History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, Part 44

Author: R. E. Lowry
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 985

USA > Ohio > Preble County > History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions > Part 44

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Charles E. Michael was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, July 25, 1870, the son of George P. and Sarah (Myers) Michael. George P. Michael was born in Maryland December 9, 1834, a son of John and Char- lotte (Dull) Michael. John Michael was a son of Peter Michael, who came from Maryland in an early day and located near Sunbury, Ohio. John Michael was married in his native state of Maryland and moved to Sun- bury with his parents, but later moved to a farm near Liberty, Montgomery county, Ohio, and there he spent the remainder of his life and reared his

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family. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, all of whom were residents and highly-respected citizens of Montgomery county, Ohio ..

George P. Michael was reared on his father's farm and was educated in the commonschools of Montgomery county. He was twice married, first to Sarah Myers, in February, 1856, to which union were born eight children, as follow : Ella, the wife of Martin Young; Noah, deceased; Mary A., un- married; Lucinda, the wife of C. T. Mathias; Emma, the wife of George W. Weaver; Amanda, the wife of Perry Forest, and Perry, who married Loretta Rawheat. The mother of these children died in January, 1874, and afterwards George Michael married Mary Rauch; to which second union three children were born : Jesse P., George O. and Albert I. Mrs. Mary Michael died in 1908, and Mr. Michael is now a resident of Germantown, Ohio. He has been a life-long member of the United Brethren church and has held many important offices in that denomination.

Charles E. Michael, with whom this narrative deals, is the youngest child of his father's first marriage, and was reared on his father's farm in Jackson township, Montgomery county, Ohio. He received his early edu- cation in the district schools of his home township, and in 1890-92 was a student in Otterbein University, at Westerville, Ohio, where he took the classical course. After leaving college he engaged in teaching, beginning his service in this connection in the schools of Montgomery and Preble counties, and continued in this work for seven years.

Since Mr. Michael's marriage he has lived in Preble county, Ohio, five years of this time having been spent in Eaton. Mr. Michael's farm consists of one hundred and forty-nine acres. He is an extensive breeder of high- grade stock, including much that is registered, and has met with an eminent degree of success in this line.

On February 16, 1904, Charles E. Michael was married to Dora Fad- ler, daughter and fourth child of John and Mary (Saur) Fadler. John F. Fadler was born in Germany and came to the United States, locating in Preble county, Ohio, where he lived until his death in 1900. His wife sur- vived him until 1907. They were the parents of six children, three of whom are living; the other two being William H., who is unmarried and lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and Charles D., who married Ida Flora and lives in Lanier township.

Charles E. Michael and wife are the parents of two children: Dorothy E., born July 2, 1907, and Robert H., born November 16, 1910.

The Michael family are members of the First Christian church, of (30)

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Eaton, Ohio, and active workers in the congregation to which they are at- tached. Mr. Michael is a Republican, but has never taken an especially active part in political affairs. Mr. and Mrs. Michael are popular in the community in which they live, having a host of friends in Eaton and Wash- ington township, and Mr., Michael must be considered as one of the repre- sentative citizens of Preble county.

HON. OSCAR SHEPPARD.

One of Preble county's best-known citizens, a man who for many years was prominent in the official life of the state of Ohio, who served with dis- tinction as a member of the various institutional boards, who was a distin- guished member of both branches of the Ohio General Assembly and who is an able lawyer, is the Hon. Oscar Sheppard, of West Alexandria. One of the distinctive functions of this volume is to recognize those citizens of Preble county, who stand pre-eminent in their professional world and in this connection the Hon. Oscar Sheppard is entitled to wide recognition. Not only has he attained an enviable standing in the legal profession, but he is likewise one of the leaders of the commercial and industrial life of Preble county. His part in the building of railroads, which has added so much to the growth and progress of his native town, justly entitles him to the high honor and unselfish esteem bestowed upon him by his neighbors and fellow townsmen.

Oscar Sheppard was born on a farm in the highlands of Muskingum county, Ohio, July 15, 1845, the son of Lenox and Ellen (McLain) Shep- pard. His father was a native of Somerset, Pennsylvania, born in 1815. and his mother was a native of Muskingum county, Ohio.

The paternal grandparents of Oscar Sheppard were Lenox and Sarah (Elderton) Sheppard, who came from Somerset, Pennsylvania, to Muskin- gum county, Ohio, when Lenox. Jr., was eight years old. The Sheppards came to America long before the Revolution and the McLains were of Scotch- Irish origin. The maternal grandparents of Mr. Sheppard were Alan and Elizabeth ( Beckwith) Mclain. On both sides of his family, Mr. Shep- pard's ancestors have mostly been farmers.

Lenox Sheppard, Jr., the father of Hon. Oscar Sheppard, operated a farm in Muskingum county. Ohio, and also conducted a large cooperage shop at Circleville. In 1854 his wife died and two years later he removed with his family to Licking county, Ohio, where he purchased a farm near

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the city of Newark, where he lived until 1875, in which year he retired and spent the remainder of his life in Newark, his death occurring in 1882.

Oscar Sheppard was the-second of five children. Nelson W., the eldest child, enlisted in the Seventy-sixth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry and . was wounded in the Red River campaign. He died on a steamer while being transported to the hospital and his body lies in the National cemetery at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Edith E., the third child, is the widow of Wilson S. White and lives at Newark. William M. is a retired agricultural imple- ment dealer, of Newark. Edgar Lenox, the youngest, was killed in the collapse of a building at Newark. Oscar Sheppard's father was an early and life-long member of the Methodist church. He was a Republican and before the foundation of the Republican party was an ardent Abolitionist.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Oscar Sheppard was attending the country schools of Licking county. With two other schoolmates, he en- listed in Company C, Twenty-seventh Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, July 18, 1861, being then only sixteen years old. He took part in a great many severe engagements during the war, among which were the following: Lexington. Missouri, September 19, 1861 ; Springfield, Missouri, November I, 1861 ; Blackwater, Missouri, December 18, 1861 ; Little Blue River, Mis- souri, December 21, 1861; New Madrid, Missouri, March 3 to April 7, 1862; Tiptonville, Tennessee, April 8. 1862; Island No. 10, April 8, 1862; Fort Pillow, Tennessee, April 13, 1862; Monterey, Tennessee, April 29, 1862; Farmington, Mississippi, May 3 to May 30, 1862; Corinth (siege), Mississippi, May 5 to May 8, 1862; Iuka, Mississippi, September 19. 1862; Corinth, Mississippi, October 3-4, 1862; Parker's Crossing and Clifton, Tennessee, December 31, 1862; Tuscumbia, Alabama, April 24. 1863; Town Creek, Alabama, April 28, 1863: Nonconnah Creek, Tennessee, June 29, 1863; Decatur, Alabama, March 8, 1864: Snake Creek Gap, Georgia, May 9, 1864: Resaca, Georgia, May 9 to May 16, 1863: Oostenaula River Bridge, Georgia, May 13. 1864; Dallas, Georgia, May 25 to June 4. 1863; Kenesaw Mountain. Georgia, June 9 to June 30, 1863: Kenesaw Mountain (general assault), June 27. 1863: Kenesaw Mountain (capture ). July 3, 1863; Nick- o-jack Creek, Georgia, July 3 to July 5, 1864: Ruff's Mills, Georgia. July 4. 1864: Chattahoochee River, Georgia, July 5-10, 1864; Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, July 19, 1864, and Atlanta, Georgia, July 22, 1864.

At Atlanta, Georgia, on July 22, Mr. Sheppard was severely wounded, and after some weeks in the field hospital was sent home on a thirty-days' furlough, at the expiration of which time he was sent to a large convalescent camp at Decatur, Georgia, where he was detained for duty in the provost marshal's office. At this camp was organized a provisional division under

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Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher, in which Mr. Sheppard was placed in com- mand of a company. The organization went to Nashville, Tennessee, and from there to Cincinnati, Baltimore and Annapolis. From the latter point they took a steamer to Beauford. They marched inland to join their various regiments under General Sherman, and while on the way had several engage- ments, the principal one at Kingston, North Carolina. Mr. Sheppard re- joined his regiment at Bentonville, and was in the battle at that place March 21, 1865. Later the regiment went to Goldsboro, Raleigh and Johnston's Station, and was present at the surrender of Johnston's army at Durham Sta- tion. After the 4th of July, 1864, Mr. Sheppard was the youngest man in his regiment. Before being mustered out he was promoted from corporal to regimental sergeant-major, the highest non-commissioned office. He went with his regiment to Washington, D. C., and participated in the Grand Re- view, and was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, on July 11, 1865, after four years of service in the Union army.

At the close of the war, Mr. Sheppard returned home and entered high school at Newark. During his last years there, he served as substitute teacher, following which he entered the National Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio, taking an elective course. He attended school and taught alternately to earn the money to complete his education.

In the fall of 1869 Mr. Sheppard came to Preble county to teach a district school. Two years later he located in West Alexandria and for the next six years was principal of the West Alexandria schools. During the time he was teaching, Mr. Sheppard studied law with Judge Reece, of Newark, Ohio, and with Campbell & Gilmore, of Eaton. In 1877 he was admitted to the bar. He began his practice at West Alexandria and has been continuously engaged in the practice of law since that date.

In 1877 Mr. Sheppard was married to Alice Carey Gale, the daughter of John and Catherine ( Halderman) Gale. Mrs. Sheppard is a sister of Oscar Gale, whose biographical sketch may be found elsewhere in this vol- ume and in which the genealogy of the Gale family is given. To Oscar and Alice Carey (Gale) Sheppard three children have been born, all of whom were graduated from the West Alexandria high school, Bayard G., Ruth and Marie. Bayard G. took a course in civil engineering at the Lebanon State Normal and for several years was assistant county surveyor and en- gaged in railroad construction. Ruth took a musical course at Ohio Wes- leyan University at Delaware and married C. D. Coffman. They reside in Wheeling, West Virginia. Marie attended the Oxford Normal and for several years has been a teacher in the West Alexandria public schools.

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Mr. Sheppard has been a Republican all his life. For ten years he served as a member of the board of school examiners for Preble county. In 1881 he was elected to the state Legislature and was re-elected in 1883. In the Legislature he served on the following committees: Insurance, library, military affairs, revision and schools and school lands. In 1897 he was elected a state senator for Preble and Montgomery counties and was re-elected in 1899. During his first term he served on the following com- mittees : Benevolent institutions, finance, judiciary, municipal corporations No. I, military affairs, penitentiary, railroads and telegraphs, rules and taxa- tion, being chairman of the latter committee. During his second term, Mr. Sheppard served as president pro tem of the Senate, by the unanimous choice of the Republican members of that body. He also served on the following committees : Railroads and telegraph, benevolent institutions, penitentiary, soldiers' and sailors' home, fees and salaries, military affairs, taxation and rules, being chairman of the two latter committees. While chairman of the committee on rules, he codified and consolidated the rules of both Senate and House and brought them together in a single volume. From 1892 to 1898, first by appointment by Governor Mckinley, he was one of the trustees of the Dayton state hospital. He resigned this position upon his election to the Senate. During 1902 and 1903, by appointment by Governor Harris, he served as a member of the board of trustees for the Ohio state school for the blind. From 1884 to 1887 Mr. Sheppard's time was taken up largely with the construction and routing of the Cincinnati Northern Rail- road. He was instrumental in having this road come through West Alex- andria and follow the route which it does. For a number of years after this road was built, and until it became a part of the Vanderbilt system, Mr. Sheppard was a member of its board of directors. Mr. Sheppard was one of the incorporators and builders of the Dayton & Western traction line, running from Dayton to Eaton, Ohio, and is attorney for the Twin Valley Bank at West Alexandria.

Mr. Sheppard is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Grand Army of the Republic. When one recounts what Oscar Sheppard has done for and in behalf of the town where he has spent most of his life and the town which he calls his home, no further evidence is needed of his active public spirit. Throughout his long life he has stood for the best things and well merits the universal esteem with which he is blessed in these latter days. Few men in Preble county have been possessed of wider influence than Oscar Sheppard and few men have used that influence more unselfishly than he.

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HENRY CHAMBERS.

It is by no means an easy task to describe within the limits of this review the characteristics of a man who has led an active and eminently useful life and who, by his own exertions has reached a position of honor and trust in the community where he lives, but biography finds justification, nevertheless, in recording the essential facts of such a life history, since the public claims a certain interest in the career of every individual and the time invariably arrives when it is proper to present the proper color of publicity. Henry Chambers is a man who has risen from the ranks of enterprising farmers to a position of responsibility and trust in the town of Lewisburg, and is now serving Lewisburg and the surrounding country in the position as postmaster.

Henry Chambers was born January 31, 1857, in Twin township, Preble county, Ohio, a son of John and Elizabeth ( Hoerner) Chambers, to whom eight children were born, only two of whom are now living, Mrs. Mary Meier, of West Alexandria, this county, and Henry Chambers, whose life history is here presented.

John Chambers was born July 21, 1807, in New Jersey. In his youth he moved to Warren county, Ohio, and was there reared on a farm. Subse- quently he taught school and in 1828 he came to Preble county and engaged in farming in Twin township, where he remained until his death, in 1881. His wife, who was Elizabeth Hoerner, was born in 1811, in Pennsylvania, and died January 23, 1892. She was a daughter of John and Catherine (Wolf) Hoerner, also natives of Pennsylvania, where they lived all of their lives.

Henry Chambers was reared on his father's farm and attended the district schools. He remained at home until he was eighteen years old and then began farming for himself on rented land, continuing to farm in that fashion until 1881, in which year he purchased fifty acres of land in Harri- son township. This farm was unimproved, having only an old log cabin and a small barn in the way of buildings, both of which Mr. Chambers dis- mantled, erecting in their stead buildings of a substantial character. He specialized as a. truck farmer and was also a poultry fancier, making a specialty of Leghorn chickens. and for many years was very successful in this line of activity.

In 1875 Mr. Chambers was married to Barbara Ann Ott, who was born in 1856, in Noble county, Indiana, the daughter of John and Barbara (Link)

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Ott. To this union nine children have been born, as follows: John F., who was graduated from King's College of Oratory at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is now a lecturer under engagement with the Ridpath Lyceum Bureau, and lives at Tunkhannock. Wyoming county, Pennsylvania; Horace A., an electric motorman, lives in Dayton, Ohio; Henry, a farmer in Harrison township; William A., auditor of the telegraph department of the Penn- sylvania Railroad lines, with headquarters at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Ver- non, deceased: Carrie E., assistant postmaster at Lewisburg; Mrs. Cora Thompson, a resident of Germantown, Ohio: Howard, a student at the Southwest University, Columbus, Ohio, where he is taking a course in pharmacy, and Cecelia, at home.

In 1911 Mr. Chambers moved to Lewisburg. having been appointed postmaster of that village by President Taft. He is a stanch Republican, having cast his first vote for Robert E. Lowry. the editor of this work, when the latter was a candidate for state senator. Before his appointment as postmaster, Mr. Chambers had served three years as trustee of Harrison township and he had served on the school board for about fifteen years.

The Chambers family are active and earnest members of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and Mr. Chambers is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Not only is Mr. Chambers well known in the community in which he lives, but he is a man of excellent reputation throughout the county and in every way merits the good opinion of his neighbors and friends.

JESSE C. ROBERTS.

Each generation necessarily builds upon the foundation laid by pre- ceding generations. According to the firmness of the foundation the super- structure will be substantial or not. The future, of course, must be the judge of what character of foundation has been laid for the social, moral and commercial edifice being erected by the citizens of Preble county, Ohio. However, from what the present historian notes of the high character, the determination of purpose and the exalted standards of conduct maintained by the leaders of thought and action in this section of the state in their work of carrying on the labors of those who wrought so wisely and securely in the past, it hardly can be doubted that the superstructure of the coming civilization of this region will be all that the present generation may hope for those who shall come after. It is partly the purpose of this volume to

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preserve for the future some account of the lives and the labors of those who now are doing so well their part in bearing aloft the torch of civiliza- tion in this region, and it, therefore, is fitting and proper that biographies be here presented of those who are the leaders in this noble work. As such a purpose would be but incompletely carried out without the introduction of the biography of the gentleman whose name forms the caption of this modest sketch, it is a pleasure for the biographer here to present for the consideration of the future historian a brief resume of the life's history of former Postmaster Jesse C. Roberts, of West Elkton, Ohio, a prominent merchant of that thriving little city.

Jesse C. Roberts was born September 2. 1870, the son of John B. and Mary C. (Mikesell) Roberts, the former of whom was born in Wayne township, Butler county, Ohio, and the latter of whom was a native of Gratis township, Preble county.

John B. Roberts was born February 15, 1842, a son of Walter and Hannah (Conarroe) Roberts, the former of whom was a native of South Carolina and the latter of whom was a native of New Jersey. Walter Roberts, when a small boy, came to Ohio with his parents, who settled on a farm in Wayne township, Butler county, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Hannah Conarroe, when a girl of ten, came to Ohio with her parents, the latter settling in the same neighborhood as had been selected by the Robertses as a place for a new home. Walter and Hannah there grew up together, attending the same school and participating in the same social pleasures and there they were married. To this happy union twelve children were born, William, Rachel, Mary, Margaret, Enoch, Amy A., John B., Earl N., Walter, Elisha and Eliza (twins) and Caleb. Of this large family but four are now living, as follow: Enoch, who lives in Bos- ton, Indiana ; John B., who lives on a farm north of West Elkton; Earl N., who lives in Canyon City, Colorado, and Elisha, who lives in Gratis town- ship, this county.

For a time after his marriage with Hannah Conarroe, Walter Roberts lived on a farm in Gratis township, Preble county, Ohio, but presently selling this farm they moved to Butler county, where they bought another farm and on this they spent the remainder of their lives, the death of Mr. Roberts occurring at the age of sixty-two, his widow surviving for many years, she living to the ripe old age of eighty-eight. This worthy couple was regarded as among the most influential and useful residents of the neighborhood in which they lived and the memory of their good deeds lives after them.

John B. Roberts, father of the immediate subject of this interesting

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biographical sketch, was united in marriage November 22, 1868, with Mary Catherine Mikesell, a native of Gratis township, a daughter of Andrew and Elizabeth (Swisher) Mikesell. To this union there was born one son, Jesse Clayton, present postmaster at West Elkton and a prominent merchant of that town. In addition to the rearing of this son, Mr. and Mrs. Roberts also reared Otto Ferst, whom they took from the children's home when he was ten years of age. Otto Ferst, who now is owner of one of the finest farms in Gratis township, received his education in the district schools of the town- ship and married Elizabeth Stubbs, to which union four children were born, Howard, Arthur, Russell and Esther. The mother of these children died in 1912.

John B. Roberts owns a fine farm of seventy acres about one-half mile north of West Elkton, where he and Mrs. Roberts are living in much com- fort, enjoying the highest confidence and esteem of the entire neighborhood. Both are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the various activities of which they take an earnest and prominent part, and are equally active in all the good works of the community.

Jesse Clayton Roberts, only son of John B. and Mary Catherine ( Mikesell) Roberts, received his education in the public schools of West Elkton and was graduated from the high school of that town with the class of 1889. This excellent schooling he supplemented with a course in the Nel- son Business College at Cincinnati, after which he began clerking in a store. His experience in this position determined him to enter a commercial life, and on March 1, 1899, he opened a general store of his own in West Elkton, which he has continued to manage with much success. The Roberts store is one of the largest stores in West Elkton and well merits the fine patronage which it receives from the people of that town and surrounding community. Mr. Roberts' popularity as a merchant and as a citizen was demonstrated twelve years ago when he received the appointment as postmaster of West Elkton, a position which he filled in such a manner as to create general satis- faction among the people of the large section covered by the operations of the West Elkton postoffice. He retired from this office April 1, 1915, after nearly thirteen years of service.

On March 15. 1889. Jesse Clayton Roberts was united in marriage with Ada E. Faust, daughter of C. H. and Jennie E. ( Denice) Faust, the former of whom is a native of Pennsylvania, having been born in Norristown, that state, and the latter of whom was born in Franklin, Ohio. Both Mr. and Mrs. Faust are still living and have a very comfortable home in West Elk- ton, where they enjoy the esteem and regard of all who know them. Three

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children were born to them, only one of whom, Mrs. Roberts, is now living. Mrs. Roberts is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at West Elk- ton and takes a prominent part in the various activities of the congregation of the same.

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History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, Part 44

Author: R. E. Lowry Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Number of Pages: 985

Author: R. E. Lowry
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 985