USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 69
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JAMES B. MEECH.
James B. Meech has long been an important factor in professional cir- cles of Wayne county, Ohio, and his popularity as an attorney is well de- served, as in him are embraced the characteristics of an unbending integrity. unabated energy and industry. He is public-spirited and takes a deep interest in whatever tends to promote the intellectual, civic and material welfare of the community in which he has so long resided,-in fact, where his life has been spent, for he was born in Chippewa township. October 7. 1853. the son of George and Martha (Housel) Meech, the latter a native of Summit county, this state, first seeing the light of day in the city of Akron. James B. Meech's paternal grandparents, Abel and Katherine Meech, were sturdy New Englanders, coming to Ohio in a very early day and locating in Chip- pewa township; they took up government land which they developed into a good farm and spent the remaining years of their lives here. Thus the name Meech has been a familiar one in this section of Wayne county since the days of the forest primeval. The maternal grandparents of Mr. Meech were Hiram and Sarah Housel, residents of Summit county back in the times of the first settlers.
George Meech, father of James B., was probably born in New England in 1827. and Martha Housel, his wife, was born in Summit county, Ohio, in 1832. They met and married in the last-named county and there became prosperous farmers and stock dealers. Both died in 1858, leaving four daughters and one son, James B., of this review. George Meech was a stanch Whig, later a Republican.
J.B. Mech
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James B. Meech was a studious lad and he made a good record in the common schools of his native community. Later he took a course in Dennison University, leaving that institution in his sophomore year, 1875. He then gave way to a desire of long standing to begin the study of law in the office of R. B. Young at Doylestown, and later with Judge Joseph Down- ing of Wooster. He made rapid progress and was admitted to the bar in 1877 and immediately took up practice in Doylestown and has been here ever since. He was successful from the first and now he has a clientele second to none, enjoying a lucrative practice in the local courts, all his time being taken with his legal affairs. He is a convincing speaker before a jury and his knowledge of jurisprudence and all phases of the law is profound.
Mr. Meech was married December 20, 1882, to Etta Franks, daughter of Lyman and Elizabeth Franks, mentioned at length in another part of this work. To Mr. and Mrs. Meech two children have been born, Bessie B., a teacher in the public schools at Akron, Ohio, and Mildred, deceased.
Politically, Mr. Meech is a loyal Republican and he has taken consid- erable interest in local party affairs, having held many local offices, and in 1891 made the race for prosecuting attorney of Wayne county. Fraternally. he is a member of the Knights of Pythias.
Mr. Meech does an extensive business as the representative of the Home Insurance Company of New York, also the Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Company and the Insurance Company of North America. He is well known throughout the county and is popular with all classes and he and his wife mingle with the best society of the county and township.
PROF. OHIO M. YOCUM.
Educator, local manager and joint proprietor of the Yocums-Bixler Busi- ness College, one of the leading institutions of the kind in the state of Ohio. the subject of this sketch is a native of Missouri, born in the town of Warren- ton on May 30, 1877. His father, James E. Yocum, whose birth occurred in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, in 1826, was brought to Wayne county by his parents when two years old and lived here until 1865, when he moved to Warrenton, Missouri, near which place he has since resided, following the oc- cupation of farming. In 1849, while living in Wayne county, he joined a com- pany of men as adventurous and daring as himself and crossed the plains to seek his fortune in the gold fields of California, but after spending three years in that far-off region, returned home where he continued to reside until his
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removal west, as stated above. He served in the One Hundred Sixty-ninth Regiment Ohio Infantry during the Civil war, took part in a number of cam- paigns and battles and earned a creditable record as a soldier. At the ad- vanced age of eighty-three years, he is still quite well preserved, retaining the possession of most of his faculties, both physical and mental, and keeping in close touch with current events and the leading public questions of the times. Prior to her marriage Mrs. James E. Yocum bore the name of Adelaide Mun- hall; she is a native of Ohio and still living, having borne her husband children as follows : Morris, deceased; Mrs. Ida T. Shelton, of Warrenton, Missouri : Emmerson J., deceased ; Wade, who lives in Warrenton, as does Eva Beall Yocum, who is unmarried; Mrs. Mary M. Miller, the sixth in order of birth, resides at Jonesburg, Missouri; Howard lives in Warrenton ; Dr. Lincoln A. Yocum, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in these pages, is a well known physician and surgeon of Wooster, Ohio; Mrs. May Godfrey, of Carroll, Iowa, is the ninth in number ; Horace, of Massillon, Ohio, and Charles, of Warren- ton, Missouri, the tenth and eleventh respectively, the youngest member of the family being Prof. Ohio M., whose name heads the article.
Ohio M. Yocum, who, as already stated, is a native of Missouri, spent his childhood and youth at the paternal home near Warrenton and early became familiar with the varied duties which fall to the lot of country lads. When old enough to be of service he bore his part in the cultivation of the farm and when not thus engaged pursued his studies in the country school near his home, where in due time he fitted himself for more advanced work in the Central Wesleyan College of Warrenton. After finishing the curriculum of that insti- tution, he entered the business college at Massillon, Ohio, where he took a full course in commercial work and was graduated. following which he accepted a position in the same institution, which he filled with credit for a period of one year. Professor Yocum's rise in the line of commercial education was rapid and commendable and in 1901, when but twenty-three years old, he took upon himself the local management of the Yocums-Bixler Business College, of which he and his brother, H. G. Yocum, became proprietors that year and with which both have since been identified, the latter assuming general management of the enterprise. The Yocums-Bixler Business College was established in 1888 by Prof. Gideon Bixler, who began work with a class of penmanship. the suc- cess of which soon induced him to add the various branches of a commercial course and enlarge his facilities for the proper accommodation of pupils re- quiring his services. A reorganization was effected in 1891, since which date the number of students has steadily increased until there is now an average at- tendance of about one hundred and fifty with four teachers selected with refer- ence to efficiency and skill in their respective departments.
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Since the school came under the management of the Yocum brothers its success has been such as to lead them to establish similar institutions in various other cities, and at this time they have a chain of schools in the following places : Massillon, Mansfield, Findlay, Uhrichsville and New Philadelphia, all growing out of the original establishment at Massillon and Wooster, which continues to be the headquarters of the proprietors.
Professor Yocum is an educator of wide and honorable reputation in his line of work and the school of which he is the executive head is one of the best known institutions of the kind in the state. He possesses executive ability of a high order, also a thorough knowledge of the various courses of his school. Young and energetic, he has made his influence a power for good in the busi- ness world and his presence a blessing to the hundreds of young men and women with whom he is constantly brought into contact.
Professor Yocum was married in June, 1903, to Grace Jeanette Yoder, of Wooster, the union being blessed with one child, a daughter, Dorothy Ade- laide, who was born on the 25th day of September, 1904. Professor and Mrs. Yocum are esteemed members of the First Presbyterian church of Wooster and stand high in the general esteem of the people of the city. They are popu- lar in the social life of the community, take an active interest in all that tends to the moral advancement of their kind and fill a large place in the public gaze by reason of their prominence in religious and intellectual work.
The Yocums-Bixler Colleges, to which passing reference is made in a pre- ceding paragraph, yield precedence to no other institution of the kind in the United States, the course of study being as complete as that of more preten- tious schools and the methods of instruction in the hands of thoroughly trained specialists second to none. The commercial course includes bookkeeping. business arithmetic, penmanship, commercial law, correspondence, corporation and voucher accounting, rapid calculation, spelling, commercial literature and business practice. There is also a shorthand and typewriting course. To ac- commodate many students who otherwise could not avail themselves of the splendid opportunity for a business training which the school affords, a night course, including all the branches of the curriculum, has been established and is now a highly prized feature of the institution.
WELKER G. CHRISTY.
The popular citizen and enterprising business man whose name fur- nishes the heading of this review needs no formal introduction to the people of Wooster and Wayne county. Identified with the commercial interests of
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the city and taking an active part in promoting the material advancement of the community, he has forged rapidly to the front in business circles, besides earning an honorable reputation as one of the county's progressive men of affairs. Welker G. Christy is a worthy descendant of an old and respected family that had its origin in Ireland, of which country his great-grandfather, James Christy, was a native. This ancestor came to America many years ago and is supposed to have settled in Pennsylvania where his son, Robert Christy, the subject's grand father, was born and reared. . Robert Christy grew to man- hood in his native commonwealth and in the prime of life migrated to Wayne county, Ohio, where he followed farming and milling and where he spent the remainder of his days, dying sometime in the eighties, at the age of seventy- two years.
James W. Christy, father of the subject, was born in the county of Wayne and is still a citizen of the same, residing at this time in a beautiful home a short distance north of Wooster and devoting his attention to agricultural pursuits. For a number of years he carried on a successful lumber business at the county seat, but after accumulating a comfortable competency retired to the country where he is now enjoying some of the blessings earned during his active business career. He served in the One Hundred Twentieth Regiment Ohio Infantry during the late Civil war and participated in many of the blood- iest battles of that historic struggle, in one of which he received a slight though painful wound. He was over three years at the front, during which time he discharged his duties faithfully and courageously and at the expiration of his term of service retired from the army with an honorable record as a brave and gallant soldier.
In his young manhood James W. Christy married Mary Troutman, of Wayne county, who is still living, the union resulting in the birth of two children, viz : Mrs. A. W. Smyser, of Overton, Ohio, and Welker G., of this sketch.
Welker G. Christy, to a brief review of whose career the following lines are devoted, is a native of Wayne county, Ohio, and dates his birth from the 29th of December, 1874. His early life, devoid of any incident or event of especial interest and pretty much like that of the majority of lads, was spent under the parental roof, where he received the training and bent of mind which in due time led him to plan for the future so as to become more than a mere passive agent in the affairs of men. After completing the common school course, he attended for some time the Northern Ohio University at Ada, fol- lowing which he remained two years at home assisting his father in the culti- vating of the farm. Possessing a practical mind and manifesting while still a
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mere lad a decided preference for business pursuits, he bent all his energies in the direction of the world of trade, fully determined to carry out his well de- fined purposes and achieve success in the calling which he should select. With this object in view, he left home in the year 1900 and entered the Wooster Hardware Company as an employe for a period of three years, during which time he not only became familiar with every detail of the business, but also ac- quired a practical knowledge of the basic principles upon which the world of trade is founded.
By diligence and faithfulness Mr. Christy won the confidence of his em- ployers and at the expiration of the time indicated he purchased the interest of I. N. Mckinney and became one of the proprietors. Since 1903 he has de- voted his attention very closely to the interests of the firm and to him belongs not a little of the credit of building up and greatly extending the business until the establishment is now the largest and most successful of the kind in the city and one of the best known in the northern part of the state. Mr. Christy is a clear-headed, far-seeing business man whose methods have ever been progres- sive and successful and whose name stands for fair and honorable dealing in all the terms imply. Although younger than the majority of his contempor- aries in Wooster, he has won distinctive prestige in commercial circles and by adhering to the straightforward course he has heretofore pursued he bids fair to fill a still larger and more conspicuous place in the business world as the years go by. With a clear-cut, eminently sane and practical character and a forceful, attractive personality, he has come to the front in other than his own business interests, being a director of the Citizens National Bank of Wooster, besides giving a free and generous support to all enterprises having for their object the advancement of the city along material lines.
Mr. Christy is a Republican in politics and as a member of the county executive committee he has rendered his party valuable service by his judicious counsel and effective campaign work. Although a recognized leader and ready at all times to make sacrifice for the good of the party, he is not an office seeker nor aspirant for any kind of public renown, preferring the plain, satis- factory life which he now leads and the simple title of citizen to any honors or emoluments within the gift of his fellowmen. His fraternal relations are represented by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and its various branches. in all of which he has been honored from time to time with important official positions. As a member of the First Presbyterian church of Wooster his life has been influential for good and the doctrines and teachings to which he yields assent he endeavors to exemplify in his relations with his fellow men.
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Mr. Christy has never assumed the duties or responsibilities of the mar- riage relation and his present manner of living is becoming his position and high social standing in the community. All of his business life has been spent in Wooster, and his personal history presents no pages blotted by unworthy or dishonorable conduct. Few men are as well and favorably known, and none enjoy higher standing as a generous, obliging, large-hearted friend. His hand is ever open to accommodate the poor and needy, no worthy object appeals to him in vain and his popularity is only limited by the bounds of his acquaintance.
CHRISTOPHER JOHN HARROLD.
Among those whose lives and labors have conferred honor and distinc- tion upon the county of Wayne and its beautiful and prosperous seat of jus- tice, is the well-known gentleman whose name appears above and who, as custodian of one of the people's most important official trusts, fills a large place in the public life of Wayne county. C. J. Harrold, clerk of the Wayne county courts, is a native of Ohio, born two miles east of West Lebanon. in Stark county on the 17th day of March, 1859. The family to which he belongs is a very old and historic one, it being a matter of record that the name was derived from Harold, the last of the Saxon kings of England, to whom, according to well authenticated data, the subject's antecedents are directly traceable.
When the Harrolds first came to America is not known, but it is sup- posed to have been at quite a remote date as the name was well known in Pennsylvania many years ago, especially in Lancaster county, where the sub- ject's grandfather, Christopher, was born and reared. Later he moved to Stark county, Ohio, where he spent the remainder of his days and where his son Wesley, who was six months old when his parents left their native state, grew to maturity.
Wesley Harrold was reared on the paternal homestead near the division line between the counties of Stark and Wayne and on reaching manhood's estate engaged in farming, which he followed until his death, at the age of sixty-one years. When a young man he married Magdalena Mottinger, whose father came from Germany in an early day and settled near a small village in Summit county by the name of Inland, where he became a successful tiller of the soil and where Mrs. Harrold was born. She died at the age of fifty- seven, after bearing her husband seven children, whose names are as follows :
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Mrs. Parmelia Baughman, of Navarre, Stark county; Mrs. Lucy Oberlin, of Massillon ; Mrs. Clara Wertz, who lives in the city of Akron; Manias C., deceased; William A., whose home is in Massillon, and Arthur S. O., of Navarre; the subject of this sketch is the second in order of birth.
Christopher J. Harrold was reared on the family homestead in Stark county and grew to the full stature of well-developed manhood with a proper conception of the dignity of life and the duties and responsibilities which it entails. When old enough to be of service he became familiar with- the rugged duties of the farm, and in the district school hard by which he attended dur- ing the winter months laid the foundation of mental discipline which subse- quently made him a well educated and widely informed young man. On fin- ishing the common school branches he entered, in 1877, Heidelberg Univer- sity at Tiffin, where he pursued his studies for a period of five years and then took a business course in Duff's Commercial College at Pittsburg, Pennsyl- vania, from which he was graduated with an honorable record as an indus- trious and enterprising student. After completing his training in the latter institution, Mr. Harrold engaged in the nursery business at Dalton, Wayne county, where he continued with gratifying success from 1882 till 1905, when he disposed of the business to enter upon his duties as clerk of Wayne county courts, a position to which he was elected the preceding year. Mr. Harrold began taking an interest in public matters at quite an early age and in due time became an influential factor in local politics and a leader of the Demo- cratic party in his community. An active worker and a judicious adviser in party councils, he rendered valuable service in a number of campaigns and in 1904, when an available candidate was required for the office of clerk of the courts, the choice very properly fell to him. In November of that year he defeated his Republican competitor by a handsome majority and, taking charge of the office in August, 1905, he has since devoted his attention to the duties of the same, proving a capable and popular public servant and making a record above the suspicion of reproach.
Mr. Harrold is distinctively a man of affairs and, as already indicated, fills a large place in the public life of his city and county and richily merits the recognition which he lias received as an able official and enterprising citi- zen. He has always stood for progress and improvement and all means and measures for the material advancement of the community and the social, intellectual and moral welfare of the populace find in him a zealous and lib- eral patron. Like the majority of broad-minded, wide-awake men, he believes in the efficacy of secret fraternal organizations and to this end has become identified with the Masonic order, in which he has attained to a high standing,
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belonging to Ebenezer Lodge in Wooster, also to the commandery, chapter and council, taking the thirty-second degree in Cleveland in the year 1909. He is also an enthusiastic member of the Knights of Pythias order in Wooster and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Dalton, besides being an active and influential member of the encampment, in which, as in the subordinate lodge, he has been honored with important official positions from time to time.
Mr. Harrold, on December 28, 1882, was happily married to Emma M. Wertz, of Dalton, Ohio, daughter of W. H. H. and Carrie V. Wertz, a pe- culiar coincidence being the marriage of his two sisters at the same time. Mr. and Mrs. Harrold have two children, the older of whom is now Mrs. Carrie L. Shroth, of Columbus. The younger, Mildred, fourteen years of age, is a student in the city schools. These daughters and their parents are members of the Lutheran church, all of them taking an active interest in re- ligious and charitable work and demonstrating by their daily lives the beauty and worth of the faith to which they hold.
WILLIAM HENRY WORST.
The life history of him whose name heads this sketch is closely identified with the history of Wayne county, which has been his home for many years. His life has been one of untiring activity and has been crowned with a high and well-merited degree of success.
Mr. Worst was born on the 13th day of August. 1859, in Prairie town- ship. Ashland county, Ohio. His father, Samuel Worst, was born in the same locality in 1817. and his death occurred on March 24, 1894. He was a farmer by vocation and was very successful in his operations, having owned at the time of his death, besides his home farm of one hundred and thirty- five acres, two other farms in Ashland county, of fifty-seven and one hun- dred acres respectively, and a farm of one hundred and twenty-one acres in Congress township, Wayne county. He was a stanch adherent of the Demo- cratic party and belonged to the Dunkard church. He was three times married. first to Mary Martin, who was born in Chester township, Wayne county, Ohio, and who died in 1868. Subsequently he married Mary Flack- ler, a native of Richland county. Ohio, and after her death he wedded Lucy Besecker, of Summit county, this state. Samuel Worst was the father
Mrs. Bella Worst
Q. 11. Horst
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of nine children, namely ; John, who died at the age of five years, Elizabeth. Margaret, Nancy, George, Mary, Samuel, David and William, the subject of this sketch.
The subject's paternal grandfather, Henry Worst, was a native of Penn- sylvania and about 1817 he came to Ohio and entered a tract of government land in Ashland county. At that time there were but three houses in Wooster and but one house between that place and his farm. He was a prominent and progressive man and stood high in the community. He died at the remarkable age of ninety-four years. The subject's maternal grandfather was Rev. John Martin, a well-known minister of the Dunkard church. He was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and about 1835 came to Wayne county, settling in Chester township. He was a man of excellent parts and was highly regarded throughout the community.
William H. Worst remained at home during the years of his youth and secured a fair education in the common schools. He assisted his father in the duties of the farm until he was twenty-one years old, and then for about a year he was employed at farm labor by the month. He then rented farms for seven years and was successful in his operations, being enabled in 1887 to buy a farm of one hundred and one and a half acres in Congress township. Subsequently he bought a half interest in the old home farm in Ashland county and has operated both farms with much success. In 1899 he bought a comfortable and attractive home in the village of Pleasant Home and retired from active farm work, having rented his farms to others, though he still maintains a general supervision over them. He is not altogether idle. however, as he gives some attention to the real estate business. He is a man of good business methods and makes a success of whatever he undertakes. He possesses a genial disposition and a kindliness of manner which wins him friends wherever he goes and he is accounted one of the leading citi- zens of his community.
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