USA > Ohio > Madison County > History of Madison County, Ohio : its people, industries and institution with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 96
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enlisted, on December 10, 1861, for three months, and on being discharged returned to Madison county, but in a short time, he again enlisted, in Company K, Fifty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was wounded on April 6, 1862, in the first battle of Shiloh, which disabled him from further service. He was in the hospital until August, 1862, when he was discharged. He again tried to enter the army, but was refused on account of his wound. Mr. Huff has always been a strong advocate of Republican principles, and gave his support by serving on the election board for many years. His religious membership is with the Universalist church, and his fraternal membership is with Pleasant Valley Lodge No. 193, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is a past noble grand, and is the oldest member of the lodge. He now acts as past grand, and both Mr. and Mrs. Huff are members of the Rebekah Lodge No. 132, in which Mrs. Huff is a past noble grand. Mr. Huff was quartermaster of the Grand Army of the Republic for seventeen years. He now receives a monthly pension of forty-six dollars.
James R. Huff, father of the subject of this sketch, was born at Lyons, Wayne county, New York, of which county his wife, Lydia (Austin) Huff, was also a native. They lived most of their lives at Hartsgrove, Ohio, where he was a farmer. They were the parents of eight children -- six daughters and two sons. Lydia is the only one of their daughters living in 1915. She is the wife of Chauncy Hopkins, of Broadhead, Wisconsin.
Lysander G. Huff was united in marriage, January 7, 1864, with Ellen M. Baker, daughter of Hiram E. and Margaret (Wilson) Baker. She was born on June 25. 1845, in Delaware county, Ohio. She came with her parents to Morrow county, Ohio, locat- ing at Cardington. where she attended the public schools of the village. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Huff settled on a farm in Union county, and on April 9, 1867, they settled on the farm where they now live. Mr. Huff owns seventeen acres of land, on which he has put valuable improvements, including the present buildings. His place is located one mile south of Plain City. This union has been blest with three children : Clara, who is the wife of S. T. Simkins, who lives in Union county, Ohio; Annetta became the wife of Clark Kile, and lives in Union county; Clayton A. is married to Ora Slyh, and also lives in Union. county.
Mr. and Mrs. Huff are citizens of eminent respectability, and enjoy the esteem of all who know them in Madison county, where they have spent the most of their lives.
LOUIS MOTTELER.
Louis Motteler, a well-known young farmer of Darby township, Madison county. Ohio, and one of the trustees of Darby township, was born on August 24, 1876. and is the son of George and Selitia (Taylor) Motteler. both of whom are now residents of the state of Washington, where they are engaged in farming.
George and Selitia (Taylor) Motteler have had nine children, eight of whom are now living, namely : Henry is a rancher in the state of Washington; Anna is the wife of A. J. Torbert, of Darby township: Ollie is the wife of Lee Iden, of Wyandot county, Ohio ; William A. is a farmer in Canaan township; Frank lives in Washington; Rosa is deceased: Louis lives in this state; Clinton lives in Washington, and Dell in the same state.
Born and reared in Union county, Ohio, Louis Motteler was four years old when he was brought to Madison county, Ohio, by his parents. He remained in Madison county until six years of age and then went with his parents to Tennessee. where he remained until eight years old. At the end of that time the family returned to Madison county and here Mr. Motteler has lived ever since. His education was obtained in the public schools of Tennessee and of Madison county, Ohio.
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On March 30, 1898, Mr. Motteler was married to Mary Wise, who was born in Union county, Ohio, and was educated in the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Motteler have had four children, as follow: Oral K., born on December 15, 1902, is a student in the Plain City public schools, and has now advanced to the seventh grade; Harold, June 9. 1905. is the twin brother of Helen; Francis, May 14, 1911. All of the children live at home with their parents.
Mr. Motteler has charge of one hundred and twenty-five acres of land two miles east of Plain City, and for some years has been breeding Percheron horses. Ile also keeps a good grade of other kinds of live stock, and feeds the grains raised on the farm to the stock.
Mr. Motteler is a Democrat. He is a member of Pleasant Valley Lodge No. 193, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has taken more or less prominent part in the affairs of this lodge. Mr. and Mrs. Motteler are quiet unassuming people, honorable citizens and highly respected in the community where they live.
ELTON M. KILE.
A lawyer by profession, but. for a number of years, engaged in farming in Darby township, Madison county, Ohio, Elton M. Kile has made his presence felt in the legal circles of Plain City and in the agricultural life of Darby township. Since his gradua- tion from Ohio State University, from which he received the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor, the former in 1910 and the latter in 1912, and where he was prominent for many years as a debater, he has divided his time between law and agri- culture. Mr. Kile owns thirty acres of land and has charge of the ninety acres owned by his father.
Elton M. Kile was born in Jerome township, Union county, Ohio, May 3, 1887, and is the son of Fred and Elizabeth ( Purdum) Kile, both of whom are residents of Union county.
Mr. Kile was reared on a farm in Jerome township, Union county, which is just north of the Madison county line, and was educated in the district schools at Kileville and was graduated from the Plain City high school. After completing his secondary education he entered Ohio State University in the fall of 1906, and four years later received the degree of Bachelor of Arts and six years later the degree of Juris Doctor. He was admitted to the bar in December, 1911, shortly before his graduation. While a student at the university he was identified with the college debating and was a meni- ber of the teams which defeated Indiana University, at Bloomington, Indiana, and the University of Illinois, at Champaign, Illinois.
A few months after his graduation from college, in September. 1912, Elton M. Kile was married to Edith Worthington, the daughter of Charles Worthington and a graduate of the Plain City high school with the class of 1906. Mrs. Kile had been a teacher in the district schools and in the Plain City schools.
Appointed as a Republican. Elton M. Kile was chosen by the members of the Ohio House of Representatives as message clerk for the 1915 session, and served faithfully in this capacity until the close of the session. He has always taken an active part in politics and is a member of the Plain City village district school board. It comprises all of the territory in the neighborhood. of Kileville. At one time Mr. Kile was a teacher in the district schools of Darby township and also for one year in the grade schools of Plain City. He is a man of great promise in this community. a young man who is greatly admired and one whose future is regarded as very bright. In his rather brief career he has devoted himself with all seriousness to the business of life and is already well started on an honorable and useful career.
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WILLIAM F. LOWRY.
William F. Lowry, an industrious and hard-working farmer of Darby township, Madison county, Ohio, has made all of the wealth of which he is now possessed exclusively by his own efforts. He owns a farm of seventy-five acres on rural route No. 2, out of Plain City, Ohio, and, in partnership with his son, O. M. Lowry, has charge of about two hundred and fifty acres.
William F. Lowry was born in Ross county, Ohio, July 6, 1850, and is the son of Washington and Mariah (Boyer) Lowry, the former of whom was born in Winchester, Virginia, July 12, 1807, and who died on December 3, 1887, and the latter was born in Lebanon, Ohio, May 10, 1817, and who died on November 1, 1873. The great- grandfather was a native of County Down, Ireland. His family were linen bleachers by trade. and some of them came to the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Lowry were married in Chillicothe, Ohio. They had a family of seven sons and four daughters, of whom, William F., the subject of this sketch, was the eighth born. The names of the children, in the order of their birth, are as follow: George W., born on March 31, 1835, who served in the Civil War, is deceased; John C., September 5. 1836, a first lieutenant in the union army of the Civil War, is also deceased ; Maria . L., September 30, 1838, and Mary A., August 22, 1840, are living; Richard H., August 31, 1842, was a soldier in the Civil War; Moses C., February 22, 1845, was a soldier in the Civil War, and died in the defense of his country at Rome, Georgia; James R., May 20, 1847, was a soldier in the Civil War, and died in the service; William F., the subject of this sketchi, July 6, 1850; Frank K., April 16, 1853, is a farmer in Union county, Ohio; Rachel V., April 19, 1856, is the wife of James Vanschoy, of Ross county, Ohio; Char- lotte E., the youngest, February 21, 1859, and is the widow of Marion Ertel, of Dayton, Ohio.
William F. Lowry, the subject of this sketch, grew up on a farm in Ross county, Ohio, and received a good common-school education in the district schools of that county. He attended school until about eighteen years old. and. in the meantime, learned the miller's trade with Marfield Brothers, at Chillicothe, Ohio, and was employed by them until 1876, when he removed to Madison county to take charge of the grist-mill owned by W. I. Ballinger & Sons. Mr. Lowry was head miller of tlus mill for twenty-three years.
While engaged in the milling business Mr. Lowry purchased seventy-five acres of land from L. D. Converse and moved to the farm. He has made extensive improve- ments on the farms, and is one of the extensive farmers of this section. He breeds Percheron horses, and raises a great many Shorthorn cattle and Duroc-Jersey hogs.
Mr. Lowry's wife. before her marriage, was Sarah F. Comer. of Fairfield county, Ohio, who was born in that county, January 1, 1850, and who is the daughter of Isaae and Anna (Cotterill) Comer. Isaac Comer was descended from Nicholas Bary, who came to the United States from Switzerland in 1707. Anna Cotterill was the daughter of the Rev. Thomas Cotterill, of the Old Dominion state. Her parents came to Fait- field county. Ohio, from Virginia. They had six children, but Mrs. Lowry is the only one living at this time. She was educated in the public schools of Lancaster, Ohio.
Mr. and Mrs. William F. Lowry have three living children. William W. Lowry, born on December 28, 1873, was a teacher at the age of seventeen years. He married Bessie Jones, and they live in Plain City, Ohio, and have two children. He is in the employ of the United States mail service and has a run from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to St. Louis, Missouri. O. M. Lowry was born in Madison county, Ohio, August 1, 1880, and was educated in the Plain City public schools. He married Carrie Armen- trout. and they have two sons, Samuel and Sherman. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Plain City, and is vice-chancellor of the lodge. Anna E. Lowry,
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born on July 17. 1883. received a good common-school education in the Plain City schools, and married Charles Violet, of Pike townhisip, Madison county, Ohio.
William F. Lowry has served four terms, comprising a period of eight years, as trustee of Darby township, having been elected as a Republican. He has served as a member of the school board at Plain City. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge and is a past chancellor. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has served as noble grand in the Odd Fellows lodge. Mr. Lowry and his sons have all been active in local and county politics, and are among the most highly-respected citizens of Darby township.
WILLIAM B. KILGORE ..
To occupy the position of bank president is an advertisement of the character and standing of a man, and establishes the fact that he has the confidence and respect, not only of his immediate associates, but the community at large. Mr. Kilgore, whose name introduces this sketch, not only enjoys the place of honor in one of the representative institutions of Plain City, Ohio, but his fine executive ability has been of great value to the business.
William B. Kilgore, president of the First State Bank of Plain City. Ohio, was born on February 28. 1869, in Canaan township, Madison county, and is a son of William and Mary (Boyd) Kilgore. IIe was reared in the township of his birth, and was edu- cated in the district schools, attending school during the winter seasons, and assisting with the farm work during the summers, until he was eighteen years old. At the age of twenty-one, he became ambitious to try another line of business, and began to buy live stock, which proved so successful that he continued in the business for eighteen years, under the firm name of Foust & Kilgore. In the fall of 1904, Mr. Kilgore moved to Plain City. He is a stanch Republican. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Plain City, in which church Mr. Kilgore officiates as one of the board members. He owns a splendid farm of two hundred and seventeen acres in Madison county, known as "Sugar Run Stock Farm," and one of two hundred acres, known as "Homestead Farm." He was elected president of the First State Bank of Plain City at its organization, February 1. 1914, with officers as follows: William B. Kilgore, president : Charles Wilson, vice-president : and W. P. Wilson, cashier. The directors are: William B. Kilgore, Charles Wilson, O. K. Howland, Frank Cary, W. L. Blaney, D. LaMar Lombard, G. B: Chapman. C. D. Brown - and Henry Bowman.
William Kilgore, father of the subject of this sketch, was born, January 26, 1823, iu Canaan township, and his wife, Mary (Boyd) Kilgore, was born on June 25. 1830, in Washington county, Pennsylvania. She was a daughter of James and Martha ( Milliken) Boyd. Mr. Kilgore was a son of Thomas and Jane (Patterson) Kilgore. He came to this county when a young man, and was married here, remaining in the county until his death. To Mr. and Mrs. Kilgore were born four children, Martha, Eliza, Etta, and William. Martha Kilgore became the wife of S. H. Francis, of Brown township. Frank- lin county. Ohio, where he follows agriculture. Eliza Kilgore. deceased, was married to Charles Slyh. Etta is the wife of A. P. Hieronymus, of Kansas City, Missouri.
James and Martha (Milliken) Boyd, the maternal grandparents of Mr. Kilgore, came from Washington county, Pennsylvania, to Madison county, Ohio, in 1830. Mrs. Boyd was a daughter of Col. James Milliken, a large landowner in Canaan township, this county.
William B. Kilgore was united in marriage on March 27. 1890, with Irene How- land. danghter of Dr. J. S. Howland. She was born on April 17, 1870, near Richwood, T'nion county. Ohio, and was educated in the schools of New California, Ohio. To
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this union have been born two children: Joseph W., born on November 10, 1894, who was graduated from the Plain City high school in the class of 1914; and Mary Louise Kilgore, who was born on September 7, 1896, and died on March 9, 1914. She was also a graduate of the Plain City high school, of which she was to have been valedictorian at the graduation exercises. She stood high in her class, and died just prior to her graduation.
Mr. and Mrs. Kilgore are highly esteemed for their kind consideration of those in trouble or distress. They have the sincere regard and confidence of many warm and adiniring friends.
WILLIAM TAYLOR.
William Taylor, of Plain City. Darby township, was born on August 30, 1859, in Canaan township, Madison county, Ohio, and is a son of Jacob and Rebecca (Kilgore) Taylor. His boyhood days were spent on the farm, attending school during the winter months and assisting with the farm work in the summer. He remained at home until the death of his father, after which he was married and began farming for himself .. With close attention to business details, industry and thrift, he has continued to increase his worldly goods, until he now owns a fine tract of four hundred acres of the most valuable farm land in Marison county, known as "Artesian Stock Farmi," because of its splendid artesian well. Mr. Taylor has been active and is deeply interested in the success of the Republican party, rendering efficient service as trustee of Canaan town- ship.
Jacob Taylor, father of the subject of this sketch, was born on October 20, 1819, in Canaan township, and was perhaps the oldest native citizen of Madison county. He was united in marriage on April 8, 1845, with Rebecca Kilgore and was a son of William and Elizabeth (Cato) Taylor. His education was obtained in Darby township in à rudely built house, with a mnud-and-stick chimney. His father died when he was eighteen years old, necessitating his attention and assistance in caring for his mother and the other members of the family until he was twenty-three years of age, when he began farming for himself, paying two dollars a month for his land, which was a large amount in those days. He received twenty-five cents a cord for cutting wood, and split rails at twenty cents a hundred. With industry and economy he saved enough for the purchase of a farm consisting of one hundred and three acres in Canaan town- ship, which, under his care, soon became a beautiful home. His wife, Rebecca (Kilgore) Taylor, was born in 1827, in Madison county. They were the parents of five children : Sarah, Zachary, William, Jane and Jennie, only two of whom are living in 1915. Jennie, who became the wife of C. H. Andrew, and is living in Plain City, was a devoted daughter, and spent much of her time with her aged father while the shadows are growing long; and William. Mr. Taylor was a stanch Republican from the birth of that party, but never sought official reward, and never coveted honor in connection with the spoils of office. He died on October 20, 1913, aged ninety-four years and eight months.
William Taylor, the paternal grandfather, was a native of Virginia, and an early settler in Madison county, coming here from Kentucky in 1803, and locating in Darby township. He was united in marriage with Elizabeth Cato, a native of New Jersey, who came with her parents to Ohio in 1808. and located at the present site of Cincin- nati. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor moved to a farm in Darby township, and later to Canaan township, where Mrs. Taylor's father lived until his death.
William Taylor was united in marriage on November 15, 1914. with Bertha Latimer, daughter of Slack and Flora (Currier) Latimer, of Union county, Ohio, where she was reared and received her early education at the district schools, from which
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she was a graduate. After leaving school she was employed as a clerk in a dry-goods store. Mrs. Taylor's religious membership is with the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are quiet, home-loving people, and have the high esteem of the entire community in which they make their home.
DENNIS CLARK.
Dennis Clark, second son and fifth child of Raphael and Mary ( Rose) Clark, was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, April 8, 1827. His father was a native of Maryland. At the age of eighteen he marched through Ohio in the War of 1812. After his marriage to Mary Rose, also of Maryland, he returned to the land made familiar by his caiu- paign and settled near Lancaster, Ohio, where he lived until the subject of this sketch was about one year old, at which time the family removed to the "Sandusky Plains" uear Upper Sandusky. The playfellows of the Clark children at that time were the little Indians on the Wyandot reservation nearby, and many and interesting were the stories Dennis Clark told his own children in a later time, of the intimate home life of the famous chiefs, Lump-on-the-Head and Between-the-Logs. This childish playtime was brief, however, for, in accord with the idea of the times, Raphael Clark removed his family to Clifton, Green county, that his children might be put to work in the cotton mills at that place and so become bread winners for the family. Dennis was but ten years old at that time, but his life work was begun, as he pursued the manufacturing business, first of cotton, later of woolen goods, all the rest of his life. At the age of seventeen, he had charge of the spinning department of a large cotton factory at Day- ton. and such was his dignity, tact and self-control, that he handled the rough gang of men under him with entire satisfaction, despite their previous discontent, as they had objected to having a boy made "boss" over them.
In 1850 Dennis Clark took charge of a woolen-mill owned by C. K. Single and situated one mile north of London at the Slagle homestead. He married Virginia Frances. the eldest child of Mr. Slagle, on February 8, 1852, and shortly after pur- chased the mill. which he operated with great financial success until it burned down in July, 1864. A story told of this occurrence is illuminative of Mr. Clark's character. When all had been forced by the intense heat to desist from their efforts to save the goods, Mr. Clark had retreated to the top of the hill and was silently gazing on the destruction of his property, when a friend ventured to express his sympathy. To his surprise, Mr. Clark said, "Well, maybe it's all for the best. I was getting rich very fast and it might have made a mean man of me. I never wanted to be a mean man."
Mr. Clark then purchased a part interest in a woolen-mill at Washington C. H., and resided there about a year, at the end of which time a stock company was formed and a large four and one-half story factory was erected in London. Mr. Clark was recalled to be superintendent and stockholder in the company. This mill was operated from 1866 till December, 1871, when it was robbed and burned. The memory of that spec- tacular fire on that desperately cold winter niglit is vivid to all of the older inhabitants of Madison county. The building had been erected with infinite pains to make it fire- proof, but it had been set on fire from within. The integrity of the outer walls, how- ever, can be vouched for, as they are now a part of the building known as the London Flouring Mills. The loss, estimated at sixty thousand dollars, was almost entire, as, owing to an oversight of a secretary, most of the insurance had lapsed a few days previously.
As Mr. Clark had by this time bought up most of the stock, the loss fell most heavily on him and he became again a man possessing scarcely more than his two hands. He possessed that quality of courage, however, which confronts seemingly overwhelming
DENNIS CLARK.
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trouble with a dauntless front, and the ashes were scarcely cooled before he, with his eldest son, set about rebuilding, this time only a small wooden building, a factory con- taining only one set of machines. Such, however, was Mr. Clark's business acumen that he was fast regaining his place as a man of importance in the financial world, when his death occurred on July 20, 18S6.
Dennis Clark was a man of immense importance in the world of human interest. He was ever a leader in what pertained to the good of man in his community and the world at large. though he was ever on the unpopular side, because he lived ahead of his times; but he had the great joy of seeing, in many instances, the rear guard of the army of human progress camping where only the vanguard had ventured.
The political life of Dennis Clark was lived along the lines of succor to the oppressed. He voted the Abolition ticket when he had to write it himself. A political . party to him was merely an instrument by which some reform was brought about. When it no longer had a living issue, he was not at all reluctant to fare him forth into another that was working for some high principle. Therefore, he came from the Whig through the Republican to the Prohibition party, for which latter great principle he was working when he died.
Dennis Clark was an optimistic man, with great control of temper and sweetness of disposition, thoroughly honest in his dealings with other men, with himself and with his God. His personality gave his principles many a hearing in unfriendly quarters.
Mr. and Mrs. Clark had a family of eleven children, five of whom died in infancy. Their youngest son, Albert Slagle, principal musician with the rank of sergeant in the regular army, died of cholera at Vigan, Luzon, Philippine Islands, August 2, 1902, aged thirty-five years. Of the remaining children. W. Floyd married Jennie Blizzard. They reside with their four children in Columbus, Ohio. Alice M. is the wife of J. R. Manning. They, also, live in Columbus, Ohio, with a family of six children. George W. served many years in the recorder's and auditor's office of Madison county ; was engaged in the grocery business and at present is on the staff of the Madison County Democrat. Mary F. has been for many years a teacher in the public schools of Chicago, Illinois. Nellie M. is married to Dr. Virgil Newell and has two sons. They reside at Stafford, Kansas. Mrs. Clark died on February 17, 1915, aged eighty-two years.
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