USA > Ohio > Morrow County > History of Morrow County, Ohio; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Vol. II > Part 16
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first directors. He has also served on its discount committee continuously since the organization of the bank and he is vice president of the Warren and Chautauqua Gas Company and one of its board of directors.
George L. Clark was reared and educated in the town of Warren, Pennsylvania, to whose graded schools he is indebted for his preliminary training. At the age of seventeen years he became interested in the gas and oil business and continued to be identi- fied with it until 1882, was then in the lumber business nntil 1892, when he assumed the position of superintendent of the lines and towns of the Warren-Chautauqua Gas Company, at Warren, Penn- sylvania, being thus engaged for some seven years and nine months. He has been in the employ of the Logan Gas Company since June 23, 1902. He was with that concern at Warren, Pennsylvania, for a period of seven years and nine months and for the past eight years has been agent for the Logan Gas Company at Mount Gilead. He holds considerable stock in the gas company and is the owner of fine residence property in Mount Gilead. In politics he accords an uncompromising allegiance to the cause of the Republi- can party and though he has never manifested aught of desire for the honors or emoluments of political office he is ever ready to do all in his power to advance the general good of the community. Fraternally he is affiliated with Mount Gilead Lodge, No. 206, Free and Accepted Masons, and for three years was its high priest ; Gilead Chapter, No. 59, Royal Arch Masons; and Marion Com- mandery, No. 36, Knights Templars. He is a member of the high priesthood of Ohio.
Mr. Clark married on June 30, 1886, at Garland, Warren county, Pennsylvania, Sadie E. Wilson, who died at Jamestown, New York, in 1902. On August 19, 1902, at Saint Francis De Sales church, Newark, Ohio, he married Miss Adelia Igo, who was born at Grafton, West Virginia, and reared at Newark, Licking county, Ohio. To this union has been born one child, George L. Clark, Jr., whose birth occurred on the 2nd of October, 1906, at Mount Gilead, Ohio. He was baptized at Blessed Sacrament church at Newark, Ohio, in March, 1908.
WINFIELD S. STANLEY .- A prominent citizen of Cardington and one whose varied business interests have added materially to the progress and development of Morrow county, Ohio, is Winfield S. Stanley, who was born at Harriette, Wexford county, Michigan, on the 4th of July, 1880, He is a son of J. Z. Stanley, who is engaged both in agricultural pursuits and the hardware business in the old Wolverine state, and the maiden name of his mother was Ida A. Fox. Mr. and Mrs. J. Z. Stanley became the parents of four children, three of whom are now living. Mrs. Charles Radford resides in Danville, Michigan; A. J. Stanley is a resident of Har- riette, Michigan ; and Winfield S. Stanley is the subject of this sketch.
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Winfield S. Stanley was reared to the invigorating discipline of the home farm, in the primitive log cabin which represented the early home of his parents. He attended the district schools of Wexford county until he had attained to the age of eight years, after which he was a student in the graded schools of Harriette until his sixteenth year, at which time he began a course of study in a business college at Ypsilanti, Michigan. In this institution he was graduated in the stenographic and bookkeeping department and thereafter he entered the employ of The Modle Hoop and Stave Company, of Milan Michigan, in the capacity of stenographer and bookkeeper for two years at Milan and for one year at New London, Ohio. In 1902 he became manager for the above company, and continued to be thus engaged for a period of two years. In 1904 he decided to launch out in the business world on his own account and he accordingly organized The Ohio Stave Company, locating the plant at Marysville, Union county, Ohio. In 1906 he removed the plant to Cardington, Ohio, where a large and flourishing busi- ness has been built up. The company was incorporated under the laws of the state of Ohio in 1904, with a capital stock of twenty thousand dollars and its official corps is as follows : W. S. Weston, president; J. G. Reynolds, vice president; and W. S. Stanley, secretary, treasurer and manager. This concern manufactures hoops and lumber and its finely equipped plant is a credit to the industrial world of Morrow county.
Mr. Stanley is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican party and though he has never manifested aught of ambition for public office of any description he is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all measures and enterprises advanced for the general welfare of the community. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic Order, in which he holds membership in Milan Lodge, No. 323, Free and Accepted Masons. Both he and his wife are popular factors in the best social circles of their home city.
At New London, Ohio, in the year 1903, Mr. Stanley was united in marriage to Miss Iva M. Doud, who was born and reared at Brownhelm, Ohio. They have three children, whose names and respective dates of birth are here entered : Maxine, April 4, 1905; Geraldine, July 2, 1909; and Norman J., February 16, 1911. Mrs. W. S. Stanley is a graduate of the high school of Ottawa. Ohio, and is a member of the Mildred Chapter, No. 85, O. E. S., of which she is conductress.
FRANK HOLT, who is successfully engaged in the great basic art of agriculture in Peru township, Morrow county, Ohio, was born in Cumberland county, Illinois, on the 27th of December, 1864, and is a son of Evan and Hattie (Leonard) Holt, both of whom are deceased. Evan Holt was a son of John H. and Mahala Holt and his birth occurred in Chester township, this county, on the 21st of
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June, 1839. John H. IIolt was born on the 11th of May, 1808, and his wife was born on the 10th of October, 1807. They were the parents of thirteen children. John Holt was a son of Evan and Chanty Holt, the latter of whom were the great-grandparents of him to whom this sketch is dedicated, the respective dates of their births being June 9, 1764, and September 14, 1764. John Holt, grand- father of the subject of this review, was a pioneer in Chester town- ship, Morrow county, and he was a farmer by occupation, having reclaimed a fine farm from the virgin wilderness. Evan Holt became the father of four children, two of whom are living in 1911; Frank Holt, the immediate subject of this review ; and Emma, who is the wife of Harry Fleming, of Delaware county, Ohio.
Frank Holt was a child of but two years of age at the time of his parents' removal from Illinois to Delaware county, Ohio, where he was reared on a farm and where he attended the public schools until he had attained to the age of eighteen years. At that time he left home and began to work in a machine shop at Delaware, Ohio, where he was employed by the day and where he continued to be employed for some three years, during which time he saved about four hundred and fifty dollars. In 1890 he rented a farm in Morrow county, where he cared for his aged father, assisted by sister Emma, until his death, which occurred November 4, 1904. Thereafter he entered into a partnership alliance with Orson A. Lee in the agricultural line of enterprise, in which they built up a fine business and cleared considerable money. In April, 1901 Mr. Holt again turned his energies to farming and in that year purchased the fine estate of sixty-six and two-thirds acres of land on which he now resides. This is one of the best improved farms in Peru township, and in connection with diversified agriculture Mr. Holt is deeply interested in the raising and marketing of high- grade stock, his specialties being cattle and sheep.
In 1897 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Holt to Miss Effie Adams, who was born in Delaware county on the 25th of August, 1873, a daughter of Augustus Adams. She was reared to maturity on the home farm and was educated in the district schools and in the Galena High School, in which she was graduated as a member of the class of 1890. For six years she was a popular and successful teacher in the public schools in Delaware county and for one year she taught in Morrow county. To Mr. and Mrs. IIolt have been born three children, namely: Homer, whose birth occurred on the 27th of April, 1904; Nancy, born November 19, 1907; and Atlee, born October 14, 1910.
Mr. Holt is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the Democratic party in his political proclivities and for several terms he was incumbent of the office of township assessor. In 1910 he served as land appraiser of Peru township and he has ever shown a deep interest in all matters relating to higher education in this section,
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James WeSenton
Sarah J. SeFton
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being at the present time, in 1911, a director on the school board. Mr. and Mrs. Holt as citizens are accorded a high degree of popular confidence and esteem in this community.
JAMES W. SEXTON .- Though a native of England, this honored citizen of Canaan township has been a resident of Morrow county from his childhood days and here he has won independence and definite prosperity through his active association with agricul- tural pursuits, with which he is still identified He resides on his fine farm of ninety acres one-half mile east of the village of Den- mark, but the active management of the place now rests largely in the hands of his only son, though he himself has by no means sought sybaritie ease and inactivity, as he is still a man of marked physical and mental vitality, keeping in touch with modern affairs and maintaining a more or less active association with the work and management of the home farm. His life has been one of consec- utive industry along productive lines of enterprise, and such men are never content to nullify'in a personal way the old adage that "It is better to wear out than to rust out." Mr. Sexton has shown as insistent loyalty to American customs and institutions as could the most patriotic native son of our American republic, and this was significantly shown in his valiant and faithful service as a soldier of the Union in the Civil war. He has guided his course on a lofty plane of integrity and honor and thus has ever been accorded the unqualified respect and confidence of his fellow men.
James W. Sexton was born in Lincolnshire, England, on the 1st of October, 1847, and is a scion of stanch old families of the "right little, tight little isle." He is a son of Robert and Mary A. (Bothamley) Sexton, both of whom were likewise natives of Lincolnshire, where the father was an agriculturist and where he died when the subject of this review, the only child, was but one year old. In 1854, when he was about seven years old, James W. Sexton came with his widowed mother to America and in June of that year they established their home in Marion county, Ohio. Shortly afterward the mother became the wife of John Tweddle and they removed to the village of Denmark, Morrow county, and here the mother continued to reside until her death, at the age of fifty-four years.
James W. Sexton was reared to maturity in Morrow county, and is indebted to its common schools for his early educational training. He was about fourteen years old at the initiation of the Civil war and as soon as he was eligible for military service he gave patent evidence of his intrinsic loyalty, as, on the 14th of July, 1863, about three months prior to his sixteenth birthday anniver- sary, he enlisted as a private in Company B, Fifth Independent Batallion of Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. This command was as- signed to the Army of the Cumberland and his principal service was in the states of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. Mr. Sexton
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received an honorable discharge at the expiration of six months and promptly reenlisted, as a member of Company D, Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he saw active and arduous service in the Army of the Independent Organizations, and with which he participated in a number of spirited engagements, in- cluding a large number of important battles marking the progress of the great conflict. He took part in the battles of Rocky Face Ridge, Dalton, Franklin, Nashville and Atlanta and in the ever memorable Atlanta campaign, after which lie accompanied General Sherman's forces on the historic march to the sea. He continued with his regiment until some time after the final surrender. He was mustered out at San Antonio, Texas, on the 18th of December, 1865, and received his honorable discharge, at Columbus, Ohio, on the 2nd of Januray, 1866. His military service was marked by fidelity and gallantry and will ever reflect honor upon his name.
After the termination of his service as a soldier of the Union Mr. Sexton returned to Morrow county and turned his attention to agriculture pursuits, with which he has continued to be identi- fied through the long intervening, years and through which he has gained definite success. He has owned and resided upon his present farm since 1884 and upon the same has made the best of improvements, the while he has proved an energetic and re- sourceful exponent of the great basic industry of agriculture and stock growing.
From the time of attaining to his legal majority and conse- quent right of franchise Mr. Sexton has given a stalwart support to the cause of the Republican party, and he has served four years as trustee of his township, though never manifesting any marked ambition for public office. Both he and his wife are zealous mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church in the neighboring village of Denmark, where he is also affiliated with Daniel Linder Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he is past commander; and with Denmark Lodge, No. 760, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past noble grand.
On the 5th of December, 1867, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Sexton to Miss Sarah F. Worden, who was born and reared in Morrow county, and concerning the family history adequate data may be found in the sketch of the career of her brother, Samuel R. Worden, on other pages of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Sexton have two children: Addie, who was born August 5, 1872, is the wife of John A. Oberdier, a prosperous blacksmith of Canaan township; and Richard E., who was born January 9, 1875, remains at the parental home and has the general supervision of the farm.
HARRY B. CAMPBELL, D. D. S .- A native son of the fine old Buckeve state and a citizen who holds a secure vantage ground in popular confidence and esteem is Dr. Harry B. Campbell, who was born in Lincoln township, Morrow county, Ohio, on the 3rd of
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March, 1878. He is a son of Andrew and Ada F. (Farlee) Camp- bell, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Ohio Andrew Campbell is a prosperous farmer in Cardington township and he and Mrs. Campbell are the parents of four children, of which number the Doctor is the eldest. Blanche is the wife of F. A. Moore, a resident of Cleveland, Ohio; Frank an electro plater; and Marie, in school.
Dr. Harry B. Campbell grew up on the old farm, in the work and management of which he early began to assist his father. His preliminary eeducational training was gained in the distriet schools and this discipline was later effectively supplemented by an independent course in the Cardington High School. There- after he devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits until 1905, when he was matriculated in the Ohio Medical College at Columbus, in the dental department of which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1908, duly receiving his degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. Immediately after his graduation he opened an office in the Kreis block, and he now controls a large and representative patronage. A thorough technical training along the line of his chosen work, together with innate ability, makes him one of the leading dentists in this county. In a professional way the Doctor is affiliated with various medical organizations of representative character. He is a valued and appreciative member of Carding- ton Lodge, No. 384, Free and Accepted Masons, and of Cardington Lodge, No. 194, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is a past grand. In politics he is a stalwart supporter of the prin- ciples and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor and he and his wife are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the different departments of whose work they have been most active factors.
In the year 1909 was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Campbell to Miss Virginia Ireland, a daughter of Alexander and Mary (Max- well) Ireland, representative citizens of Cardington. The father was identified with agricultural pursuits during the major portion of his active business career and lie is now living virtually retired in the enjoyment of former years of earnest toil and endeavor. Mrs. Campbell was reared and educated in Morrow county and she is a woman of most gracious personality. Dr. and Mrs. Campbell have no children.
HENRY C. HAIR .- Without any financial support whatever and only his own pluiek and perseverance to back him, Henry C. Hair assumed the active responsibilities of life as a clerk in a grocery store and meat market. By degrees he worked his way upward and after becoming thoroughly familiar with the business of general merchandising he launched out in that line of enterprise on his own account. He is now one of the most prominent merchants at Johnsville, Morrow county, Ohio, where he is accorded the unquali-
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fied confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens and where he has figured prominently in local affairs.
Henry C. Hair is a native son of Morrow county, his birth hav- ing occurred in Congress township on the 20th of September, 1868. He is a son of Noble C. and Angeline (Harriman) Hair, the former of whom was born in Knox county and who was sum- moned to eternal rest in Delaware county, Ohio, in the year 1872. Ile was identified with farming and later as a wagon maker during his active career and he was highly esteemed as a man of worth and ability during his life time. He married Miss Angeline Harriman, who was born near Williamsport, Morrow county, then Knox county, in May, 1837, and who is now living with her son, Henry C., of this notice. Mr. and Mrs. Noble C. Hair became the parents of but one son, the immediate subject of this review.
Henry C. Hair was reared to adult age in Pulaskiville, Ohio, to the public schools of which place he is indebted for his early educational training. He attended school until he had attained to the age of nineteen years, at which time he accepted a position as a clerk in a grocery store and meat market at Chesterville, this county. Subsequently he was employed in a store at Pulaskiville, Ohio, where he remained for a period of thirteen years, at the ex- piration of which he purchased the store from his employer and conducted it with marked success until October, 1908. In the year last mentioned he disposed of his stock and removed to Chesterville, where he continued to reside for one year. In October, 1909, he bought the general store of Lafe Gates & Son at Johnsville, to the operation of which well equipped concern he has since devoted his entire time and attention. Long association with mercantile affairs has made him a man of broad information along this particular line of business and through his well directed endeavors he has made of success not an accident but a logical result.
On the 12th of February, 1890, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Hair to Miss Hattie M. Burns, who was born at Chesterville, Ohio, and who is a daughter of Ross Burns, of that place. She was born on the 25th of October, 1868, and was afforded an excel- lent common school education in her youth. For a number of years prior to her marriage she was a popular and successful teacher in Morrow county schools. She is a woman of fine intel- lect and liberal ideas, is popular in the best social circles of the com- munity and is active in church and charitable work. Mr. and Mrs. Hair have no children.
In a fraternal way Mr. Hair is affiliated with Chesterville Lodge, No. 238, Free and Accepted Masons; and Chester Lodge, No. 204, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His religious faith is in harmony with the teachings of the Methodist Episcopal church of which he and his wife are devoted members. In his political allegiance he is aligned as a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party. He is not an office seeker but in his own private life he
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has so conducted himself as to gain recognition as a loyal and publie spirited citizen, one who is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all measures and enterprises advanced for progress and development. He is strictly speaking a self made man and his present substantial business is the outcome of earnestly applied effort and impregnable integrity.
WILSON G. LEFEVER, manager of the Van Scoy Chemical Com- pany, Mt. Gilead, Ohio, was born on his father's farm in Canaan township, Morrow county, Ohio, in November, 1860, and is still the owner of the old home place.
His father, George Lefever, a native of Ohio county, Virginia, born in 1816, came over into this state about 1828 and took up his residence here, and here he lived for many years, dealing in stock and carrying on farming operations until he acquired an estate of considerable proportions. He died at Edison, Ohio, in 1886. His wife, Catherine (Moody) Lefever, born in Harrisburg, Penn- sylvania, died in 1906. Of the nine children born to them, six are living at this writing, namely: Wilson G., whose name introduces this sketch ; Frank, of Edison, Ohio; M. Bruce, of Mt. Gilead, Ohio; Margaret, wife of M. W. Shaw, of Marion, Ohio; Clark, of Colo- rado ; and Ella G., of Marion, Ohio.
Wilson G. Lefever in his youth attended district school. He remained on the farm until he was twenty years of age, when he took a course in the Ada Normal College, now the Northwestern University, at Ada, Ohio, after which he engaged in teaching in his native county. From teaching he soon turned to a business life. He spent between four and five years at Edison, Ohio, as book- keeper and afterward assistant agent in the railroad office. Then he resumed farming, and for fourteen years operated the old home place, a fine farm containing over two hundred acres, and which, as above stated, he still owns. At the end of this time he rented the farm and returned to Edison. There he helped to organize the Citizens Banking Company, of which he is still a stock holder. He was assistant cashier of this bank for four years, after which, in the same capacity, he became identified with the Morrow County National Bank, and was connected with that institution until he resigned his position in order to accept the management of the Van Scoy Chemical Company, manufacturers of flavoring extracts, spices, perfumes, baking powder, etc .; and under his management the vohune of business has doubled.
Mr. Lefever married Miss Flora L. Haverstott, of Marion, Ohio, and they have three children: Earl W., an art student at Evanston, Illinois; Blanche L., a teacher in the public schools of Mt. Gilead ; and Francis E.
Politically Mr. Lefever is a Democrat, and fraternally, a Knight of Pythias, having membership in Charles H. Hull Lodge, K. of P. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episco- pal church.
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EDWARD COE .-- An active, enterprising and progressive agricul- turist of Morrow county, Edward Coe is the proprietor of a well kept and well appointed farm in South Bloomfield township, which has been his abiding place the greater part of his life. In addition to managing his farm most successfully, he owns and operates throughout the harvesting season a threshing machine, an industry in which he has been engaged for many years. He was born July 21, 1855, in Bloomfield township, a son of Edward Coc, Sr.
Edward Coe, Sr., a native of England, came to the United States with his parents, who settled first in New York state, but later came to Ohio, and from here proceeded westward to Iowa, where they remained permanently. Edward Coe, Sr., a painter by trade, remained in Morrow county, and after following his trade for some time, bought a farm in Bloomfield township, and there re- sided until his death, about 1862. He was twice married. By his first wife he had three children, Ann, Ellen and William. He married for his second wife Elizabeth Ebersole, who was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of John D. and Mary Ebersole, and they became the parents of three children, namely : Edward, the special subject of this sketch, Albert and Elbridge. He was a stanch Republican in politics, and a trustworthy member of the Christian church at Sparta. His second wife survived him, passing away in 1883.
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