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 23
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LLOYD DYE, who is engaged in the grocery business at the corner of Main and Center streets, Mt. Gilead, Ohio, is one of the enterprising and prosperous business men of the city. A brief review of his career gives the following facts:
Lloyd Dye was born at Williamsport, Ohio, May 18, 1879, a son of Russell and Jennie L. (Kraut) Dye .. Russel Dve, also a native of Ohio, passed his life and died in this state, his death or- curring August 26, 1890. He married at Mt. Gilead, Ohio, and his only child is the subject of this sketch. At the time of his father's death Lloyd was only eleven years of age; his mother was poor and it was by her industry and good management that the boy was given the advantages he enjoyed. He attended the public schools at Williamsport and Mt. Gilead until he reached his eigh- teenth year, meanwhile working nights and mornings and summer vacations in a grocery store, and thus assisting in the support of himself and his mother. This early experience gave him a know- ledge of the details of the grocery business and laid the foundation for success when he opened up a store of his own, which he did at the corner of Main and Center streets, where he now carries a fine line of groceries and caters to a first-class trade. Before engaging in the grocery business on his own account Mr. Dve was for so .... time manager of the theatre at Mt. Gilead, where he also met with success. He is a stockholder in the People's Savings Bank and Telephone Company. In politics he has always been more or less active, affiliating with the Democratic party, and he now holds the office of deputy supervisor of Morrow county.
Fraternally Mr. Dye is connected with various organizations, including Eagle Lodge of Aerie No. 665, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, No. 1191, of Galion, Ohio, and the Home Guards of America, No. 11, He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Dye and his wife, formerly Miss Anna B. Terry, are the parents of two children : Clara J., born February 12, 1909, and Russell Terry, April 23, 1910. Mrs. Dye is a daughter of Chaun- cey E. Terry, and was educated at the Cardington high school. Previous to her marriage she was a teacher in the public schools of Morrow county.
The Dyes trace their lineage to the "Land of the Thistle," or Bonnie Scotland.
GEORGE W. HERSHNER .- The worthy representative of an honored pioneer family of Morrow county and one of its most highly esteemed citizens, George W. Hershner has been prominently identified with its agricultural development and progress during his long and useful life, and as opportunity has occurred has given his influence to encourage the establishment of enterprises conducive to the public welfare. He was born October 12, 1833, in Troy township, Morrow county, which has ever been his abiding place,
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and in the growth of which he has been intimately associated, as a contractor and builder during his earlier years having erected many of its residences and public buildings. His father, Andrew Hershner, who was of thrifty German descent, was born in Mary- land, and as a youth came with his parents to the Buckeye state, journeying across the country in the customary prairie schooner. He was a well educated man and became one of the pioneer school teachers of Morrow county. When ready to assume the duties of a married man he turned his attention to agriculture and walked all the way to Wooster, Ohio, and back to enter eighty acres of land in Troy township, where he was afterwards engaged in general farming until his death. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Murray, was born in Maryland, of English and Irish ancestry, and accompanied her parents to Ohio when a girl and was here mar- ried. Nine children, seven of them being sons, blessed their union, and of these the following named were living in the spring of 1911: David M., born in 1832, resides in Troy township; George W., the special subject of this sketch; Elizabeth, wife of Michael Meekley ; Andrew ; William ; and Mary, wife of Samuel Brickley.
Growing to manhood on the home farm in Troy township, George W. Hershner was educated in the district schools, which he attended during the winter terms only until seventeen years old. Subsequently learning the carpenter's trade, lie followed it suc- cessfully for thirty years, during which time he built not only many churches and school houses but many residences and many barns, making a specialty of the latter. Aequiring a goodly sum of money while working at his trade, Mr. Hershner has since invested in land, and now has a finely cultivated farm of one hundred and seventy-four acres, in the management of which he takes much pride and pleasure and likewise finds much profit. In the accumu- lation of his valuable property he has had the able assistance of his wife, and feels that he owes much of his success to her kindly en- couragement, counsel and advice.
Mr Hershner married first, January 1, 1857, Lonisa Fensler, a native of Pennsylvania. She passed to the life beyond in 1862, leaving three children, as follows : Reverend John L. Hershner, who was graduated from Corvallis College, Oregon, and is now pastor of a Congregational church in Oregon ; Professor A. F. Hershner, superintendent of schools in Portland, Oregon; and Allen Hersh- ner, a farmer and railroad man in Nebraska. Mr. Hershner mar- ied on May 4, 1865, Sarah C. Markward, who was born in Pennsyl- vania February 26, 1843, of German descent, and came with her parents, Samnel and Mary (Browneller) Markward, to Ohio in 1852. Of this mion three children have likewise been born, namely: Arthur, a farmer and stock buyer living near Williams- port; Cora, wife of Charles Cole; and Lottie, a graduate of the Lexington High School and of the Mansfield Business University, and now a stenographer in Mansfield, Ohio.
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In his political affiliations Mr. Hershner belongs to the party which has had among its able leaders and supporters Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland, and is a firm believer in a tariff for revenne only. He has been active in the management of public affairs, and has served in various official capacities. He was township clerk twelve years and was commis- sioner of Morrow county three terms, being elected to the position in a Republican stronghold and filling the office with a wide reputa- tion as a man of honesty, integrity and good judgment. For over forty years Mr. Hershner was justice of the peace, and dealt wisely and imparitally in the cases brought before him, his de- cisions being invariably just and satisfactory to all concerned. On one occasion a woman brought an affidavit against a man, and after the evidence had all been taken Squire Hershner found, that if it were true, he could bind the man over to the court. Going to the woman who brought the charge, he plainly told her that if her tes- timony were correct that he should bind the man over. The woman told him not to do so, and the Squire then accused her of having stolen the money and she confessed her guilt.
Neither Mr. Hershner nor his wife are members of any religious organization, but they are liberal contributors towards the support of churches.
CHARLES W. THROCKMORTON .- Among the people whose names bear the stamp of industry and thrift, the bearers of which have won for the residents of Morrow county the enviable reputation of "Promoters and character builders" and who have contributed largely to the educational, social and religious progress of the com- nmunity, we find recorded the family of Throckmorton. He whose name initiates this review was long engaged in farming and stock- raising on his fine estate of two hundred and sixty-five acres, eligibly located some one and one-half miles distant from Sparta, Ohio. He was unusually loyal and public-spirited in his civic attitude and at the time of his death, which occurred on the twentieth of September, 1896, his loss was uniformly mourned throughout the county in which so much of his life had been passed.
Charles Wesley Throckmorton was born in South Bloomfield township, Morrow county, Ohio, on the 3d of November, 1838, and he was a son of Archibald and Ruth (Simpson) Throckmorton, the former of whom was a native of New Jersey and the latter of Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Archibald Throckmorton were the parents of seven children, whose names are here entered in respective order of birth: Rebecca, Sarah, Mary Jane, Elizabeth, John, Charles W., and Ruth. The Throckmortons were descended from good old Methodist Episcopal ancestry, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch having been taken into the Methodist Episcopal society by John Wesley in Ireland. Charles Wesley Throckmorton was converted to the faith in childhood and he and
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his sister were the first children to unite with the Methodist Episco- pal church of Sparta. IIe received his elementary educational training in the public schools of his native place and as a young inan followed in the footsteps of his father and devoted his atten- tion to agricultural pursuits. After his marriage in 1870 he and his wife settled upon a farm in South Bloomfield township, one and one-half miles distant from Sparta, Ohio, and there he con- tinued to live and toil until death called him to his final rest and reward. He was interested in diversified agriculture and the raising of high-grade stoek and, his fine estate of two hundred and sixty-five acres was recognized as one of the finest in Morrow county. It is now in the possession of his widow and her child- ren.
On the 12th of November, 1870, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Throckmorton to Miss Mary J. Hicks, who was born Novem- ber 2, 1846, and reared in Morrow county and who is a daughter of John and Letitia (Banbury) Hicks, the former of whom was born in Cornwall, England, on the 14th of March, 1813, and the latter of whom was also a native of England. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks were united in marriage on the 7th of October, 1841, and they were the parents of four children-three sons and one daugh- ter, namely : Mardenbro, Thomas, Henry and Mary J. Letitia (Banbury) Hicks was born at Lancell parish, county of Cornwall. England, whence she immigrated with her parents to America at an early day. The trip across the Atlantic was made in an old sailing vessel which consumed six weeks in making the voyage. After landing in this country the family proceeded to Ohio, lo- cating at Gambier, where for a number of years they had charge of the boarding hall of Kenyon College. After Letitia's marriage to John Hicks, in 1845, they removed to the vicinity of Centerburg, which section was then practically an unbroken wilderness. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks were very devout Christians and were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. The following clipping taken from an old copy of the Christian Advocate and pasted in the family Bible by Mother Hicks was greatly cherished by Mr. Hieks, its sentiments having been incorporated into his daily life.
"My lot in life, I find myself where I am and what I am. My duty is submission. My privilege is enjoyment .. Because I am sick or disabled I need not be useless or unhappy. I accept my situation as of divine appointment and will try to be contented with it. Lamenting over the past will do no good ; I cannot recall or change it. My Heavenly Father has permitted matters to be with me just as they are and he knows best ; I know he loves me. No rebellion will be in my heart nor murmur escape my lips. My Saviour has promised his grace sufficient. Trusting all to my Father's loving care, I will do what I can, making the place where my lot is cast as bright and cheerful as possible, and will work and wait with patience till I am permitted to go to my heavenly home. "'
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Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wesley Throckmorton became the parents of four children : Mabel L., Maud R., Verner C. and Edna M. The children all grew up in a fine moral atmosphere, proved to be studious and early adapted themselves to their work and studies in a most commendable manner. The three daughters were all grad- uated in the Sparta high school with high honors and the son at- tended high school until one month prior to his graduation, at which time he was foreed to leave school on aecount of his mother's illness. Mabel L., was married, in 1898, to B. F. Powell, and they maintain their home at Mount Gilead, Ohio. They have one son, Leland T., whose birth occurred in 1904, and who is now attending school. Maude R. fitted herself for teaching and by her adaptability and kindness succeeded in winning for herself the good will of her pupils and their respective parents. After completing high school she taught first in Morrow county and later at Centerburg. She then went to Monroe, Iowa, whenee she went to Newcomers- town, Ohio, and finally she engaged in teaching in Minnesota. Returning home in March, 1904, however, with a lingering illness, she was laid to rest on the 7th of September, 1904, at the early age of twenty-eight years. Edna M., the youngest daughter, was also engaged in teaching for a time prior to her marriage to Mr. Carl Patrick, on the 30th of September, 1908. Mr. Patrick is a son of Edward and Ella (Arkins) Patrick, who reside near Vails Corners, and he grew to maturity on the old patrick farm and after com- pleting the curriculum of the district schools was graduated in the Sparta high school. Mr. and Mrs. Carl Patrick have one daughter, Maude Ellen. Verner C., was united in marriage, on the 8th of September, 1909, to Miss Hallie O. Van Sickle, a native of East Liberty, Ohio, and a daughter of John C. and D. Estella Van Sickle. Mrs. Throckmorton was graduated in the Marengo high school and she is a woman of many accomplishments and rare charm of per- sonality. Mr. and Mrs. Throekmorton have one son, Kenneth.
Mr. Charles Throckmorton's health began to fail and after a few months of illness he was summoned to the life eternal. His parting words to his family were: "Make sure of Heaven as it is all there is worth living for." In his fraternal associations he was a valued and appreciative member of the time-honored Masonic Order and while he never manifested aught of ambition for the honors or emoluments of public office of any description he was a stanch advocate of the principles and policies promulgated by the Republican party in his political convictions. He was a man of fine moral fiber and he was numbered among the best known and most highly honored citizens of Morrow eounty at the time of his demise, on the 20th of September, 1896. His life eourse was marked by valuable and generous accomplishments along normal lines of endeavor and his measure of success was large, but greater than this was the intrinsic loyalty to principle, the deep human sympathy and the broad intellectuality that designated the man
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as he was. He was in the most significant sense the architect of his own fortunes, having built the ladder by which he rose to high esteem, and he took high ground on the subject of temperance. His heart was attuned to generous impulses and his innate kindli- ness and generosity made him a power for good in all the relations of life. After the death of her husband Mrs. Throckmorton with the aid of her young son continued to run the old home farm, where she still resides. She is a woman of charm and graciousness, one who is deeply beloved and admired by all who have come within the radius of her gentle influence.
CHARLES C. VANNATTA .- Noteworthy among the active and highly esteemed citizens of Morrow county is Charles C. Vannatta. who has been associated with the mercantile interests of Washing- ton township for nearly a quarter of a century, and who, on Novem- ber 8, 1910, was elected county clerk of Morrow county, the large majority of votes cast at the polls in his favor showing his popu- larity as a man and a citizen. A son of John Vannatta, he was born September 14, 1863, in North Bloomfield township, Morrow county, Ohio.
Born in New Jersey, John Vannatta was there brought up and educated. In 1844, ere attaining his majority, he came westward to Ohio, and subsequently made a permanent settlement in North Bloomfield township, where he spent his remaining years. He mar- ried in 1850, Margaret McCallester, who was born in the Emerald Isle. At the age of six months she was brought by her parents to the United States, and in Washington township, Morrow county, Ohio, she grew to womanhood, and was educated. To her and her husband twelve children were born, seven of whom were living in the closing months of the year 1910, as follows: William, of Mount Gilead, Ohio; David R., a general merchant in Iberia; Dr. H. L., of Wyandot county, Ohio; Mattie, widow of Sylvester Price, of Ada, Ohio; Charles C., the special subject of this brief personal review ; E. E., and Frank, of Marion, Ohio.
Remaining a member of the parental household until twenty- one years of age, Charles C. Vannatta obtained the rudiments of his education in the rural schools of his native district, after which he attended the public schools of Ada and the Iberia College. He began life for himself as a teacher, but for the past twenty-four years has been identified with mercantile affairs in Iberia.
Mr. Vannatta married, November 6, 1890, Mary E. Kerr, of Marion, Ohio, and they are the parents of three children, namely : Dwight, born April 7, 1892, is a grachiate of the Iberia public schools and of the Iberia College; Forest, born November 5, 1896; and Lowell, born April 24, 1900.
Politically Mr. Vannatta is one of the leading Republicans of his district, and as a loyal, public-spirited citizen has never shirked the responsibility of office. He has served efficiently as a member
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of the Iberia Board of Education; was for twelve years clerk of Washington township; and on the first Monday of August, 1911, will assume the office of county clerk of Morrow county, a position to which he was elected by a majority of one hundred and thirty- eight votes in his own township, in which the Republicans nsually have but thirty-five majority, while his majority of the votes cast in Morrow county amounted to six hundred and two. Fraternally Mr. Vannatta is a member and past chancellor of Iberia Lodge, No. 561, Knights of Pythias.
HARRY B. MCMILLIN .- Progress is man's distinctive mark alone, and it is fortunate for the world that there have been those who could triumph over the forces of circumstances and environ- ment and through their resourceful energies contribute to the march of development and progress. The efficient and popular cashier of the National Bank of Morrow connty, at Mount Gilead, may well be given alignment among those who have bravely met and overcome adverse conditions and have won success and honor through their own sterling attributes and well directed efforts. ITe has been practically dependent upon his own resources since his - boyhood days, and, setting to himself a high standard, nonc can deny that he has pressed steadily and earnestly forward to the mark or large and worthy accomplishment as one of the world's noble army of productive workers. Mr. MeMillin is a native son of Morrow county and here has found ample scope for the accom- plishment of marked success along normal lines of enterprise, while his conrse has been so ordered as to give him secure place in the confidence and esteem of the community that has ever represented his home and in which he thus sets at naught any application of the scriptural apothegm that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country."
Harry Bradley MeMillin was born in Mount Gilead, the judicial center of Morrow connty, Ohio, on the 3d of March, 1870, and is a son of Reverend Milton and Nancy (Mercer) McMillin, the former of whom was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and the latter in Knox county, Ohio. Reverend MeMillin was a man of fine intellectual attainments and was comparatively a young man at the time of his death. He was gradnated in Washington and Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, and then prepared himself for the ministry of the Presbyterian church, in which he was duly ordained. He labored with all of zeal and devotion in his high calling for a period of fifteen years, at the expiration of which he was summoned from the scene of life's mortal endeavors, at Lexington, Ohio, in 1876, at which time he was forty-three years of age. He held various pastoral charges, in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and he assumed the pastorate of the Presbyterian church in Monnt Gilead about 1866, retaining this incumbency until shortly before his death. His wife, a woman of gracious personality
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and much culture, had been a successful and popular teacher in a seminary at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, prior to their marriage, and she long survived him, having continued her residence in Mount Gilead until she was summoned to the life eternal, in December, 1908, at the venerable age of seventy-eight years. She won the affectionate regard of all who came within the sphere of her gentle and kindly influence, and her memory is revered in the little city that so long represented her home. At the time of her husband's death he was left with but slender financial resources and upon her frail shoulders was placed the heavy burden of rearing her five little sons, ranging in age from four to twelve years, to lives of usefulness and honor. Bravely did this noble woman face the grave responsibility thus devolved upon her, and in after years she was not denied her reward, for her children were ready indeed to "rise up and call her blessed," the while they accorded her the utmost filial solicitude. All of her sons have made for themselves places of usefulness in connection with the practical activities of life, and two of the number have followed in the footsteps of their father, in that they have become valued and able members of the clergy of the Presbyterian church: Walter L., the eldest of the sons, is gen- eral manager of the Yeomans & Shedd Hardware Company, one of the leading wholesale concerns of Danville, Illinois; Reverend Edward M. is pastor of the Presbyterian church at East Liver- pool, Ohio; Frank B. is general manager of the Hydraulic Press Manufacturing Company, of Mount Gilead, Ohio; Harry B., whose name initiates this review, was the next in order of birth; and Rev- erend Frederick N., the youngest of the sons, is pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Walnut Hills, a beautiful suburb of the city of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Harry B. MeMillin was about six years of age at the time of his father's death, and when a mere boy he secured work in a brick yard and tile mill, by means of which occupation he largely provided for his own maintenance, besides assisting his widowed mother. In the meanwhile he was not denied the advantages of the excellent public schools of his native place, though he worked assiduously during the vacation seasons and at other times when the average boy was at play. He has never regretted the dis- cipline thus involved and does not feel that he was in the least deprived of the heritage of the average youth. He was finally enabled to complete the currienhim of the Mount Gilead high school, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1887, and thereafter he entered Wooster University but abandoned his university course to assume the position of elerk in the National Bank of Morrow County, with which institution he has been con- nected with continuously for nearly a quarter of a century, within which, through faithful and efficient service, he has advanced step by step until he has become its cashier-an office to which he was elected in 1905. The other members of the executive corps
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of the bank are as liere noted: M. Burr Talmage, president; Mel- vin B. Talmage, vice president; and the directorate includes, in addition to these officers, Dr. Nathan Tucker, Calvin H. Wood, Asa V. Miracle, William Edward Miller, Amza A. Whitney, J. Charles Criswell, Harry S. Cruikshank, and Bryant B. Lewis. The National Bank of Morrow County is recognized as one of the sub- stantial and ably managed financial institutions of this part of the state, and it bases its operations upon ample capital and the repre- sentative personnel of its stockholders, all of whom are men of prominence and sterling worth of character. The specific capital stock of the bank is fifty thousand dollars, but through accumulated earnings this amount has been doubled, while during the regime of Mr. MeMillin as cashier the deposits and other resources of the bank have increased fully one-half. Conservative policies are fol- lowed in all departments and the resources now aggregate more than five hundred thousand dollars. It is uniformly conceded that Mr. MeMillin has been a potent factor in the upbuilding of the splendid business of this bank, and he has gained precedence as one of the essentially representative business men of his native city, where he is also known as a citizen of utmost loyalty and public spirit, well worthy of the unequivocal esteem in which he is held in the community which has ever been his home and in which he has risen to success on the ladder of his own building. His career offers both lesson and incentive to aspiring young men who are dependent upon their own exertions and powers in fighting the battle of life, for like him they may hold the needle true to the pole-star of faith and hope and thus "work out their own salva- tion."
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