USA > Ohio > Richland County > History of Richland County, Ohio, from 1808 to 1908, Vol. II > Part 56
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His parents, William and Sophia (Griebling) Mengert, were natives of Germany, the former born in Oberbieber, of the kingdom of Prussia, June 18, 1818, while the mother's birth occurred January 2, 1813, in Freilinger in the province of Nassau. They were reared and married in Germany and seven children were born unto them ere they left that country, but five died there. In 1853, with his wife and surviving two children, William Mengert started for the new world and after reaching American shores made his way into the interior of the country, settling upon a rented farm in Washington township, Richland county. His daughter Henrietta died about five or six years after the family came to the new world, but the son survives and is now living in Knox county, Ohio. Two sons were added to the family in America : Frederick, now living in Ashland county, Ohio; and Lewis C., of this review. After renting land for several years, William Mengert purchased and located upon an eighty acre tract of school land. He continued to carry on general agricultural pursuits there until 1883, when he and his wife removed to Butler, but in that year Mrs. Mengert died. Both the parents were members of the Evangelical Reformed church and Mr. Mengert was always a stanch democrat, who in Worthington township served as trustee for three or four years.
It was upon the home farm that Lewis G. Mengert was reared, early becoming familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He mastered the elementary branches of learning as a pupil in the district school and afterward attended village school at Butler, while later he matriculated at Mansfield Normal School, and that he displayed aptitude in his studies is indicated by the fact that when but seventeen years of age he was granted a teacher's certificate and took up the active work of the profes- sion, which he followed for thirteen years. During the last six years of that time he was principal of the schools at Butler and he became recognized as one of the able exponents of public education, holding high the standard of the schools with which he was connected and inspiring his pupils with much of his own zeal and interest in the work.
However, he resolved to enter other professional fields and in 1883 be- came a law student in the office of Donnell & Marriott, attorneys of Mans- field. His preliminary reading was broad and thorough and secured his admission to the bar in 1886. He practiced at Butler for six years and in 1892 removed to Mansfield. For five years thereafter he was a partner in the firm of Bell, Brinkerhoff & Mengert, and in 1897 the law firm of Douglass & Mengert was formed. Mr. Mengert has continuously practiced law since 1883 and his power and ability have constantly been broadened through experience, research and study. He never neglects to give a thorough preparation nor does he lack that power which results in a clear and forceful presentation of his case and with all its points duly defined in their relative proportion. He can cite law and precedent and is seldom if ever at error in applying a legal principle to the cause in litigation.
In 1883 occurred the marriage of Mr. Mengert and Miss Clara V. Gong- wer. Their children are four in number: Portia, Gladys, Karl and Paul. The family are all members of St. Luke's Lutheran church and Mr. Mengert affil- iates with the Independent Order of Foresters and the Knights of Pythias.
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His political allegiance has always been given to the democracy and his efforts in its behalf have been effective forces in its success in Richland county. In 1898 and again in 1900 he was chairman of the democratic county executive committee. Without any special advantages at the outset of his career, Mr. Mengert has made steady progress in a profession demanding close applica- tion, unfaltering purpose and unwearied industry and his ability is displayed by the liberal clientage which is today his.
NORMAN TEETER.
Norman Teeter, who is engaged in farming and dairying on section 30, Jefferson township, was born in Richland county, Ohio, August 1, 1867, a son of John and Sarah Teeter, who are mentioned at length in another part of this volume. Norman Teeter obtained a common-school education and re- mained at home until he had become of age. He worked by the month for two years and on the expiration of that period operated a rented farm for three years. Subsequently he made his home in Bellville for four years and then again engaged in farming for three years. Purchasing forty acres of land on section 30, Jefferson township, he has here since made his home, and in connection with the tilling of the soil also conducts a dairy, both branches of his business bringing to him a gratifying financial return.
On the 31st of August, 1892, Mr. Teeter was united in marriage to Miss Kate Lewis, whose birth occurred in Morrow county, Ohio, in 1866, her parents being Barton and Martha (Acton) Lewis, natives of this state. The former is still living but the mother passed away in 1874, leaving a family of six chil- dren : Alvilda, at home; Milton, of Morrow county, Ohio; Rilla, the wife of John W. Teeter; Mrs. Teeter; Jennie, at home; and Weems, residing in Mis- souri. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Teeter four children have been born: Lloyd B., Esther L., Maggie A. and Foy L.
Mr. Teeter gives his political allegiance to the democracy, while his wife is a member of the Baptist church. They are both well known and highly respected throughout the entire community and Mr. Teeter is widely recog- nized as one of Richland county's enterprising native sons, whose aid and influence can ever be counted upon to further any movement or measure cal- culated to prove of general good.
WILLIAM DOW.
William Dow, president of the Dow Chemical Manufacturing Company and identified with various other corporate interests, has the keen discrimina- tion that enables him to understand and embrace business opportunities and to carry them forward to successful completion along well defined lines of labor intelligently directed. Mr. Dow is a native of Kinross, Scotland, and,
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educated in that country, he came to America as a young man of twenty years, locating at New York. Later he removed to Cleveland, Ohio, and afterward came to Mansfield, where he conducted a general contracting business until his practical retirement from business activity and management. He was closely associated with building interests here and many substantial structures of the city stand as monuments to his thrift and enterprise. He is now largely living retired in the enjoyment of well earned rest, although he is financially connected with various corporate interests which are contributing to the sub- stantial upbuilding of the city and returning to their stockholders a goodly annual dividend. In 1903 Mr. Dow and his sons established the Dow Chemi- cal Manufacturing Company, of which he is the president. He is also vice president of the Ideal Electric Company, a director in the Bank of Mansfield, a director in the Barnes Manufacturing Company, also in a coal and timber company operating in West Virginia and in the Mechanics' Building & Loan Company of Mansfield. As the years have passed and he has prospered in his undertakings he has also invested in realty and is the owner of considerable valuable property in this city. His holdings include his own home at No. 564 Park avenue, west, the residence being erected by Mr. Dow in 1896.
Mr. Dow was married at Forest, Ohio, to Miss Lisetta Stetzer, of an old German family connected with the nobility. There are three sons: John W. Dow, who is treasurer of the Dow Chemical Manufacturing Company ; Ralph, who is secretary of the same company; and Walter, who is its vice president.
Mr. Dow is a member of all the Masonic bodies and is a past chancellor of Mansfield Commandery, No. 21, K. T. In politics he is a republican where national questions are involved, but is an independent voter at local elections, nor has he ever sought or desired office. He is a member of the First Presby- terian church and a citizen of substantial worth in the community, who has made rapid progress in his business affairs and has wrought along lines of great good. He early learned to know when one avenue of opportunity seems to be closed there are others which will open to industry, perseverance and determination. Gradually he has worked his way upward and his success is the direct result of intense and well directed energy.
W. M. HAHN.
W. M. Hahn ranks as one of the representative and prominent residents of Mansfield. He is a man of well balanced capabilities and powers, of strong character, and one who inspires confidence in others. He may not have genius, or any phenomenal characteristics, yet he is capable of mature judg- ment concerning his own capacity and of the people and circumstances that make up his life's contacts and experiences. Preeminently a man of business sense, he easily avoids mistakes or any course where erratic movements might lead him into unwarranted risk and failure. He is, moreover, ready to meet any of the obligations of life with the confidence and courage that comes of conscious personal ability, right conceptions of things and a conscientious
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regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities. He was born in Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, November 24, 1848, his parents being Mathias and Mary (Martin) Hahn, who were also natives of the Key- stone state. They removed to Ohio in 1852, settling first at Shelby, but soon afterwards took up their abode on a farm near there and later became resi- dents of Crawford county, where Mr. Hahn engaged in the sawmill and lum- ber business until he retired a few years previous to his death, which occurred in 1876. His wife had died on the farm in Auburn township in 1868. Mathias Hahn had owned and operated a lumber mill and was an energetic, enterprising business man of the community. He represented an old Penn- sylvania family whose members were living at Carlisle, Shippensburg and Stauntown, where some of their descendants still reside. They are of German lineage, the grandfather of our subject having been a native of Germany.
W. M. Hahn was the fourth in order of birth in a family of four sons and four daughters, six of whom are living, while two daughters died in early womanhood.
W. M. Hahn spent his boyhood, to the age of fifteen years, in Crawford county and acquired his education in the public schools there until he en- tered a seminary at De Kalb. He was a student in that institution when he enlisted for service in the Civil war, becoming a musician of Company H, Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He played the snare drum and in February, 1863, went to the front, being engaged on active duty until wounded at Peachtree Creek, Georgia, in 1864. He was at that time serving as private orderly to Colonel Wolfe, and after being wounded was sent home on a fur- lough, returning to his regiment three months later. He was then detailed as private orderly to Brigadier General Harker and was mustered out of service at New Orleans in 1865. He then returned to his home in Crawford county and began work at the carpenter's trade, following that pursuit in the vicinity of his home for about a year. In 1867 he removed to Plymouth, this county, where he worked at carpentering until September, 1868, when he became a resident of Mansfield, where he has since lived. For two years he was identified with building interests here and then turned his attention to the fire insurance business, with which he has been connected continuously since 1870, excepting when holding public office. In 1873 he was associated with J. H. Emminger in organizing the Mansfield Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and in 1876 he assisted M. E. Douglas in the organization of the Merchants & Manufacturers Mutual Fire insurance Company of Mansfield. In 1905 he organized the North American Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Mansfield, and is now the general manager and one of the directors of the company. He has also aided in organizing many other financial and com? mercial institutions of the city and has thus contributed in large measurement to the business development of the county seat of Richland county.
Mr. Hahn is equally well known in republican circles and has done an active work for the party. He was elected city assessor from the first ward for three consecutive terms, and was then selected as republican county chair- man, which position he filled for two terms. While acting in that capacity he was appointed by Senator Sherman to the position of deputy United States
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marshal for the northern district of Ohio, and served as such for six' years. In 1883 he was nominated by the republican state convention for a member of the state board of public works and was elected by about six thousand plu- rality, notwithstanding the fact that Governor Foraker was defeated in the state election, as were several other candidates for state offices. Two years later Mr. Hahn was renominated and was elected by over twelve thousand plural- ity. In 1890 he was appointed chairman of the republican state executive committee by Hon. Daniel J. Ryan, and in 1891 was again appointed to this position at the personal request of William McKinley, who that year was a candidate on the state ticket for governor. The day before the election Mr. Hahn in a letter to Major Mckinley advised him that he would have in this state twenty-two thousand plurality over Governor James E. Campbell, and the number at the election was exceeded by only about three hundred, which was the closest estimate ever made in the state. After serving for six years on the state board of public works Mr. Hahn was appointed state superin- tendent of insurance for Ohio by Major Mckinley, who was then governor, and served for three years, or until the expiration of the governor's term. In 1892 he was elected a delegate at large for Ohio to the Minneapolis repub- lican convention with William McKinley, J. B. Foraker and Asa Bushnell, all of whom had been governors of the state, and at the convention at Minneapolis the delegates elected him a member of the republican national committee, in which office he served for four years. He was still a member of the committee when elected one of the sub-committee and was chosen secretary to that com- mittee to look after the details of the convention that was held in St. Louis in 1896.
While thus serving he had supervision over the building in which the convention was to be held in St. Louis and the apportionment of tickets for admission to convention hall. In 1892 Mr. Hahn was chairman of the speaker's bureau during the Harrison campaign and was located in New York, from which point the campaign was managed. In 1896 he was asked by Major Mckinley to accept the same position in Chicago. From the fore- going it will be seen that Mr. Hahn is and has been recognized as a most efficient and faithful worker in republican ranks, capable of formulating and executing plans which have resulted in benefit to the party, and at all times has enjoyed the confidence of the prominent state and national leaders, who have relied largely upon him for effective organization and marshaling of republican forces in the campaigns.
In July, 1870, in Mansfield was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Hahn and Miss Rosa L. Hiltabidle, a daughter of John Hiltabidle, of Mansfield. Mrs. Hahn was a teacher in the public schools and was the only girl member of the high school class in which she was graduated. She is prominent in social circles and very active in charitable and benevolent work. She is also a member of the St. Luke's Lutheran church, and does much to advance its interest and promote its influence.
Mr. Hahn belongs to the various Masonic bodies, to the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and the Mansfield Country Club, of which he is a director. He, too, is a devout member of St. Luke's Lutheran church,
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of which he has been a trustee altogether for thirty-three years, serving in that capacity in connection with the Lutheran church before St. Luke's church was organized, at which time he was elected to the same office by the newly formed society. His aid has never been solicited in vain in support of any movement calculated to benefit the town and county, and while he has figured promi- nently in political life he has also found opportunity to assist in local meas- ures. As the years have passed he has prospered in his undertakings and has made judicious investment in real estate. He is now the owner of four hundred acres of valuable land adjoining the Country Club on the west, and known as Roseland farm. Upon this place he resides. It was originally known as the Harvey Hill farm, and comprised three hundred and twenty acres, but later he purchased an adjoining tract of eighty acres. This in- cludes ninety-five acres of timber, which is one of the largest forest tracts in this part of the state. While giving his attention principally to his insurance business Mr. Hahn also looks after the conduct of his farm, and likewise owns some property in Mansfield, including the block at the corner of Park avenue and Walnut street, where his offices are located. He is a man of attractive build and fine physique, and his commanding appearance makes him noticeable in any gathering, while his intellectual force, his business capacity and his powers of organization have gained for him the attention and respect of his associates in business, political and social life.
JAMES PURDY.
In the spring of 1823 James Purdy, a young lawyer from New York state, seeking his fortune in the new western country, arrived at Mansfield and took charge of a newspaper; admitted to the bar, he rode the circuit of the surrounding counties ; as editor, his opinion was felt in local affairs, and his influence extended to the legislature at Columbus, where he procured the survey of a canal route through Mansfield; obtained a charter for a railroad from Pittsburg and organized the corps that surveyed the line; was first president of the first steam road to enter Mansfield; established the first bank- ing house in the county ; built a railroad in Iowa, mills near Toledo, and died at the age of ninety-three, having passed in Mansfield sixty-three years filled full with the many activities of a prominent townsman and pioneer man of affairs.
The Purdy ancestry was thoroughly Scotch-Irish, the four preceding generations on both sides having been drawn from the Scotch Covenanter stock which continued in the north of Ireland after the general emigration of the sect under Charles II. The grandfather, Hugh Purdy (with wife, Esther Bell), came to America in 1762 and joined a previous Scotch settle- ment at Hopewell, in York county, Pennsylvania, bringing with him his two sons, one of whom, Patrick B., chose a wife (Jeannette Wallace) among the daughters of the colony, and inherited half his father's land; bore a captain's commission in the Revolution, built a grist mill and became the miller of the district. The flour was carted to Baltimore, forty miles to the south, and there shipped to foreign ports.
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Patrick Purdy's son James was born July 24, 1793, and, together with seven brothers and sisters, was brought up with all the strictness of early Scotch Presbyterianism. Hopewell was, at that time, a thorough Covenanter colony, the earliest church in the district (perhaps the first United Presby- terian church in America) had been organized in 1754 at grandfather Wallace's house; and in the district schools Saturday afternoon was devoted to catechism. The homestead consisted of a four-hundred acre farm and its barns, a big stone house, with "P. B. Purdy, 1800," cut in the gable, the spin- ning-house, the flour mill in the valley, the cooper-shop and warehouse. There were negro domestics and black farm hands, and each Sabbath morn- ing the family, spinning maids and workmen all listened to a long sermon at Round Hill church. Amid such surroundings young James, the eldest of the children, grew up-going to district school, puzzling over Greek and Latin works found among his father's books; working with a surveyor and studying his science; becoming an expert cooper in the shop connected with the mill; joining with the neighbors at barn-raisings and getting a bad fall in one case from the top of the structure. Enlisting with the infantry volunteers he served under arms as corporal when, twice, calls were made for the defense of the frontiers in the war of 1812. Previous to this struggle the Non-Inter- course Acts wrecked the flour industry and (in 1811) the father gave up his mill and moved the family to Canandaigua, New York, a place known in early times as a center of a cultivated society and the seat of the Canandaigua Academy. Here the name James Purdy was presently enrolled among the students. He mastered Latin grammar and read Virgil, obtaining a state license as teacher and taught in the newly organized township schools; studied geometry and taught himself surveying, and in the fall of 1819 was appointed assistant professor in the academy. For three years he studied law with Attorneys Adams & Sibley at Canandaigua and Benjamen at East Bloomfield. In the autumn of 1822, having been admitted to the bar, he considered his classical and legal education complete and prepared himself for a journey to the new west.
James Purdy and James Stewart attached themselves to a party of farmers going prospecting to Ohio, and, reaching Norwalk, turned south, heading for Cincinnati on foot, no conveyance being available. They passed through Mansfield, Fredericktown and Worthington and arrived at Columbus, a town of five hundred inhabitants. Here Stewart gave up, and meeting with a Mansfield man went home with him; set up the first classical school in the region; became judge of common pleas court and a valued citizen of early Mansfield. His companion kept on through Cincinnati to Louisville, where he waited for a boat that would take him to New Orleans, his intended destination being Pensacola, Florida. At Louisville the brutal treatment of a slave so impressed him that he abandoned his journey to the south and crossed the Ohio river to Corydon, the seat of government of Indiana.
The state and federal courts being then in session he secured immediate admission to practice and rode the circuit with his friend, H. H. Moore, the district attorney. The south of Indiana seemed to Mr. Purdy to be filling up with an inferior class of immigrant settlers and he was not long in deciding
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to return northeastward. He forthwith started on foot, bearing a soldier's knapsack. It was a dozen miles between adjacent clearings, and Indianapolis, which had just been laid out, boasted a big log tavern. From Indianapolis to Fort Wayne he followed an Indian trail, the Indians having sold their lands to the government, were just then leaving their villages and moving westward, and squatters were taking possession of their abandoned habitations and clearings. These settlers housed the traveler over night-as mentioned in his diary; he in this way met with several settlers of an earlier date who had come west to escape imprisonment for debt during the industrial depres- sion of 1810. Mr. Purdy was ferried across White River by Bill Connor ,the notorious trader and squaw-man, who had managed the negotiations between congress and the Indians relative to the cession of their lands.
Leaving behind Fort Wayne, with its twenty stores, its throng of Indian traders and fur trappers with their ponies and packs, and striking for De- fiance, the trip became very rough, and a bivouac under a bush was the only available night's lodging in one case. At Fort Meigs there was a tavern. Between Fort Meigs and Fort Stevenson (now Fremont) the distance of thirty-five miles was covered between sunrise and sunset of December 25th, and his journal says: "It being Christmas night the neighborhood was giving a ball, which I attended." The remainder of the winter he spent at Nor- walk writing up the court records, which had been allowed to lapse. Here the country had been organized seven years and the legal profession well established.
After visiting various places in the north of the state Mr. Purdy decided on Mansfield, and came here May 29, 1823. Not allowed to practice until he had been resident in the state for a year, he bought the small equipment of the unsuccessful pioneer newspaper, employed J. C. Gilkinson as printer and began the publication of the Mansfield Gazette. The outfit of type having proved insufficient the editor rode to Cincinnati and brought back a new supply in his saddle bags. Subsequently the entire equipment was renewed and enlarged and the paper continued under Mr. Purdy's editorship until he sold in 1832 to T. W. Bartley, afterward supreme court judge and governor of the state. The Gazette was consolidated with the Western Herald, which had been started in 1830, and the resulting paper was named The Ohio Spectator. Having been admitted to practice in the state and federal courts late in 1823, he rode the circuit, which was then composed of the counties of Richland, Wood, Huron, Sandusky, Seneca, Crawford and Marion. Among his associates on the circuit were Messrs. May, Parker, Coffinberry and Stew- art (John M. May being the first resident attorney of the settlement, having arrived in 1815), all of whom rode good horses, carried their legal papers in their hats and spent jolly evenings at the log taverns along the way. Mr. Purdy continued in practice until 1860, gradually relinquishing this practice, however, in favor of other interests. Although he was an active whig and republican he was only a candidate for office once, when he was defeated for state senator in 1828. As time went on he developed a wide acquaintance and many intimate friendships among the prominent politicians and leading men of affairs of the state.
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