History of Putnam County, Ohio : its peoples, industries, and institutions, Part 30

Author: Kinder, George D., 1836-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1744

USA > Ohio > Putnam County > History of Putnam County, Ohio : its peoples, industries, and institutions > Part 30

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Thomas H. Rower was reared on the farm and remained there until he was twenty years of age. He became a student in the Western Ohio Normal School at Middle Point, Ohio, in the fall of 1898, and remained there until he graduated in the spring of 1900. The following year he taught in the public schools of Leipsic and for the next four years was the superintendent of the schools at Hamler, Ohio. After the close of his last year in Hamler, in the spring of 1905, he returned to Leipsic and became the cashier of the First National Bank. He remained with this bank until its voluntary liquidation two years later, and then formed a partnership with Walter S. Stevenson in the insurance, stocks, bonds, loans and real

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estate business. This house has built up an extensive business and is now one of the substantial firms of the city.

Mr. Rower was married on June 15, 1904, to Annetta Wynn, who was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, and is a daughter of Isaac and Mar- garet (Wrightly) Wynn. Both Mrs. Rower's parents were members of old and highly-respected Philadelphia families, her father being a cousin of ex-Postmaster-General Robert Wynn. Members of family of Mr. and Mrs. Wynn were, Ernest, deceased; Ervin, a resident of Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, and Annetta, wife of the subject of this sketch.

Mr. Wynn died when Mrs. Rower was an infant and her mother later married Rev. W. H. Hyatt, a Presbyterian minister, and has since lived in a number of places, as his work took him from one city to another. Mrs. Rower is a fine musician and has taught instrumental music. Mr. and Mrs. Rower are the parents of four children, Margaret Eloise, Mary Annette, Helen Lucile and Alfred Wynn.

Mr. Rower is independent in politics, and takes an intelligent interest in the current issues of the day. He has been president of the Leipsic board of education since the beginning of 1914. He is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, and he and his wife are active workers in the Presby- terian church, in which he has been an elder for several years.

HOMER R. DAY.

One of the most illustrious, as well as one of the oldest, families in America, is the Day family, of which the gentleman whose name is noted above, a popular merchant, at Columbus Grove, Putnam county, Ohio, is an honorable representative of the present generation. To go into all the various ramfications of the Day family in America, or to set out in detail the most salient points in the lives of the numerous representatives of this family, who have rendered distinguished service to their country, would require a book larger, perhaps, than this volume and the biographer, keeping within the proper limitations prescribed in the compilation of a work of this character, must content himself with a mere side light on the beginnings of the family which will serve as an introduction to the present generation, and then conne himself to a brief biography of the gentleman whose name appears as the caption of this interesting sketch, the ninth in direct line of descent from Robert Day, the first of his name to settle in America.

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Those who are interested in the ampler history of the Day family are re- ferred to the Day Book, one of the most monumental and painstaking works of genealogical research ever printed in this country and which contains the lineage of the Days far back beyond the time the first of the name in this country reached America, early in the seventeenth century.

The Day Book traces the present family of Days, in Putnam county, of which Homer R. Day, merchant, at Columbus Grove, is perhaps the best-known local representative, back to the year 1680, in which year Robert Day arrived in Boston, from England, one of a party of earnest colonists, numbering one hundred or more, who came to this country, under the leadership of the Reverend Hooker, to find new homes. This party pene- trated the wilderness and founded the town of Hartford, Connecticut, Robert Day taking no small part in the strenuous labors of these colonists. The majority of the Days, in the earlier history, were ministers of the Gospel or farmers, and in whatever relation they served their fellow men, they did their duty as they saw it. The Rev. Jeremiah Day, sixth in line from Robert Day, was president of Yale College, from 1817 to 1846, and George Day, who wrote the Day Book, so well known to all genealogists, was also president of Yale for many years. The late Alfred H. Day, whose name for so many years was literally a household word in the neighborhood of Columbus Grove, by reason of his long connection with the mercantile inter- ests of that city, was the eighth in line from the Robert Day above mentioned; his father, the venerated Reverend Alvin Day, second, having been a son of the Reverend Jeremiah Day, referred to above as president of Yale for so long a period. There are many biographies of the Reverend Alvin Day extant, to any one of which the reader, curious for further information, is referred. Sufficient here to say that he was born in Wilberham, Massachu- setts, married Anna Maria Stebbins and died December 3, 1860, his widow surviving, until September 7, 1867.

To the Reverend Alvin and Anna Maria (Stebbins) Day thirteen chil- dren were born, of whom the late Alfred H. Day, father of Homer R., was the seventh in order of birth, the others being Harrison C., Nelson, Gilford, Lovina, Sandford, George, Olive Maria, Mary Azubah, Alvira, Jane Eliza, Walter S. and Alvin C.

Alfred H. Day, who for many years was a merchant, at Columbus Grove, and whose death on March 24, 1911, was so sincerely mourned thougrhout this whole section, was born at Wilberham, Massachusetts, January 25, 1840, the son of the Reverend Alvin and Anna Maria (Stebbins) Day, the former of whom was one of the most distinguished Baptist ministers of his day.

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Alfred attended school at Wilberham until he was sixteen years of age, when he decided to come west. Starting out alone, he proceeded to Rock- port, Illinois, where he lived for a period of two years, attending school during the winter and making his time further serviceable by clerking in a local store where he no doubt laid the foundation for his later mercantile success. He then moved to Lima, Ohio, where he was for some time en- gaged in a clerical capacity in a grain warehouse and, in 1861, came to Putnam county, locating in Columbus Grove, where for two years he en- gaged in the grain business with such success that, in 1863, he was able to purchase the general merchandise store of J. P. Jones, consisting mostly of groceries, which was located in a frame building on the west side of the street. This was his first start in the dry-goods business, in which he later became so successful. About the year 1872, Mr. Day moved this frame struc- ture and erected in its stead a fine brick building, in which he conducted his store with so much success that his business outgrew its quarters and it became necessary to enlarge the store capacity. To this end, in 1883, he enlarged the old store and erected the fine building which still stands a monument to his energy, the store which he so long conducted now being under the management of his son. There was a reason for the success which attended the efforts of the elder Day. He was a good business man, level-headed and cool, possessing excellent judgment and had a rare sense of values. In addition to this, he was always on duty, being at the store early and late, and was a master of detail. Mr. Day erected, in 1873 in Columbus Grove, one of the finest residences in the town, which is still standing, a home of unusual beauty and good taste. In the same year he built the Grove House, now known as the Witt Hotel, in Columbus Grove, and also for some time held an interest in the grain elevator in his home town. He watched his business grow with pride and, in 1893, he took into the store, as a partner, his son, Homer R. Day, who has since been con- tinuously active in the direction of the business, and who, since his father's retirement, in 1906, has been the sole owner. About five years after his retirement, at the age of seventy-two, Mr. Day passed on to his reward and many there were in this county who mourned his demise.

Alfred H. Day was a loveable man, of excellent habits, unassuming and plain-spoken, of sterling character, dependable in all his relations in life and a power in his community, his death being a distinct loss to the town. Not only was he unusually active in the mercantile life of Columbus Grove, but he paid close attention to the community's civic interests and was always interested in any movement which had, as its object, the advancement of the

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public welfare. He was a Republican and took a good citizen's part in political affairs, his wise counsel and sound judgment being of much force in the deliberations of the local party managers. For sixteen years he was treasurer of Pleasant township, and for years was also corporation treasurer of Columbus Grove, besides being a member of the town council and the school board, in all these duties giving the same studious attention to the public's business as he gave to his own personal affairs. He was a devoted member of the Presbyterian church, as are all the members of his family, being prompt in his attendance upon the services of the church and a liberal contributor to the various beneficences of the same.

Alfred H. Day was united in marriage, in 1865, to Ada L. Pease, who was born in Monson, Massachusetts, and who is now living with her chil- dren. To this union three children were born, Rose E., who married Dr. Frank H. Pugh and lives at Bryan, Ohio; Clyde, who died in infancy, and Homer R., the immediate subject of this interesting biographical sketch.

Homer R. Day, who was born at Columbus Grove, April 9, 1873, son of Alfred H. and Ada L. (Pease) Day, received his youthful education in the schools of his native town and, upon completing the course there, took a supplemental course in the business college, at Poughkeepsie, New York, where he received his business training and from which institution he was graduated with the class of 1893, after which he returned home and entered business with his father, who took him as a partner that year. This mutually pleasant and profitable arrangement continued until the year 1906, when the elder Day retired, turning all interests over to his son, since which time the latter has been sole owner and has continued the wise policies of his father with such careful direction that the business is continuing to grow in the most satisfactory fashion. In addition to his commercial interests, Mr. Day finds time to give his share of attention to public affairs, in which he naturally takes a deep interest. He has been a member of the board of public affairs for the past seven years, served for two terms as treasurer of the township and also for two terms as a member of the school board. He is also a direc- tor of the Exchange Bank of Columbus Grove. As was his father, he is a Republican, and his counsels carry weight with the party managers in Putnam county, by reason of his sound judgment and excellent executive ability. He has made himself a most valuable power for good in the com- munity and commands the highest respect of all throughout the entire section of the county where his name and that of his father, before him, are so well known and so highly regarded. A man of unquestionable honesty, he believes in the application of sound principles to the conduct of both

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public and private business and is an earnest advocate of all measures which look to the betterment of the social, moral or civic, conditions of the com- munity in which he lives.

Homer R. Day was united in marriage on April 25, 1897, to Miss. Winifred Rice, who was born at Ada, Ohio, the daughter of John F. and Jennie (Hemphill) Rice, members of old families of that section of the state, and to this union four children have been born, Aline, born on March 27, 1898; Jeannette, born on January 7, 1900; Mildred, born on March 15, 1902, and Fred R., born on June 3, 1905, and who died on December 15, 1907. The three youngsters, in the pleasant Day home, keep things lively there and are the delight of the lives of their devoted parents. Mr. and Mrs. Day are members of the Presbyterian church and take an active part in the beneficences of that organization, as well as being devoted in their attention to all movements that seek to better mankind.

MRS. ADDIE LILLIAN (HALL) ZAHREND.

A well-known woman, of Putnam county, Ohio, who was born and reared in Allen county, is Mrs. Addie Lillian ( Hall) Zahrend. Her hus- band was a prominent business man of this county for many years, and was engaged in the lumber business, at Leipsic, at the time of his death, in the spring of 1905. He was a man of high character, a thorough Christian gentleman, a leader in all reform movements. Since his death, Mrs. Zahrend has been devoting her time and attention to the rearing of the children who were left in her care. She is a woman of refinement and culture, deeply devoted to her domestic life.

Mrs. Addie Lillian ( Hall) Zahrend was born at Gilboa, Putnam county, Ohio, December 22, 1861. She is a daughter of John F. and Nancy Jane (Hoagland) Hall.

Mrs. Zahrend spent her early childhood at Gilboa and, when five years of age, moved with her parents to Bluffton, Allen county, Ohio, where she was educated and lived until her marriage. She was married, June 25, 1885, to John Carl Zahrend, and to this union six children were born, Martha Marie, Robert Franklin, Eugene Hall, John Carroll, Howard Lewis and Charlotte Lucile. Martha Marie was married, February 15, 1910, to Charles M. Harris, of Leipsic, Ohio, and now lives in Gore county, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Harris have three sons, Harold, Eugene and Charles. Robert

JOHN C. ZAIIREND.

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Franklin married Margaret Cotter, of Philadelphia, October 16, 1909, and now lives in Wayne, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. Eugene Hall was married, December 17, 1913, to Elizabeth Doyle, of Bryn Mawr, Pennsyl- vania, where he now resides. Eugene and his wife have one daughter, Dorothy Elizabeth. The three younger children, John, Howard and Char- lotte, are still living with their mother and attending the public schools of Leipsic.

John Carl Zahrend was born in Mecklenburg Schwerin, Germany, June 22, 1858, and was the son of Herman and Minnie ( Henning) Zahrend. Herman Zahrend was engaged in farming in Germany and in 1870, came to- America and located at Liberty Center, Henry county. Upon coming to this country, Herman Zahrend engaged in railroad work and later resumed farming near Napoleon, Henry County, Ohio. A few years later he removed. to a farm east of Napoleon and there lived the remainder of his life. He was a member of the Dutch Reformed church and a stanch Republican in politics. Herman Zahrend and wife were the parents of seven children, John, who became the husband of Addie Lillian Hall; Henry, who died at the age of twenty; a daughter, who died in her childhood; Frederick, of Napoleon, Ohio, who married Ella Fahringer, and has two sons, Earl and Frederick; Harmon, a farmer living near Liberty Center, Ohio, who mar- ried Clara Hudson, and has two children, Goldie and Ralph; Louise, who- died February 26, 1905, the wife of James Fahringer, who left her husband with three sons, Harry, Ora and Arthur; Charles, of Lima, Ohio, who mar- ried Minnie Freeman, and has three daughters, Vera, Mildred and a baby.

John C. Zahrend attended the common schools, of Liberty Center, Ohio, and later took a course in a Detroit business college. He was first employed as a clerk in a general store at Bluffton, Ohio, and later engaged in the- grocery business at that place, with Charles Day. He sold out his interests in the grocery store, a short time after his marriage, and moved to Lima, Ohio, in 1886, where he took a position in a shoe store. A few years later he moved to Leipsic, Ohio, and became a partner of the O. E. Townsend Company, a company operating a large lumber and planing mill, in Leipsic. The firm consisted of John Zahrend, his brother-in-law, O. E. Townsend, and the latter's father, I. M. Townsend. Mr. Zahrend continued in this business until it was sold to the Robert Hixon Lumber Comany, after which he was retained by the latter company as the manager of the plant. He was also interested in the Peters Lumber Company, of Irwin, Kentucky.

Mr. Zahrend was in active business in Leipsic until his death, March 7, 1905. He was held in high esteem by his business associates, and throughout

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the community where he had lived so many years. He was a man of strict business integrity, and had a fine Christian character. He was a loyal mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was interested in everything which pertained to its welfare. He was a class leader, and a member of the official board. of the Methodist church at Leipsic. He was especially interested in temperance work.

Since the death of her husband, Mrs. Zahrend makes her home in Leipsic, with her three unmarried children. One of Mrs. Zahrend's uncles, on her mother's side, James Hoagland, died in his early twenties, while living at Fort Wayne, Indiana. Before his death, he was elected to the state Senate of Indiana, but died before the Legislature convened. He was said to be the youngest man who had been elected to the Indiana Senate up to that time.

FRANK GMEINER.

There are citizens of Putnam county, Ohio, who have come here from many states in the Union, as well as many foreign countries. The Austrian empire has contributed some of the best citizens who are now making their homes in this country and among them, Frank Gmeiner, of Ottawa, occupies a prominent place. Coming to this country with his parents when a small boy, he has been a resident of Putnam county, since the spring of 1864, and for the past half century has been actively interested in everything pertain- ing to the welfare of the county. His parents dying shortly after he reached his majority, left him with five younger children, to whom he acted as fa- ther and mother.

Frank Gmeiner, the son of George and Mary (Flatz) Gmeiner, was born on December 3, 1852, in Vorardelberg, Tyrol, Austria. He was six years of age when his parents came to America and located in Sandusky county, Ohio, nine miles northwest of Fremont. In that county his father bought forty acres of timbered land, on which was a log school house, that. had just been abandoned. He lived in the school house until such time as he was able to provide a better house. George Gmeiner cleared his land and had it partly improved when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted in the Seventy-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry and after his en- listment had expired, in the spring of 1864, he sold his farm in Sandusky county and moved to Putnam county, where he bought eighty acres of tim- bered land, in Monterey township, four and one-half miles northwest of

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Ottoville. Here again the family lived in a school house for a short time, Mr. Gmeiner renting it for about two or three months until he could build a log cabin for the family. On this farm George Gmeiner and his wife lived, until their death, both dying in October, 1875, the mother dying on the second day of the month and the father on the sixteenth. It is a singular coincidence that both of them died at half past three, on a Friday morning.

When George Gmeiner and his wife died, in the fall of 1875, they left six children. Frank, with whom this narrative deals, was the eldest, he being about twenty-two years of age at the time. The next eldest child was six years younger than he, his eldest sister being fourteen years of age, at which time she became the housekeeper for the orphan children. The youngest child was only seven years of age. The six children were as fol- lows: Frank, of Ottawa; Gebhard, of Washington; Mary, the wife of Charles Duvall, of Havana, Arkansas; Leonard, who is a farmer of this county, living between Kalida and Cloverdale; Kate, the wife of Joseph Leatherman, a farmer living near Vaughnsville, in this county; and George, a baker at St. Louis, Missouri. Upon the death of his parents, Frank be- came executor of his father's will and at his father's request before his death, took his place as head of the family and took charge of the farm and little flock of fatherless children, who were obedient and were industrious and prospered. A few years later, the paternal estate was divided equally, each of the children going into the world to make a living. All of them have become useful members of society.

Frank Gmeiner moved to Ottoville, and he and J. J. Miller and Andrew Kehres started a tile factory at that place. He continued in that business for about six years and then disposed of it and went into partnership with William Gasser in the planing mill in the same place. He remained in this for about seven years, after which he engaged in the general real estate, loan and insurance business, which he has since followed.

Mr. Gmeiner, very early in life, began to fill official positions in his township and county. At the age of twenty-two he was elected justice of the peace and was-re-elected for another term. He has also served as a no- tary public, taking out a commission more as a convenience to the public than for any remuneration which he might receive from the office. He has been frequently called upon to serve as an executor, administrator, guardian, etc. As a matter of fact, his time was so consumed in this way that in 1896, he disposed of his interest in the planing mill and lumber business and de- voted all of his time to the real estate, loan and insurance business.

Mr. Gmeiner was elected recorder of Putnam county in 1902 and took

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charge of the office in September of the same year and held it for three years. At the expiration of his first term, he was re-elected and served for another three years. During the second term incumbency, the law was. changed as to the term of recorder's office to two years, and he was com- missioned to hold over one year more, so that he held the office continu- ously for seven years, the last term expiring in 1909. Since that time he has continued to reside in Ottawa, and is engaged in various lines of ac- tivity. He does a considerable amount of land abstracting, buying and sell- ing real estate, making loans and acting as guardian and administrator for estates. He was appointed by the state board in September, 1913, as a mem- ber of the board of liquor license commissioners for Putnam county, and is still serving in this capacity.

Mr. Gmeiner was married on June 7, 1893, to Mary Mallifskey. She was born at New Washington, Crawford county, Ohio, and is a daughter of Martin and Mary (Gorise) Mallifskey. Her parents were natives of German Bohemia, in Austria, and came to Ottoville, Putnam county, in the fall of 1892. Her mother died in this county, October 17, 1893, when her father came to live with Mr. and Mrs. Gmeiner and remained with them until he dropped dead suddenly in the court house at Ottawa, June 21, 191I.

Mr. and Mrs. Gmeiner are loyal members of the Catholic church. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, Catholic Knights of Ohio and also St. Peter's and Paul's Aid Society.

NIMROD SPEAKER.

The oldest resident of Belmore, Putnam county, Ohio, is Nimrod Speaker, who has been engaged in business in that place for twenty-nine years. When he first came to the pleasant village of Belmore, there was only a little board depot and two log cabins. During his long residence in the village he has seen it grow to its present prosperous condition, and. has borne no inconsiderable part in making it what it is today. A leading business man for more than a quarter of a century, he has been active in promoting the general prosperity of the town, and during a great part of. this period, he has held one official position or another. He is now retired from active work and is spending his declining years in retirement, highly honored and respected by everyone who knows him.

Nimrod Speaker, the son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Moreland) Speaker,

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was born on March 21, 1841, in Licking county, Ohio. His parents were natives of western Pennsylvania and Virginia, respectively, and came to Licking county with their respective parents. Andrew Speaker was a son of Charles Speaker. Elizabeth Moreland was a daughter of David More- land, and both the Speaker and Moreland families were early pioneers in Licking county. Andrew Speaker and family moved to Putnam county, in 1857, and located in Blanchard township, not far east of Leipsic, and there, on a farm, the parents both died within four weeks of each other, in 1866.

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History of Putnam County, Ohio : its peoples, industries, and institutions, Part 30

Author: Kinder, George D., 1836- Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1744

Author: Kinder, George D., 1836-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1744