in Silvercreek township, this county, December 26, 1876, son of O. C. and Lucinda (McConnell) Taylor, both of whom also were born in this county and the former of whom is still living.
O. C. Taylor, a veteran of the Civil War, now living retired at James- town, this county, grew up on a farm in Greene county and in due time became a farmer on his own account. He served as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War and upon the completion of his military service resumed his agricultural vocation in this county, presently going to Iowa, where he spent three years, but after his marriage established his home in this county. During the latter 'ros he moved with his family down into the neighboring county of Clinton and there remained for seven years, at the end of which time he returned to Greene county and here continued engaged in farming until his retirement and removal to Jamestown, where he is now living. His wife died on October 14, 1908. He and his wife were the parents of three children, the subject of this sketch having two sisters, Elma, who is living with her father in Jamestown, and Rosa, who married Thomas A. Spahr, also of Jamestown, and has two children, Oakie and Goldie.
Charles F. Taylor was seven years of age when his parents returned from Clinton county to this county and he grew up on the home farm in Silvercreek township, receiving his schooling in the neighborhood schools. He married in the fall of 1896 and in 1900 moved to Xenia, where he was for eighteen months engaged in the employ of the Rapid Transit Company. He then became engaged in the insurance and real-estate business in that city and was thus engaged there for eight years, at the end of which time he sold the business he had established and returned to the farm. Three years later he definitely gave up farming and returned to Xenia, where, in asso- ciation with his brother-in-law, Roy Hayward, he bought the cigar store and billiard room known as "The Arcade," at 28 South Detroit street, and has ever since been engaged in business at that point. Following the appoint- ment of Mr. Hayward to the office of city auditor in the fall of 1917 Mr. Taylor bought his brother-in-law's interest in the business and has since been operating it alone.
On October 21, 1896, at Xenia, Charles F. Taylor was united in mar- riage to Hannah Conklin, daughter of H. H. and Mary J. (Hook) Conklin, the former of whom is still living, a resident of Xenia. H. H. Conklin and wife were the parents of five children, Mrs. Taylor having a brother, Clyde Conklin, who married Grace Ireland, and is living at Xenia, and three sisters, Cora, wife of J. A. Bales, of Xenia; Laura, wife of D. E. Adsit, of James-
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town, and Harriet, wife of Roy C. Hayward, Mr. Taylor's former business partner, who was appointed city auditor at the first meeting held by the city commission in Xenia under the operation of the new city charter of 1917. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are members of the Baptist church. They have one child, a son, Willard, born on May 27, 1902, who is now (1918) a sopho- more in the Xenia high school. Mr. Taylor is a Republican. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons and with the local camp of the Sons of Veterans.
J. A. CHEW.
J. A. Chew, general manager of The Chew Publishing Company of Xenia, publishers of the Evening Daily Gasette and the Morning Daily Repub- lican, was born at Xenia on July 10, 1882, son of William Brown and Anna V. (McBurney) Chew, both of whom are still living at Xenia, where for many years William Brown Chew has been associated with his father, the venerable James Parker Chew, in the newspaper and publishing business, both members of the Chew Publishing Company, further reference to which and to the growth and development of the Xenia Gasette is set out in a biographical sketch relating to the elder Chew presented elsewhere in this volume.
Reared at Xenia, J. A. Chew received his schooling in the schools of that city and in the Ohio Military Institute at Cincinnati, after which he began work for his father in the job-printing and publishing business, consolidated under the firm name of The Aldine Publishing House. In 1906 he became a partner of his father in the business, and successfully managed the affairs of the company until 1912, when he assumed the general managership of the Daily Gasette. In August, 1915, Mr. Chew organized the Chew Publish- ing Company with seventy thousand dollars capital and purchased both the Daily Gasette and the opposition paper, the Daily Republican, both of which are published separately by this company under the titles of the Evening Gasette and the Morning Republican. Mr. Chew is president and treasurer of the company. His venerable grandfather continues as editor of both papers.
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