History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume I, Part 65

Author:
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1162

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But during these earlier years of strenuous exertion the parents did not overlook or neglect the matter of education of their children, making certain their attendance upon the country or the village school. After the career with his father on the farm in trading, digging and drilling wells, etc., had

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ended at the age of nineteen, he entered the Smithville Normal School, of Prof. P. A. Palmer, and here he studied for two years, making rapid prog- ress in faithfulness and efficiency of work. With his elementary equipment and receiving his certificate, he launched his little bark on the mixed waters of pedagogy, conducting his first school, in Zinn district, Wayne township. He subsequently pursued this as a vocation for a period of thirteen years, four as superintendent at Madisonburg, etc., serving as instructor one year in the preparatory department of the Wooster University. under Professor Dickason, the last four of his thirteen years' experience in the schoolroom being employed as superintendent of the Dalton school. During the period of his highly successful service at Dalton, he was granted, in consideration of his qualifications and merit, an eight-year certificate by the county examining board, the first one covering that period of years ever issued to an applicant. He took the initiative, as the first of the younger teachers of Wayne county, to incorporate into or communicate to his system of instruction and plan of studies the normal aspect or the features of the normal, thereby aim- ing to qualify and fortify such of the scholars as were desirous and ambi- tious of becoming teachers for the scrutiny and inquisitive ordeal of examina- tion, supplementing this course of study with suggestive thoughts and proc- esses of best method of school government. That this idea, in greater part, original with Mr. Landes, was an inspiring success and operated to the best advantage of all, requiring no other or more precise demonstration than in the fact that, at the termination of his first year at Dalton, of an attendance of but little in excess of fifty pupils, twenty of them obtained certificates as teachers and entered the pedagogical field. We know of no better commen- tary, no higher or more significant words of commendation that could be pronounced to accent and emphasize these practical and vital, but unadver- tised and unheralded, achievements of the school room.

Abandoning the phalanx of the teachers, he removed and settled in Wooster, in August, 1907, and at once embarked in the realty agency busi- ness to which he has since exclusively devoted his time and attention. He found soon after he had opened office in the city that this department of busi- ness was measurably in an inanimate, stagnate condition. or in other words, was not being vigorously pushed along the lines especially as he conceived were the proper ones along which to prosecute it, having in view, as a matter of course, the compensations that might accrue to him personally, and that wider and broader consideration as to how Wooster might be benefited, how far its sleepy energies might be animated, how a spirit of investment of pur-

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chase and sale might be stimulated, how far an impulse toward the growth and development of the city of Wooster could be encouraged and verified, through an aggressive and vigorous "agency" such as he but recently estab- lished.

We do not hesitate to say that the experiment he instituted has proven a success so far as Mr. Landes is concerned, and equally so as to the measure of stimulas of life it has imparted to healthier action in real estate, a better understanding and definition of values, and a more determined and decisive ambition on the part of business men of Wooster and the citizens in general, to stand by Mr. Landes and stand by each other in the laudable and praise- worthy ambition and purpose of purchasing property, erecting new buildings conforming to the laws of permanence, taste and beauty and exerting them- selves to the very utmost toward the growth, development and expansion of the beautiful city of Wooster, making it not only a city of attractive homes, but a city of business, a mart of trade, factories, mills, the theater of manu- facturers, with both hands outstretched toward capital, enterprise and genius, beckoning them to come, join us, keep us, in the great scheme of development.

Mr. Landes has performed a worthy and commendable part in this direc- tion. He was one and the foremost in organizing the "Boosters' Club," now merged in the Board of Trade, of which he is an active member, and perhaps he and Mr. John Schultz accomplished more than came from any other source, in formulating the plans and methods of procedure that secured the location in our midst of the Gerstenslager carriage works. So consummate was the organization of this club that in the days of the canvass for the amount stipu- lated as the consideration for the transfer of the carriage works to Wooster, one thousand two hundred dollars more than the sum required was subscribed by the business men and other enterprising citizens of that city. As a con- sequence of the enlargement of his business operations, which have contrib- uted so directly and substantially to the growth and improvement of our city, inspiring new enterprises and giving fresh momentum to those already con- templated, or in process of development, his brother Clarence came to Woos- ter within the past two years, forming a partnership with him, his business having assumed such proportions that assistance on his part became necessary.

Clarence Landes is an elder brother of the subject of this sketch, a native of Wayne county, educated in Wayne county and a former teacher in the schools of Wayne county, with an experience in this vocation of eight years, and a business man in Wayne county for a number of years prior to his com- ing to Wooster. He had for four years been engaged in the hardware trade

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in the flourishing village of Doylestown, where he had built up a fine business, the reputation of a gentleman of integrity, honesty, straightforward, upright life, possessing excellent qualities as a man of business, characterized by the ' individuality, self-reliance, quiet assertiveness, enterprise, judgment and alert executive tact of his brother. He is a man of family, has come to Wooster to stay, make it his home and help make it one of the hustling, progressive and most beautiful inland cities of northern Ohio.

During the last few years Mr. Landes has also written and published two most valuable books accordant to and in the manner of the "Our Educational Service," the first issued in 1901, entitled "Outlines in United States History." the second under the caption of "The New Practical Orthography," in a total of one hundred and ninety-four pages. The first volume embraces a succinct history of political parties, from the time of the Whig and Tory organiza- tions, the Federal, and Anti-Federal, Democratic, Anti-Masonic, Free Soil, Barnburners, Hawkeyes, Republicans, etc. ; with a chronological record of our territorial acquisitions from the Revolutionary period to Hawaii and our armed contention with Spain, within the last decade. It is a work that can- not fail to be a most valuable and helpful assistant to student and teacher, and, as the author aptly says in the preface, its object being "to introduce plans by which the acquisition of a thorough knowledge of the history of our country may not only be an interesting but a pleasant task."

"The New Practical Orthography" is a text book for use in public schools, grammar schools and lower grades in high school, the later editions of these works being issued from the press of the New Publishing Company, of F. A. Owen, Dansville, New York. This little volume supplies a very evi- dent demand in that, as the author most pertinently says, "it furnishes a prac- tical treatise on orthography, sufficiently elementary for the country schools, the grammar school and the lower grades in the high school, and at the same time comprehensive enough to give a fair knowledge of the principles of orthography."

Mr. Landes is a Republican of the pronounced type, who emphasizes his patriotism, party fealty and genuine Americanism on all proper occasions, never obtrusive, however, in promulgation of his political opinions or predi- lections, believing that in a free country, such as this, each man has a right to his own views and may act in pursuance thereto in affairs political, moral and religious and all matters of government. He is now serving his second term as chairman of the Wayne county Republican executive committee and assisted materially in shaping and directing the congressional campaign of the late Hon. M. L. Smyser in 1907. Although he is a vigilant and active

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member of his party. he is not an office seeker-in fact, is without aspirations in that direction, the exception to this being in 1905, when his party nomi- nated him for county auditor, in which contest he was far-away and ahead of his ticket, but went down in the "Herrick landslide" of that year.

Mr. Landes has only fairly attained the midway division of the average acting working life with the reasonable assurance and promise before him of more working, compensating tomorrows than tested and exhausted yester- days. He is largely a self-made man, believes in work, education and atten- tion to business in hand, the mutual responsibility and interdependence of man and their responsibility to state, and this is manifest in his spirit of prog- ress and enterprise. He believes that whatever be your choice in life's great work, you must grasp this truth. You are a product and investment your- self, if you will, of the state and to it you owe some returns. Every taxpayer has contributed to your present advancement. The nation has found out that ignorance is a menace, and that its safety and protection is in the trained and educated minds of its citizens, through the village schools, the normals, acad- emies and colleges. It is true that freedom has its obligations and liberty its restrictions and no man, a product of our American institutions, has any moral right to engage in anything that could not help another while at the same time it affords him a livelihood and the means of increasing his fortune. His experiences and labor as a teacher were adjusted along these parallels of mental usefulness, and so are his exertions in the realty business at this time, in his several allotments of property, of building sites and at present with more than forty lots for sale of his own and the prospects of a dozen houses being built in the immediate future. The secret of the success of Mr. Landes is imbedded in a fixed purpose that differentiates from choice or desire, in that it is as constant as the needle to the pole and as certain. He recognizes the unchangeable equation : Attention plus service and sacrifice equals suc- cess. Like the lens, it concentrates the rays of mental powers upon the point to be attained and then Wanamaker, the clerk, becomes the merchant prince, and Edison, the newsboy, the wizard of the world.

Mr. Landes is of medium height, dark hair and eyes, firmly and compactly built, and sound as the pillars in the Sistine chapel. He is sociable, agreeable and companionable, guards well his thoughts and words, his ears a sanctuary from the name of his absent and a locked secret of his present friend. Neither of these can miscarry in his trust. He undertakes without rashness and per- forms with fixed resolution, well-balanced and floats steadily. He is generous and liberal. His business career is forward, yet he has the silent nerve to con- front opposition or failure and would see under the frown of defeat the smile of victory. -BY BEN DOUGLAS.

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JOHN HOWARD BEECHER DANFORD.

Success has been worthily attained by J. H. B. Danford, who is today accounted one of the prosperous business men and substantial citizens of Woos- ter, Wayne county, Ohio. To his energy, enterprise, careful management and keen discernment his present station in life is attributed. He started upon his career as an independent factor at the bottom of the ladder and is now the proprietor of one of the best business concerns in the city, occupying a conspicuous place in the front rank of her successful citizens.

Mr. Danford was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, on July 4, 1867. there- fore he celebrated his natal day on the anniversary of our national independ- ence. His parents were Samuel M. and Rebecca (Finley) Danford. The former, who was born in Noble county, Ohio, was a farmer by profession and shortly after the close of the Civil war he removed to Guernsey county, where he continued his farming operations. He was also for a while engaged in mercantile pursuits, but subsequently relinquished that and returned to the farm. During the great gold excitement of 1849 he caught the fever and went to the Pacific coast, spending eight years in Oregon and California. His death occurred when he was seventy-seven years old. He had a brother in the Union army who at the battle of Gettysburg was wounded twenty- seven times. Rebecca Finley Danford was born in Guernsey county. this state, and her death occurred in 1879. Her mother's family name was Morris and she was related in direct line to Robert Morris, one of the immortal sign- ers of the Declaration of Independence. To Samuel and Rebecca Danford the following children were born: Angeline, deceased; Estella, deceased ; Viola is the wife of Elmer Secrest, of Chaseville, Noble county, Ohio; Eliza is the wife of Noah Davis, also of Chaseville: Charles F., of Cambridge, Ohio; J. H. B. is the immediate subject of this sketch: Cora, the wife of Ray Larrick, of Pleasant City, Ohio; Anna L., the wife of C. L. Starr, of Pleasant City, Ohio.

J. H. B. Danford was reared on the home farm and secured a fair edu- cation in the common schools of his home township. When old enough he assumed his share of the labors of the farm and continued to make his home with his parents until 1890. He was then variously employed until about 1893, when he engaged in the furniture business at Pleasant City, where he continued with fair success until 1904. In that year, desiring a wider scope for business, he came to Wooster, and on March 8, 1905, he bought a half interest with H. B. Christine, furniture dealer, and in December of the same year he bought his partner's interest, since which time he has been sole pro-

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prietor. The business has steadily grown and is now the largest furniture store in Wooster. Mr. Danford occupies three floors and a basement, each thirty-two by one hundred and seventy-five feet in size, and the stock carried is in every respect up to date, being carefully selected and well displayed. In con- nection with the general line of furniture and household furnishings, Mr. Danford also carries on an undertaking business. In this line also he is very successful, being himself a licensed embalmer. He is accommodating and painstaking and is one of the most popular funeral directors in the county.

On November 14, 1895, Mr. Danford married Florence Blake, who was born at Stockport, Morgan county, Ohio. She is of distinguished lineage, tracing her paternal ancestry to Commodore Blake, the noted English naval commander, and on the maternal side she is related to Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Mr. Danford is a director in the Pleasant City Telephone Company, of Pleasant City, Ohio. Socially he is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. In religion, he and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mr. Danford is one of the trustees. He is a Republican in politics, though not in any sense an officeseeker, and he ever manifests a pub- lic-spirited interest in local affairs, giving his aid and influence for the further- ance of all measures for the general good. Because of his high personal character Mr. Danford enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him.

JOHN N. BOOR.

The founder of this family was Michael Boor, who came from Ger- many about the middle of the last century and located in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, about 1754. He was one of the pioneer farmers of that region and died there while the state was still an English colony. He left a son named Nicholas, born January 27, 1792, who went to Frederick county, Vir- ginia, in middle life and spent seven years in that part of the country. In 1854 he came to Wayne county, Ohio, where he farmed until his death, in 1874. While in Pennsylvania he followed the business of teamster and freighter. He married Catherine Boyer, who was born February 2, 1793, and died July 2. 1855. The children by this union were: William, Maria, Elizabeth (deceased). Catherine (deceased). Polly, Susan, Susanna ; Adam and Jacob are deceased ; Mary is still living ; David and Louisa are deceased ; George, who lives in Medina county, Ohio, served three years in the Civil war in Company C. Sixteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

mrs & n boor

John. n. Boor

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John N. Boor, the twelfth child of this large family, was born in Cum- berland county, Pennsylvania, July 18, 1834. He remained under the pa- rental roof until twenty-two years old, and then took charge of a threshing machine, which he conducted for nine years, two of these on his own account. and was very successful in this line of work. He served as constable from 1859 to 1860 in this and in 1862 in Canaan township, but resigned. He was captain of a militia company.

Mr. Boor's war record is one of which his descendants may well be proud and it forms one of the principal chapters in his life history, for he was one of the patriotic sons of the North who left the pleasures and oppor- tunities of home and business to render service for the Union. On April 23. 1861, in response to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers, he enlisted in Company C, Sixteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served four months. In January, 1864, he re-enlisted in Company D, Ninth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, of which William D. Hamilton was colonel, and so inter- esting and praiseworthy was the record of this regiment that a detailed ac- count of its operations is deemed advisable here, for it was noted for its con- tinued action and dash and fight. It was first organized in Camp Zanes- ville in 1862, and was then but one battalion, four companies, commanded by Mr. Hamilton, who was then a major, this gallant officer having been a captain in the Thirty-second Regiment of Ohio Infantry. It was not until September, 1863, that Captain Proctor, of the Eighteenth United States Infantry, mustered in the Second and Third Battalions. In the fall of 1862 the First Battalion was put into shape and until January remained in Ohio, and was drilled, but without horses. Later they were mounted and crossed over into Kentucky, and kept watch on the roving bands of Confederates, and at Pine Mountain Gap, June 16, 1863. they had their first battle. It was not to be expected that men under such a leader would acquit themselves badly, and on that day the Ninth Ohio Cavalry began to make history for itself, to do honor to the state from which it came, and to render valuable service to the country it was organized to defend. It engaged in sixty-four battles and skirmishes. It was not until the spring of 1864 that the entire regi- ment was together, the several battalions meeting at Pulaski, Tennessee. two of the battalions having made a very gallant charge against Roddy's entire brigade of Confederates, who fled before the gallant Ohioans. On July 10. 1864, the Ninth took part in Rousseau's great raid through Alabama, riding through the garden of the South, where no Union soldier had ever been before, skirmishing for fourteen days, fighting. tearing up railroads, burn-

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ing mills, factories and cotton, working day and night destroying the re- sources of the enemy,-in fact, they reserved only three hours daily for rest and sleep. Rarely in the history of warfare was there such riding as this. It was a most successful raid, but it has never been given its rightful place in history. Rousseau found Sherman's army at Marietta, Georgia, and the Ninth took part in the great Atlanta campaign. A battalion under Major Bowles led the advance of the memorable flank movement when Sherman threw invincible columns to the right, which soon ended the great campaign. On the memorable march to the sea the regiment was conspicuous and was a part of the army under that gallant leader, General Kilpatrick, and did heroic work. In July, 1865, the survivors of the regiment returned to their homes, and it is safe to say that none of those who are living today but feels proud of the fact that he belonged to a regiment with such a splendid record.

Following is a list of the battles and skirmishes in which the regiment engaged in 1863: Pine Mountain Gap, Big Creek Gap, Waltzburg, all in Kentucky ; Knoxville, Powell Valley, both in Tennessee ; pursuit of Morgan, siege of Knoxville; following were consecutive in 1864: Florence, repulse of an attack on Decatur, Center Star, Courtland Road, Rousseau's raid, Coosa River, Ten Islands, Talladega, Stone's Ferry, Lochapoka, Auburn, Chesaw Station, all in Alabama, with part of Rousseau's raid in Georgia; siege of Atlanta, East Point, Georgia; Chattahoocheer, pursuit of Wheeler, pur- suit of Forrest, all in Alabama; Jonesboro, Lovejoy, Bear Creek Station, Macon, Griswoldsville, Milledgeville, Oconee River, Waynesboro, Louisville, Rocky Creek Church, Brier Creek, Ebenezer Creek, siege of Savannah, all in Georgia ; Campbellsville, Lawrenceburg, Tennessee ; Arnold's Plantation, Alta- maha Bridge, March to the Sea, Georgia; Taylor's Creek, Barnwell, Willis- ton, Aiken, Blackville, Gunter's Bridge, Winnsborough, South Carolina ; Lex- ington, Broad River Bridge, Phillips' Cross Roads, Rockingham, Salem Grove, Monroe Cross Roads, Fayetteville, Taylor's Hole Creek, Averasboro, Bentonville, Faison's Depot, Smithfield Railroad, Raleigh, Morrisville, Chapel Hill and Bennett House, all North Carolina.

. This splendid regiment was mustered out at Lexington, North Carolina, July 20, 1865, and discharged at Camp Chase, Ohio, August 2d following. The regiment was attached to the Second Brigade, Cavalry Division, Twenty- third Corps, until March, 1864. Ordered to Athens, Alabama, and attached to the cavalry command, Dodge's left wing, Sixteenth Army Corps, until May, 1864, then it was attached to Kilpatrick's Second Brigade, Third Di- vision, with which it remained until June, 1865.

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Thus it will be seen that Mr. Boor saw some strenuous service, and according to his comrades he was always ready for duty and never swerved from danger or a difficult task. Following is a roster of his comrades in Company D: Emerson Benson, W. J. Boden, James Boileau, Joseph Bur- goon, Levi Bowers, William Barkimer, David Baker, S. N. Cook, D. M. Dougherty, John Double, Harrison H. Dodd, George Fisher, Abraham Fel- ger, David R. Houser, L. H. Hughes, William Herron, William Henderson, John Hill, Henry Heck, Lewis H. Immel, Jacob Johnson, John W. Kurtz, J. A. Kister, Timothy Lyne, Byron Mckenzie, John Moore, Joseph Marshall, B. Mitchelson, George Morrison, W. A. Nichols, J. A. Petty, Cornelius Pettit, John Rhodes, William Santell, James Singre, Joshua Stotsberry, John A. Strauss, James A. Smith, Thomas C. Smith, John Sparr. J. A. Switzer. Justus F. Watson, Sam F. Wireman, Sam S. Wyre, Joseph C. Wheeler. Henry Wells.

Mr. Boor was taken prisoner on October 2, 1864, in Georgia and was held at Macon for two weeks, and at Millen, Georgia, for six weeks. He also saw the inside of prisons at Savannah and at Florence, South Carolina. February 27, 1865, he was paroled and put on a boat at Wilmington, North Carolina, eventually reached Annapolis, Maryland, from which place he went to Columbus, Ohio, where, after a furlough of thirty days, he was dis- charged on June 15, 1865. Mr. Boor enjoys the distinction of having par- ticipated in the first engagement of the Civil war, the battle of Philippi, West Virginia, on June 3, 1861, and he and a comrade captured the first armed prisoner.

In 1869 Mr. Boor built a steam saw-mill on his place in Wayne town- ship, this county, which he conducted without intermission for thirty years, doing a very large business and becoming widely known as a mill and lumber man. In 1878 and 1879 he served as township assessor, was elected ap- praiser in the latter year and served one term. In 1884 he was again elected assessor and in 1890 was re-elected land appraiser. In the fall of 1895 he was elected infirmary director and served very acceptably in this, as in his former public capacities, for a period of six years. He has always been active in politics on the Democratic side. He has long been a member of the United Brethren church at Madisonburg, Ohio, and was one of the organ- izers who built the structure in 1876. The congregation started with about thirty members and now has seventy or more. Mr. Boor was trustee from 1875 to 1908, and he always took a great deal of interest in religious work. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Given Post, No. 133.

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History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume I, Part 65

Author: Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1162

Author:
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1162