USA > Ohio > Preble County > History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions > Part 42
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To William S. and Mary A. (Geeting) May, who were married Feb- ruary 3, 1870, eight children were born, seven of whom still are living, as follows: Lora B., born November 12, 1870, married Murray L. Peters, by whom she had two children, Homer D. and Edna B. Mr. Peters died in June, 1910, and Mrs. Peters later married George Free and lives in Oxford, Ohio; William, born October 13, 1872, lives in Camden, Ohio; Lucretia Ellen, born March 15, 1874, married Henry G. Boesenburg, to whom seven children were born, four of whom are still living, May L., George, Paul and Hilda. Mrs. Boesenburg died September 8, 1908; Howard, born April 29, 1876, resides in Camden; Harry W., born November 26, 1877, also resides in Camden; Jessie, born October 24, 1882, married Charles Benson and to them five children were born, all of whom are living, James Robert, Irene, Pauline, Charles R. and Jessie M .; Glenna M., born November 18, 1886, wife of the subject of this biographical narrative, and Margaret C., born April 15, 1890, who also resides in Camden.
Phillip May, the paternal great-grandfather of Mrs. Simpson, was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and came to Preble county at a very early date in the settlement of this section of the state. He was a skilled black- smith and followed this vocation with success up to the time of his death. His son, John L. May, grandfather of. Mrs. Simpson, was a farmer of prom- inence in this county, whose death occurred December 29, 1906. He was born near Eaton November 1, 1822, and on April 18, 1842, was married to Margaret McGriff, who survived him about one year, her death occurring in 1907.
William S. May, Mrs. Simpson's father, was an honored soldier in the Civil War, who is now living a retired life in Camden, enjoying the fruits of his many years of industrious activity. On November 27, 1863, he en- listed in Company D), Thirty-fifth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which regiment he did service for the cause of the Union until the fall of 1864, when he was transferred to Company C, Eighteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served until the close of the war and was discharged from the service on May 16, 1865, at Chattanooga, Tennessee. After the war Mr. May returned to his home in Preble county and resumed
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farming, which vocation he followed till the year 1870, when he went into the harness business, opening an establishment in Camden. He was in busi- ness three years at Camden and then moved to Lewisburg, this county, where he continued four years. He next removed to Fairhaven, where he was in business eleven years. He then moved back to Camden, where he continued in business until 1911, when he retired.
To Ray R. and Glenna (May) Simpson two children have been born, Miriam Louise, born March 14, 1906, and Harry Malcolm, born January 7, 1911, who are a continual source of sunshine in the happy home of the young editor and his wife.
Ray R. Simpson, in addition to his editorial and public duties, finds time for a proper indulgence in the social and fraternal activities of the town in which his paper takes so prominent a part in the molding of public opinion, and is found in the forefront of all movements having to do with the extension of the public welfare. He is prominent in the activities of the Masonic order, being a member of the local lodge of the Free and Ac- cepted Masons, as well as a member of the lodge of the Independent Or- der of Odd Fellows and the lodge of the Knights of Pythias in Camden, and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Hamilton. Ohio. Mr. Simpson's paper is regarded as a fair reflector of the current life of the community which it so ably serves, and under the present man- agement of the young editor is constantly growing in favor with the peo- ple of Preble county.
CHARLES H. MARSHALL.
Dependent very largely upon his own resources from his early youth, Charles H. Marshall has attained no insignificant success and though he may have, like most men of affairs, encountered obstacles and met with re- verses, he has pressed steadily onward and upward, ever willing to work for the end in view. His tenacity and fortitude are due, no doubt in a large measure, to the worthy traits inherited from sterling ancestors, whose high ideals and correct principles he has ever sought to perpetuate in all of his personal and business relations of life.
Charles H. Marshall, the present efficient and genial postmaster of New Paris, Ohio, was born February 10, 1874, in Jefferson township, Preble county, the son of Alexander and Lydia (Bowman) Marshall, the former also a native of Jefferson township, the son of Hugh Marshall, a
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native of Virginia, who came west early in life, located in Preble county and lived here the remainder of his days. Lydia Bowman, Mr. Marshall's. mother, was the daughter of Robert Bowman, a native of Maryland, who migrated to Ohio and finally to Kansas, where he died.
Alexander and Lydia (Bowman) Marshall were the parents of four children, William H., a farmer of Jefferson township; Charles H., the sub- ject of this sketch; Leonard, deceased; and Edith, who was the wife of Albert R. Cotterell.
The greater part of Charles H. Marshall's early life was spent in New Paris, Ohio, and he was graduated from the New Paris high school with the class of 1891. After his graduation he was employed in a lawn-mower factory at Richmond, Indiana, and served as foreman of the factory for fourteen years. In 1906 Mr. Marshall engaged in the cement burial-vault business at Richmond, Cambridge City and Connersville, Indiana, and is now proprietor of branch plants in all of these towns. At Richmond Mr. Marshall is also engaged in the general cement business and there he owns. a large and profitable gravel pit. Every bit of property which Mr. Mar- shall owns he has acquired by his own labor and his own management. He now owns the building in which the New Paris postoffice is situated and also owns his own home in New Paris.
Charles H. Marshall was united in marriage with Myrtle M. White, a native of Pennsylvania, who was graduated from the schools at Cora, Pennsylvania. To this union has been born one son, Leonard, born April 30, 1908.
Mr. Marshall is a Democrat and he has been active in county and state politics. He is the present secretary of the Preble county Democratic cen- tral committee and was appointed postmaster of New Paris, August 15, 1913. He still holds this office and is discharging the duties to the entire satisfaction of the people of the community which he serves. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall are active members of the Presbyterian church. Fraternally, Mr. Marshall is a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and of the Druids, his membership in both orders being held in the lodges at Rich- mond, Indiana. Mr. Marshall is an honorable citizen of the city and county where he lives and his reputation as a successful business man is builded upon worthy principles of justice and fair dealings. Aside from the cares of his heavy business connection, Mr. Marshall is a public-spirited citizen and devotes both his time and his money to worthy public enterprises. He is one of the most popular residents of Preble county and one of the best known.
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JOSEPH MARSHALL.
The fourth generation of the Marshall family is included among the representative citizens of Preble county, that is, the fourth generation in descent from the ancestor from whom descended the family of the subject of this biographical sketch, all of whom, in their day and generation have reflected credit upon the family name and have added no little to the sub- stantial worth of the county in which the first of the family settled one hundred years ago. This is a fact of which any American family might well be proud. A centennial of continuous residence in one community is a matter of which not many families in this comparatively newly settled section of the country can boast and it is a pleasure for the biographer here to set out for the consideration of future generations something of the be- ginnings of the Marshall family in this part of Ohio, and of the lives and works of the successive descendants of that family in the neighborhood in which they for so many years have played a prominent part, and where they are regarded as among the most substantial and respected residents of the county.
James Marshall, the first of the name to settle in this county, was a native of Ireland, having been born in the Emerald Isle about the year 1785. Like so many of the most aggressive and forceful of his compatriots he came to America upon reaching manhood's estate, bent upon finding in the glorious new country which had just shaken off the galling yoke of the hated oppressor, the freedom which so long had been denied his people in their own loved land. He first tried his fortune in the state of Georgia, where he married Elizabeth Wilson, also a native of Ireland, but finding conditions there not what he had expected them to be, moved to Ohio in the year 1817 and settled in section 5 of Israel township, Preble county, pre-empting from the government a farm which still is in the possession of the Marshall family. On this farm he wrought well, doing with con- scientious care those things which his hand found to do and he and his good helpmate effectually "blazed the ways" for their descendants, the fourth generation of whom today find conditions immeasurably better by reason of the labors of this faithful pair, the memory of whom is held in high veneration by those who have followed them in this community.
To the union of James and Elizabeth (Wilson) Marshall were born nine children. John Marshall, one of these nine, who was born in 1815, was reared on the home farm, where he remained until his marriage in 1839 to Lydia Stephenson, who was born in 1816 and who died in 1879. To John and Lydia (Stephenson) Marshall nine children were born. They
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first took a farm in Israel township, near the parental home, west of Fair Haven. Later they bought the farm east of Fair Haven, where the sub- ject of this sketch was born, and here they reared their family in habits of industry and in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, all being devout members of the United Presbyterian church at Fair Haven, a religious organization whose influence for good in the community, where it so long has stood faithfully for all things of good report is beyond calculation. John Marshall followed farming all his life. He was regarded as one of the most substantial farmers of his neighborhood, a veritable pillar in the upbuilding of the community life of Israel township, he and his devoted wife ever being active in all local good works, their memories being held in the most grateful remembrance throughout that whole section. Politically, John Marshall was a stanch Republican and though never an office seeker his counsels always were held of value in the deliberations of the party managers in Preble county. He died in the year 1886, his wife having preceded him to the grave several years, her death having occurred in 1879.
Of the nine children born to John and Lydia (Stephenson) Marshall, five are still living, they and their children doing all that in them lies to hand down to succeeding generations the excellent heritage of a good name which descended to them from their sterling forbears. Elizabeth Mar- shall, now deceased, the first of the nine children above mentioned, was the wife of William R. Hays; James W. lives in Dayton, Ohio; Mary L. lives in Dayton with her brother; Joseph, the immediate subject of this genealogical sketch, is one of the best-known residents of Israel township; Alexander F. lives at Dayton; Margaret, the wife of William Reed, died in 1902; John H. was accidentally killed by the caving in of a well in the year 1888; William S., former treasurer of the township, and one of the most substantial citizens of Preble county, died May 18, 1908. The fourth child of Mr. and Mrs. John Marshall died in infancy.
William S. Marshall was born August 3, 1858, and received his early education in the schools of his native township, which course of instruction he supplemented with a course in the public schools of Oxford, Ohio. On December 27, 1881, he married Clara C. Fisher, a daughter of Daniel and Mary Smith Fisher, and to this union four children were born, all of whom are still living, as follow: Fred C., born May 26, 1883, lives on a farm on the west edge of Dixon township; Bertha F., born May 19, 1886, married Ralph Ross and lives on their farm southwest of Oxford, Ohio; Harry C., born September 17, 1889, lives with his mother at Fair Haven; Flora G., born March 26, 1893, also lives with her mother at Fair Haven.
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William S. Marshall followed the life of an active and progressive agriculturalist all his life. He was a man of excellent executive capacity and it is undoubted that he exerted a wide and useful influence in his com- munity during his active career. He was a Republican and took a promi- nent part in the deliberations of his party in local affairs and served for one term as treasurer of Israel township. He and his family were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the affairs of which they ever took an active part. For a few years after his death in 1908 his widow remained on the farm, but in the spring of 1911 she moved into Fair Haven, where she has a very comfortable home.
Joseph Marshall, the second son and sixth child of John and Lydia (Stephenson) Marshall, who now occupies the old Marshall farm, though having retired from the active management of the same some fifteen years ago, received a common-school education, and, remaining on the home farm, proved to be his father's mainstay in the conduct of his extensive farming operations. He never married and still lives in the old homestead, in the house in which he was born, where he is very comfortably situated and where he is in a position to take life easily, a privilege of which he is avail- ing himself fully. He has an excellent automobile and finds much pleasure in going about the neighborhood keeping in close touch with the good folk with whom his whole life has been spent. Mr. Marshall is one of the most influential members of the United Presbyterian church at Fair Haven, in the social and religious work of which he takes an active and an interested part. Few men in this county possess more of intrinsic worth than does Mr. Marshall and he fully merits the very high esteem in which he is re- garded by the whole community.
GRANVILLE M. KUMLER.
Success in this life is almost always won by the truly deserving. It is an axiom demonstrated by human experience that a man gets out of this life what he puts into it with a reasonable interest on the investment. The individual who inherits a large estate and adds nothing to his fortune can- not be called a successful man. He who falls heir to a large fortune and in- creases its value is successful in proportion to the amount he adds to his possessions. The man who starts in the world unaided and by sheer force of will controlled by correct principles, forges ahead and at length reaches
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a position of honor among his fellow citizens, achieves success such as rep- resentatives of the two former classes can not understand nor appreciate. To a considerable extent, Granville M. Kumler is a creditable representa- tive of the last class, a class which has furnished much of the bone and sinew of the country and added to the stability of our government and its institutions. Mr. Kumler is a successful newspaper man, but he has been honored by his fellow citizens and is now the mayor of Lewisburg, Ohio.
Granville M. Kumler was born October 13, 1873, in Harrison township, Preble county, Ohio, the son of Julius A. and Rachel A. (Cullers) Kum- ler, who were married in 1872 and were the parents of four children : Gran- ville M., who was the eldest; Harry, who lives in Dayton, Ohio; Mrs. Kath- erine Dunkle, of Brookville, and James A., who resides in Michigan.
Julius A. Kumler was born January 14, 1849, at Lewisburg, Preble county, Ohio. Upon reaching manhood he became a farmer in Clay town- ship, Montgomery county, Ohio, and was very active in the life of that com- munity. He was a well-read man and keenly interested in literature, being a great reader of Shakespeare and other standard classics. He taught school two terms in Montgomery county, Ohio, in an early day and was successful in this profession. Julius Kumler was the son of Henry P. and Catherine (Zehring) Kumler, natives of western Ohio. Henry P. Kumler's father also was named Henry, there having been a Kumler of this name in the last four generations. The wife of Julius A. Kumler, the mother of Gran- ville M., was born February 5, 1855, in Preble county, Ohio, a daughter of John O. and Mary (Elzter) Cullers, natives of Maryland and Ohio, re- spectively, both of whom are now living in Brookville, Ohio.
Granville M. Kumler was reared on a farm in Clay township, Mont- gomery county, having been born on the same farm where his mother was born. He attended the district schools and the high school of Clay town- ship and also the high school at Union City, Ohio, from which he was graduated. He taught school in Union City, Ohio, for two terms and later taught in Montgomery and Preble counties. At the end of this period of service he went to Dayton, Ohio, and worked for a publishing firm for five years as a shipping clerk, after which he traveled as a salesman for three years. In 1906 Mr. Kumler purchased the printing plant which publishes the Lewisburg Leader. This paper had a circulation at that time of about five hundred and fifty weekly papers. Mr. Kumler has built up the circu- lation until it now has a circulation of approximately eleven hundred. In 1909 he was elected mayor of Lewisburg and made an enviable record in that position of trust and responsibility. He always has been a booster for
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his home county and is a wide-awake and enterprising business man, having won many friends in consequence of his habits of fair dealing. Mr. Kumler has property in Lewisburg, comprising five acres of town lots, besides his residence.
On September 6, 1899, Granville M. Kumler was married to Bessie Bunger, who was born. November 9. 1874, in Harrison township, Preble county, the daughter of Samuel and Mary (Disher) Bunger, natives of Preble county, who are now living in Lewisburg, Ohio. Mrs. Kumler was reared on a farm and was married at the place where she was born. She was graduated from the Harrison township high school and is a woman of strong domestic tastes, an excellent housekeeper, a good mother and loving and devoted to her husband. To this union four children have been born. Henry, Charles and Kathryn, all of whom are at home; and Samuel, who died at the age of five years.
Politically, Mr. Kumler is a Republican. He is a member of the Lutheran church, the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as of the United Commercial Travelers of America. He also is a member of the Buckeye Press Association of Ohio. Mr. Kumler has done very much, not only for the town in which he lives, but for Preble county, and no history of this county would be complete that did not carry the facts of his life's history.
GEORGE W. REHFUSS.
It is not unfair to judge the success of a man somewhat by the estima- tion in which he is held by his neighbors and acquaintances. They are familiar with his life in the family circle and his views on religious, social and public questions. They are acquainted with his moral standard and, there- fore, competent to judge of his merits and demerits. When a man has been honored repeatedly by the people who know him best, these honors cannot be regarded except as marks of distinction and credit to his personal worth. Such a man is George W. Rehfuss, the county auditor of Preble county Ohio.
George W. Rehfuss was born in Eaton, Ohio, June 3, 1857, the son of John Martin and Susan J. (Goldsmith) Rehfuss, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Washington township. Preble county. They had five children : William, of Newcastle, Indiana; George W., the subject of
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this sketch; Mary Frances, who died at the age of three years; Albert, who died in 1911, and one who died in infancy.
John Martin Rehfuss was reared in Germany, coming to America and locating in Eaton, this county, in 1848. He was a currier and tanner and operated a tannery at Eaton. He died in West Alexandria, Ohio, in 1881, at the age of twenty-eight. His widow died March 21, 1899, at the age of sixty-five. They were members of the Christian church, and Mr. Rehfuss was a member of the Masonic fraternity.
The paternal grandparents of George W. Rehfuss were Martin Rehfuss and wife, natives of Germany, where they both died. They were the par- ents of the following children: George, Martin, Catherine, Anna and a Mrs. Roller.
The maternal grandparents of George W. Rehfuss were William and Mary (Null) Goldsmith, natives of Delaware, who, about the year 1801, came to Preble county, Ohio, and settled in Gasper township, where Mr. Goldsmith was a farmer. He died here at the age of eighty-five and his wife at the age of eighty-two. They were the parents of seven children, John, Edward. George, Pliney, Mary Ann, Margaret and Susan.
George W. Rehfuss was reared on his grandfather's farm in Wash- ington township. He attended school at West Alexandria and later was a student in the Preble county district schools. He lived at home until four- teen years old and then began learning the blacksmith trade, which he fol- lowed for fifteen years. At the end of that time Mr. Rehfuss went into the grocery business in Eaton and remained in that business for eight years. In 1893 Mr. Rehfuss was appointed postmaster at Eaton and served five years in that capacity, in which he made a splendid record. He then returned to the grocery business, in which he is now engaged. In November. 1912, he was elected county auditor, which office he is now filling. He also has served as township treasurer for two terms and as corporation treasurer for two terms, being the first Democratic treasurer in thirty years. He was con- stable of Jackson township at one time. Repeated honors in public posi- tions are the strongest testimonials which could be presented in behalf of Mr. Rehfuss's efficiency, integrity and courage.
On November 21, 1878, George W. Rehfuss was married to Anna B. Flora, the daughter of Christian and Sarah (Potter) Flora, to which union two children have been born, Ernest C. and Pearl S. Ernest C. is employed in his father's grocery. Pearl S. married William E. Wyatt, and they live in Elkhart, Indiana. They have one daughter, Anna Belle C., and a son, Richard George.
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Mrs. Rehfuss was born in Jackson township, Preble county, Ohio. Her father was born near Roanoke, Virginia, and her mother in Preble county. Her father died in 1907, but her mother is still living. They had four children, Edwin, Perry C., Lavina and Anna. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Rehfuss were natives of Virginia and early settlers in Preble county. To them were born Jonathan, Christian and Peter. The maternal grand- parents of Mrs. Rehfuss were David Potter and wife, who were the parents of six children, Lou, David, Sarah, Lida, Anna and Susan.
Mr. and Mrs. Rehfuss are loyal members of the Christian church. Mr. Rehfuss belongs to Eaton Lodge No. 30, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows; Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 143; the Improved Order of Red Men No. 73; and Hamilton Lodge No. 93. Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is an ardent Democrat and has been active in the councils of his party in Preble county. The Rehfuss family are socially popular in Preble county and influential factors in civic and religious enterprises of every kind.
FLOYD O. PANSING.
There is nothing which stimulates a man to deeds of worth and a life of uprightness and rectitude more than the recollection of the strength of character and example of right living shown by one's father. In this respect, Floyd O. Pansing, a banker at Verona, Ohio, is fortunate beyond the ma- jority of men. His father was a man of strength and influence in his com- munity and Mr. Pansing always has had before him the splendid example of an honorable and God-fearing father. In the business affairs of Harrison county, Floyd O. Pansing occupies a position of considerable prominence and is to be ranked among the most influential factors in promoting and maintaining the agricultural prosperity of this section of Preble county.
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