History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume I, Part 71

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

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WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.

years ago and leaving a family of several children, among whom was a daugh- ter by the name of Cecelia Funck, whose birth occurred in Northampton coun- ty, Pennsylvania, February 27, 1832. On November 4. 1852, she became the wife of Isaac H. Myers, son of John O. and Elizabeth ( Haldeman) Myers. of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, the marriage taking place in Wayne county, Ohio, where Mr. Myers had settled a short time previously.

For several years after their marriage, Isaac H. and Cecelia Myers lived in the town of Chester, but about 1859 moved to Seville, Medina county, where they continued to reside until 1864, when they changed their abode to Wooster, with the interests of which city the remainder of Mr. Myers' life was identified. For some years he conducted a grocery store and built up a lucrative patronage. He then turned his attention to the insurance business, in which he met with signal success, establishing an agency which, under the joint management of himself and son, William C., in due time became the largest enterprise of the kind in the city and since passing into the hands of the latter has become one of the most successful in the state.

Isaac H. Myers took the road as special insurance agent in 1878, from which time until shortly before his death, on June 5. 1907, he traveled quite extensively in the interest of his companies and achieved honorable repute as a capable, far-seeing and thoroughly reliable business man. His wife, who suffered a stroke of paralysis in 1887, departed this life very suddenly on the 4th day of April, 1895, and was laid to rest in the cemetery at Wooster, where her husband now sleeps by her side awaiting the resurrection of the just. The children of this estimable couple, three in number, are Isadore. born August 1, 1857, died January 25, 1882; Lura, whose birth occurred March 8, 1867, and who lives in Wooster, and William C., the subject of this sketch, who was born in Seville, Medina county, Ohio, on January 28. 1861.

William C. Myers was about four years old when his parents moved to Wooster, and since 1865 his life has been very closely interwoven with the growth and development of his adopted city. At the proper age he entered the public schools, where he pursued his studies until graduating from the high school, after which he assisted his father in the latter's insurance busi- ness, having been familiar with the duties of the office from his twelfth year. Engaging with his father on a salary, he soon acquired a practical knowledge of insurance and under his able and skillful management it was not long until the business took on new life and became the largest and most success- ful of the kind in the city.

The insurance agency of which Mr. Myers is now the head and which for some time has been known under the style of W. C. Myers & Company.

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was established in 1870 by the subject's father, who continued as its manager until accepting the position of special traveling agent in 1878, when William C. took charge of the business and has ever since conducted the same. On attaining his majority he became his father's partner, but within a short time thereafter succeeded to the business, which since the year 1878 he has prac- tically controlled and which under his initiative and successful methods has grown so rapidly that he now leads all competition in his own city and county and occupies a commanding position among the leading insurance men of Ohio.

The career of Mr. Myers affords a notable example of the exercise of those qualities of mind which overcome obstacles and win success and his ex- ample is worthy of imitation by those who are dissatisfied with present attain- ments and who would aspire to higher positions of honor and trust. A busi- ness man in the broadest sense of the term, his integrity has ever been above suspicion, while his methods will bear the test of the severest criticism and among his fellow citizens his name has always been synonymous with fair and honorable dealing. While subordinating every other consideration to his business affairs, he has not been unmindful of his obligations as a citizen, as is indicated by the interest he manifests in the public welfare, nor is he negligent of those social ties which every well ordered community requires of those who constitute its mainstay and support. Aside from his insurance in- terests he is identified with various local enterprises, including among others the Citizens' National Bank of Wooster, of which he is a director and one of the largest stockholders. He is prominent in Odd Fellowship, being an influ- ential worker in the lodge at Wooster, which he has the honor to represent in the sovereign grand lodge and to his efforts are largely due the growth and popularity of the brotherhood in the city of his residence.

The domestic chapter in the life history of Mr. Myers bears date of No- vember 28, 1888, at which time was solemnized his marriage with Mary Hay- maker, of Warren, Ohio, daughter of Jesse and Abbie P. Haymaker, of that city, and a niece of Ephraim Quinby, one of the early settlers and prominent residents of Wooster. Mr. and Mrs. Myers have no children of their own, but take great interest in the young people of the city to whom the doors of their beautiful home are ever open and among whom their bounty is freely and lavishly dispensed. Alive to every good work and in touch with all laudable measures and humanitarian projects, this excellent couple fill a large place in the public life of Wooster, and the high esteem in which they are held by the people of the city, irrespective of class or condition, bears eloquent tes- timony to their amiable qualities of head and heart.

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WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.

THEO. P. BOWMAN.

Success in this life comes to the deserving. It is an axiom demonstrated by all human experience, that a man gets out of this life what he puts into it. plus a reasonable interest on the investment. The individual who inherits a large estate and adds nothing to his fortune can not be called a successful man. He that falls heir to a large fortune and increases its value is success- ful in porportion to the amount he adds to his possession. But the man who starts in the world unaided and by sheer force of will, controlled by correct principles, forges ahead and at length reaches a position of honor among his fellow citizens achieves success such as representatives of the two former classes can neither understand nor appreciate. To a considerable extent the subject of this sketch is a creditable representative of the class last named, a class which has furnished much of the bone and sinew of the country and added to the stability of the government and its institutions.

Theo. P. Bowman was born in Richland county, Ohio, on the 19th of April, 1873, and is a son of Henry and Mary ( Plank) Bowman. He is de- scended from German antecedents and inherits the sturdy qualities which made representatives of that nationality such a desirable element in our great cos- mopolitan population. Henry Bowman was born in Pennsylvania and when a young man came to Ohio, settling in Richland county, where he followed agricultural pursuits. He retained his residence there until his death, which occurred in 1891, at the comparatively early age of forty-eight years. Mary Plank Bowman was born and reared in Wayne county and is now living at Butler, Richland county. By her union with Henry Bowman she became the mother of six children, named as follows: Sherman E., of Richland county ; Theo., subject of this sketch; Ira C., of Richland county; Anna E., who is the wife of William McKowan and resides in Richland county; LeRoy, of Butler, Ohio, and Arthur, who resides with his mother at Butler.

Theo. P. Bowman remained with his parents until he was fifteen years old and secured a fair education in the common schools. At the age men- tioned he went to Mifflin, Ashland county, and entered the employ of an uncle, who operated a flouring mill, with whom he remained three years. In 1894 he came to Wooster and went to work for Plank & Gray, millers, with whom he remained twelve years, seven years as a miller and five years in the capacity of traveling salesman. In May, 1902, Mr. Bowman established him- self in the grocery business and has from the start met with a gratifying suc- cess. His store is well stocked with a carefully selected line of goods, and everything in the various lines usually carried in a well-equipped grocery are

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to be had. Especial attention is given to the individual wants of his cus- tomers with the result that his trade has steadily grown from year to year.

In 1896 Mr. Bowman married Flora B. Matz, who was born and reared in Wooster, the daughter of Wellington Matz. To this union two children have been born, namely : Neal F., born June 3, 1899, and Esther Fay, born in August, 1901.

Mr. Bowman is a Republican in politics, though he does not take a very active part in public affairs. His fraternal relations are with the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. and Mrs. Bowman are consistent members of the German Reformed church, to which they give their earnest support. The subject is a man of strong purpose and unfaltering industry, a reliable and enterprising gentleman and ever faithful to his duties of citizenship.

ARCHIBALD B. CAMPBELL, M. D.

The physician who would succeed in his profession must possess many qualities of head and heart not included in the curriculum of the schools and colleges he may have attended. In analyzing the career of the successful practitioner of the healing art it will invariably be found to be true that a broad-minded sympathy with the sick and suffering and an honest, earnest desire to aid his afflicted fellow men have gone hand in hand with skill and able judgment. The gentleman to whom this brief tribute is given fortu- nately embodies these necessary qualifications in a marked degree and by energy and close application to his professional duties he has built up an enviable reputation and drawn to himself a large and remunerative patronage.

Dr. Campbell's paternal grandfather was James Campbell, a native of Scotland, who emigrated to Canada in 1831, bringing with him his family, consisting of five sons and three daughters. These children all located in Elgin county, Ontario, and all reared large families. James Campbell was a farmer by vocation and followed this pursuit during all of his active years. He died at the age of eighty-two years, leaving several hundred descendants. The subject's father, John Campbell, who was born in Argyleshire, Scotland, came to Canada with his parents in 1831, locating in Elgin county, Ontario, which at that time was a dense wilderness. The family went to work clearing the land and planting crops and in a few years they had farms that would have done credit to the more older settled sections of the continent. John Campbell spent the balance of his life on this farm which he cleared and

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died there in 1891, at the age of eighty-one years. For forty years he was a prominent member of the Presbyterian church and his faith was shown by his works. He married Margaret McIntyre, also a native of Argyleshire, Scotland, born in 1818, or seven years subsequent to the birth of her husband. She is now residing on the Elgin county farm, at the ripe old age of ninety- two years. John and Margaret Campbell were the parents of nine children, five sons and four daughters.

The subject of this sketch remained on the paternal homestead during his youth and received a good education in the common schools. As a means to an end, with the medical profession in view, he engaged in teaching, which vocation he followed during five years. In 1869 and 1870 he attended the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, graduat- ing there in 1871 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Entering at once on the practice of his profession, he located first at Western Star, Summit county, Ohio, where he practiced for two years. In May, 1873, he removed to Canal Fulton, Stark county, Ohio, and remained there until October. 1901, when he came to Orrville, where he has since remained. He conducts a general practice in medicine and surgery and is numbered among the most successful practitioners in this section of the county. He keeps in close touch with the advances continually being made in his profession, and all improvements of a practical nature he readily adopts, ever earnestly desiring to attain as high a degree of perfection as possible in the prosecution of his life work.

In 1876 Doctor Campbell married Amelia Upjohn. the daughter of Dr. Uriah Upjohn, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, where she was born and reared. She died one and a half years after their marriage, leaving a son, Archibald Upjohn Campbell, who is now a member of the Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, one of the largest manufacturers of physician's supplies in the country, and of which he is a stockholder. In 1883 Dr. Campbell married Etta McMillen, a daughter of John McMillen, of Stark county, this state, and a sister of the late Dr. McMillen, of Orrville.

The Doctor keeps in touch with his professional brethren through his membership in the Wayne County Medical Society, the Sixth Congres- sional District Medical Society and the Ohio State Medical Association. In religion the Doctor and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church at Orrville and take a deep and abiding interest in its welfare. Fraternally. he is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, which he joined as soon as he had reached his majority. In politics he supports the Republican party.

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He was a member of the board of education of Canal Fulton, Stark county, for eighteen years and has always been deeply interested in educational matters. He served for eight years as pension examining surgeon in Stark county, and is now surgeon for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railroad Company.

Doctor Campbell is descended from a remarkable family of self-made men whose ancestors settled in the Canadian wilderness eighty years ago. His progenitors were of a hardy race, big, strong men, who carved their way to success by sheer force of will. Twenty-two descendants of the Scotch farmer who first settled in the western world are now successful professional men, twenty of them being physicians, one a lawyer and one a dentist. Fauquhar Campbell, a brother of the subject's father, had nine sons, and of these seven became physicians and one a lawyer.

EZRA D. McINTIRE.

The life history of him whose name heads this sketch has been closely identified with the history of Wayne county. His life has been one of untiring activity and has been crowned with a degree of success attained by those only who devote themselves indefatigably to the work before them. He is of a high type of business man and none more than he deserves a fitting recogni- tion among the men whose genius and abilities have achieved results that are most enviable and commendable. As a servant of the people of his county Mr. McIntire acquitted himself with the highest honors and that he is now in private life is because he no longer desired the official position which he had filled satisfactorily for so many years.

Ezra D. McIntire, whose fine farm of two hundred acres lies in Wooster and Franklin townships, was born in Franklin township, this county, Decem- ber 22, 1844, on the farm which his father had entered from the govern- ment and which is now owned by the subject. He is a son of Cornelius and Nancy (Rayl) McIntire. The subject's paternal grandfather was John Mc- Intire, who was born in county Derry, Ireland, in 1755. He emigrated to the United States in 1782, and settled at York, Pennsylvania. He was there engaged in farming for fifteen years, at the end of which time he moved to near Steubenville, Ohio, on what was then known as the Mingo Bottoms. In 1820 he came to Franklin township, Wayne county, Ohio, where he spent his remaining days. He was the father of eight children, namely: John,

&D. M. Julire

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WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.

James, Smith, William, Archibald, Cornelius, Sarah and Catherine, all of whom are now deceased. Cornelius McIntire was born in Fayette county. Pennsylvania, July 20, 1800, and accompanied his parents on their removal to Ohio in 1820. He at once entered upon the task of clearing the land for cultivation and the same season succeeded in sowing four acres to wheat. He was an energetic man during all his active life and was widely known because of his enterprising spirit and progressive methods. He followed farming all his life and was eminently successful. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, while his wife belonged to the Lutheran denomination. He was a Democrat in politics and served as trustee of Franklin township. His death occurred in 1881 and his wife died in 1886. their remains being interred in the cemetery at their home. On the 24th of January, 1828. Cor- nelius MeIntire married Nancy Rayl, who was born in Beaver county, Penn- sylvania, in 1811, and who came to Franklin township, Wayne county, Ohio. with her parents in 1819. To them were born the following children: Mary Jane, who became the wife of Daniel Derringer; George, deceased ; Reason. deceased ; Hannah, the wife of Mr. Greenwald, of Wooster ; Sarah, deceased ; Sophronia, deceased; Cornelius, who lives at Needles, California ; William, deceased ; Ezra D., the subject of this sketch; Elizabeth, the wife of John Craven, of Wooster township; Susan, deceased, who was the wife of Cyrus Franks; John W., deceased, and Jacob, who also has died.

Ezra D. McIntire received a good common school education and was reared to the life of a farmer. He remained as the assistant of his father of the home farm until he was twenty-four years of age. During the following two years he was in various parts of the West and then engaged in the oil business in Pennsylvania for a number of years. Then locating in Defiance, Ohio, he engaged in the lumber and milling business until 1881, when he returned to Wayne county and in the following spring he received the appoint- ment as superintendent of the county infirmary. This position he held for twenty-three consecutive years and in all this period there was never heard an expression but that of satisfaction regarding his conduct of this respon- sible and ofttimes trying position. In consecutive years he held the office longer than any other man in the history of this state, certainly a remarkable and unmistakable recognition of his eminent business qualities. He had in his charge the insane, epileptics and poor wards of the county and he gave to them and the various other interests of the home the same careful and pains- taking attention that he gives to his own private affairs. In the spring of 1904 Mr. MeIntire retired from the superintendency and located on his farm

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in section 14, where he is now living. He is a thorough and practical farmer and is numbered among the leading men of the community.

Mr. McIntire married Mariah Sweeney, and to them have been born the following children : Eva, who died young ; Walter, at home; Florence, who is the wife of Oliver Mock, of Franklin township; Arthur Clark, of Wooster, who married Daisy Dunham. In politics Mr. McIntire has rendered a stanch allegiance to the Democratic party, and at one time he served as assessor of Franklin township. He has served as a delegate to county, state and national conventions of his party and has always been influential in the councils of his party. Fraternally he is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, having been made a Master Mason in Ebenezer Lodge, at Wooster, in 1889. He has also taken the degrees of the council of Royal Arch Masons and the com- mandery of Knights Templar, in all of which bodies he is active. No one in the community enjoys a better reputation for integrity of word and deed than does the subject, and when a man stands high in the estimation of the people who have known him during all the years of his life no greater testi- monial of his worth can be given. He has had the best interests of his com- munity at heart, and he was largely instrumental in having the state agri- cultural experiment station located in Wayne county.

JOSEPH OWEN FRITZ.

Although yet a young man, Joseph O. Fritz has made his influence felt at the Wayne county bar and won general recognition as an attorney of un- usual force and ability and while he has established a solid reputation in legal affairs he has also won the confidence and good will of his fellow citizens owing to his habits of industry and his fidelity to right principles of action in his social intercourse with those with whom he comes into contact, and to such as he future years needs must be replete with honor and abundant success.

Mr. Fritz was born in Milton township. Wayne county, Ohio, on Novem- ber 6, 1872, and he is the son of a farmer, his ancestry being among the sterling and substantial stock that reclaimed this country from the wilderness and while they may not have produced leaders of men in any of the walks of life, they formed the bone and sinew of the body politic, making possible the great development and the wondrous successes of the present generation. He is the son of Elmore and Jemima ( Bartholomew) Fritz. His grandparents were, on the paternal side. Philip and Mary (Long) Fritz, and on the maternal side,

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Owen and Leah (Mill) Bartholomew. The subject's paternal great-grand- father, Martin Fritz, was a member of Capt. Samuel Cochran's company, the Tenth Battalion Pennsylvania Militia, and served five years in the Revolution- ary war. In 1771, when but fourteen years of age, he left France alone, and, coming to America, first settled in Venango county, Pennsylvania. He mar- ried Catherine Wildt, who had six sisters, all of whom settled in the vicinity of Doylestown, Wayne county, Ohio, and founded pioneer families in that sec- tion. In June, 1814, Martin Fritz settled in Milton township, Wayne county, being the first white settler in that township.

Mr. Fritz was always a studious lad and when a mere boy he was actuated by an ambition to become an attorney-at-law, and while living on the farm where he assisted with work about the place in the summer months, at- tending the neighboring schools in the wintertime, he began laying plans for a future career in the legal profession. He later received a good commercial and academic education, having studied at the Western Reserve Normal Col- lege, Wadsworth, Ohio, and taken a full course at the Massillon Business Col- lege, in each of which he made splendid records.

Mr. Fritz was admitted to the bar at Columbus, Ohio, October 14. 1899. having pursued a thorough course of law in the office of Messrs. John and Robert L. Adair. He was successful in the practice from the first and he now enjoys a very liberal patronage. He opened an office in Creston, Wayne county, about February, 1900, and came to Wooster December 1, 1903. He has gradually grown in strength in the local courts until he is now fully abreast of the times in his chosen profession. In his trial of cases, his intercourse, argument, and competitions with the other members of the bar, he treats them with respect and kindness. In disposition and temperament he is bland, ap- proachable and sociable, liberal and accommodating, high-spirited and inde- pendent. a natural man in a natural way, asserting himself and relying upon himself, and accomplishing his ends by his own methods and processes.

Joseph O. Fritz was married, on June 2, 1899, to Clementine Kick, a daughter of John and Mary (Wolf) Kick, who was born in Lake township, Ashland county, Ohio, and to them were born six children, four of whom are living, namely : Ward Anderson, Myrna C., Carl Joseph and Philip. Mary Veda died at the age of six years and Frank at one year of age.

Politically, the subject is affiliated with the Democratic party, while his fraternal relations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Re- ligiously, he is a member of the English Lutheran church, to which he renders a hearty support.

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ROBERT CAMERON, SR.

For many years the subject of this sketch has been actively and prominent- ly identified with the business and civic affairs of Wooster, being one of the leading contractors and builders of the county and having been concerned in the erection of many of the best buildings in the city and vicinity. A native of bonnie Scotland, he has evidenced in his life here many of the sterling qualities which characterize that virile race and he is occupying an enviable position in the community.

Robert Cameron's ancestors for many generations have been born and reared in Scotland, his great-grandfather, grandfather and father, all bearing the Christian name of John, having been of that sturdy race. The subject's father was a farmer and contractor, and was a man of unquestioned honor, it having been literally true that his word was as good as his bond. He was born in 1809, and died in 1893, at the age of eighty-four years. His birth was thus coincident with Lincoln, Gladstone and several other men whose names are household words throughout the world. The subject's grand- father, John Cameron, was also a contractor and died at the age of seventy- two years. He was a presiding magistrate for many years, and several mem- bers of this family in the paternal line were burgesses, an office of distinction, carrying with it a number of special privileges. The subject's mother bore the maiden name of Christina Jackson, and she died on New Year day, 1876, at the age of seventy-six years. Her father, Thomas Jackson, was a nail- maker, and was descended from a long line of Scotch ancestors. To John and Christina Cameron were born ten children, eight of whom grew to mature years, their names being as follows :

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History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume I, Part 71

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