USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 39
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The death of Samuel K. Alexander occurred on October 14, 1880. He and his wife were the parents of the following children : Rev. J. R., who has been a missionary at Asiout, Egypt, for the past thirty-five years, having done a wonderful work in that country for the spread of the Gospel and in his min- istrations to the benighted people there. The most notable work he has done there was the organization of a college, of which he has been president ever since. James H. is a farmer in Plain township. Mary married R. M. Brinkerhoff. Margaret, and A. S., who lives west of the old home place. He is mentioned in a separate sketch in this work.
Samuel K. Alexander was a man of exemplary habits, scrupulously hon- est in all his relations with his fellow men, a kind father and loving husband and a man whom everybody liked and highly respected.
H. LINCOLN PIPER.
The Piper family has long been a prominent one in Wayne county, one of the best known members of the same being H. Lincoln Piper, whose birth occurred March 14. 1860, in Reedsburg, this county, and he is the son of William Piper, mentioned elsewhere in this work. The subject was educated in the common schools and in the Smithville Academy, after which he re- turned to the farm and in 1891 he purchased a farm of one hundred and ten acres in Chester township, which was improved; however, he never lived on
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the place. In 1906 he purchased two farms of eighty-five acres each in Ches- ter township and these he still manages. He has fed and wintered horses to some extent. He has also been in the loaning business for the past fifteen years, and he has shown himself to be a man of unusual business ability, un- derstanding all the phases of diversified farming, keeping his places up to a high standard of excellence and reaping from them annually rich harvests as the result of excellent management. However, he is not actively engaged in agricultural pursuits at present, having lived practically retired for the past two years.
Mr. Piper was married on October 2, 1883, to Alice Buchanan, a native of Wayne county, Ohio, and the daughter of G. R. and Lydia Buchanan. They were early settlers of this county and a highly respected family. Mrs. Piper was well educated in the common schools and she is a woman of fine personal traits, rendering her popular with a wide circle of friends in this county. Her father believed in giving young people of today every ad- vantage possible and consequently the mental and social training of his daughter, Alice, was carefully looked after.
Besides his farming, Mr. Piper has various investments in securities and whatever he has turned his attention to he has been very successful, his farms showing that a man of good taste and splendid judgment has their manage- ment in hand.
Politically Mr. Piper is a Republican, but he does not find time to devote much attention to political matters, though he is interested in the progress of his county in every respect. Religiously, he belongs to the Methodist Episco- pal church, and Mrs. Piper belongs to the Lutheran church.
JOHN C. McCLARAN.
It is a well authenticated fact that success comes not as the caprice of chance, but is the legitimate result of well applied energy, unflagging deter- mination and perseverance in a course of action once decided upon by the individual. Only those who seek the goddess Fortuna, find her-she never was known to smile upon the idler or dreamer. The gentleman whose name introduces these paragraphs clearly understood this fact early in life when he was casting about for a legitimate and promising line to follow, and in tracing his life history it is plainly seen that the prosperity he enjoys has been won by commendable qualities, and it is also his personal and genuine
John@Mc@lavon
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regard for the welfare of others which has gained for him the good standing which he enjoys among his fellow citizens-at the bar and in public and social life.
John C. McClaran spent his boyhood and young manhood days on the Wayne township, Wayne county, Ohio, about two miles northwest of the county seat, August 10, 1852, a conspicuous day in the calendar of this county for it marked the coming of the first passenger train through her domain and the advent of a new and opulent epoch. He is the son of Dewitt Clinton McClaran, who long since passed to his reward; he was a well-to-do farmer and a man of influence in his community, a man of many commend- able traits and who did his full share in the development of his township and county, similar in makeup to his father, Robert McClaran, a sturdy pioneer here in the wilderness days of the long ago, who, contributed a heroic part toward the building of Wooster, the establishment and maintenance of public order, the enforcement of the laws, the organization of public schools and the general growth of the county seat and county, and the work he began has been continued by his descendants to the present day, adding additional lustre to an escutcheon of which anyone might well be proud. The grandfather moved from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, to Wayne county, Ohio, in 1812 and was at once recognized by the early settlers here as an enterprising. capable and public-spirited man, the type that any growing community always welcomes into its midst. He was patriotic and when the war of 1812 began unhesitatingly offered his services in behalf of the flag, and right gallantly carried a musket through many trying campaigns and bloody battles of the lake region. He was chosen the first justice of the peace of Wooster, and as such married the first couple joined in wedlock in Wayne county. His record in his official capacity was without stain or blemish. He took an abid- ing interest in political matters, and, as a Whig, was elected to the General Assembly of Ohio in 1823; he held various other offices of trust and respon- sibility, and was a man of stanchest integrity, strong convictions, and un- questioned mental force.
John C. McClaran, a well known attorney of Wooster. was born in home farm where he assisted with the work about the place and learned many valuable lessons and laid the foundation for a virile manhood. He alternated his farming with teaching in the district school, spending his evenings among his books, and in the line of his higher aspirations formed habits of close application and stick-to-itiveness which have characterized his subsequent career. He was not satisfied with a primary education, consequently entered the University of Wooster from which he was graduated in the class of
(80)
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1877. He had decided upon the law and accordingly began to study of the same in the office of the late George Rex, ex-supreme judge of Ohio and recognized as one of the ablest lawyers and jurists on the bench. After the completion of his studies in the office of Judge Rex, Mr. McClaran entered the Boston Law College, from which he was graduated in 1880. He began practice by forming a partnership with Gen. Aquila Wiley, of this city, a dis- tinguished soldier in the Union army, with whom he remained in partnership relations for a period of five years, during which time he grew in favor and popularity, impressing the bar and the public with his ability and future pos- sibilities, one who was characterized by quick perceptions, sound judgment, and an acute, logical, discriminating mind. At one time he held the office of city solicitor of Wooster, having been elected in 1890, in which position he discharged his official duties in an efficient and satisfactory manner. He was elected probate judge of Wayne county in 1893, and re-elected in 1896. His career on the bench was most satisfactory, irrespective of party alignment, for he conscientiously sought to do justice to those who sought to gain redress in court, desiring to give all the necessary protection, fairness and justice of the law, of which he had a clear analysis. A court of pro- tection to the minor child, the widow, the orphan; a court of administration and relief, those entering it under the tenure of Judge McClaran had the as- surance and guarantee of their legal rights. In every sense Judge McClaran was especially and signally equipped for the honorable position to which he had been elevated by his fellow citizens. His administration of the probate office during his first term was characterized by learning, caution, fairness and firmness ; and all these qualities were but significant indexes of what the administration of the office was during the second term.
Upon his retirement from the probate office, Judge McClaran resumed the duties of the legal profession, and with his judicial characteristics and former experience as a popular, successful and painstaking lawyer at the Wooster bar, assured him a satisfactory clientele and he has ever since done his full share of legal business. His habits of close study, industry and critical research, his ability to grasp and readily comprehend the law, make him necessarily and logically a successful lawyer. He was elected to the probate judgeship by a most emphatic majority by the Democratic party. to which he gave his allegiance and franchise when first a voter, and with which he is in conspicuous affiliation. At the Democratic primaries of May, 1900, having been a candidate for Congress from the seventeenth district, he received the endorsement of the Democracy of Wayne for that exalted position, but in the district convention failed of nomination. On the stump he
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is somewhat aggressive, but always argumentative and convincing. The educational, moral and material interests of the community are matters of concern to him, and the promotion of them are not forgotten in his cherished objects of life.
Judge McClaran possesses an unblemished character, a strict integrity, an intelligent appreciation of his responsibilities and a faculty of accomplish- ment. He fully realizes that these traits of character have descended through the blood of his ancestry and his greatest pride shall ever be that priceless heritage of his forefathers-an honored name.
Judge McClaran was, on the 30th day of June, 1885, united in marriage with Elizabeth C. Deer, daughter of Jacob Deer and Marietta Deer, to which union were born two sons, Wade Dewitt, born July 24, 1886, and John Walter, born October 1, 1887. Mrs. McClaran died June 20, 1889. On July 21, 1891, he was again married to Jessie Kate Jones, daughter of Lake F. Jones and Jennie Jones, of Wooster, Ohio.
Judge McClaran is a member of the Westminster Presbyterian church of Wooster, and has been closely identified with the splendid growth and development of the University of Wooster, having been a member of its board of trustees for many years. He is also a member of the fraternal orders of Masons, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias.
MICHAEL D. OTTO.
The backbone of this country is made up of families who have made their own homes, who are alive to the best interests of the community in which they reside, who are so honest that it is no trouble for their neighbors to find it out, who are too busy to attend to anyone's business but their own, who work steadily on from day to day, taking the sunshine with the storm, and who rear a fine family to an honest name and a comfortable home. Among such families is the gentleman whose name forms the intro- duction to this sketch, for his ancestors have left honorable records be- hind them in this and Ashland counties, this state.
M. D. Otto, a prosperous farmer in Plain township, Wayne county, was born in Ashland county, Ohio, October 24. 1859. the son of Michael and Re- becca (Emerick) Otto, both natives of Pennsylvania. The grandparents of the subject came to Ashland county, Ohio, in an early day and engaged in farming.
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M. D. Otto was educated in the common schools of Ashland county, re- ceiving an excellent practical education. He very early began farming in his native county and followed the same until 1894, when he came to Plain township, Wayne county, where he now follows general farming on an ex- cellent place of two hundred and eighty acres. It is well improved in every respect and on it stand a beautifully located home and good outbuildings, everything about the place denoting thrift and prosperity. Mr. Otto keeps a good grade of livestock of all kinds, especially horses, of which he is fond.
Mr. Otto was married on May 17, 1885, to Flora Coble, a woman of ex- cellent tastes and the daughter of an old and highly esteemed family of Ashland county, this state, where she was born. This union has resulted in the birth of the following children: Florence Fay, Edith and Miron Adair.
Politically, Mr. Otto is a Democrat, but he does not aspire to public of- fice, though his support may always be depended upon when questions arise looking to the betterment of his county in any way, and since coming here he has made hosts of friends by reason of his neighborly and kindly man- ners and his integrity. Mrs. Otto is a member of the United Brethren church of Lake Forest, Ohio. Her parents both live in Ashland, Ohio.
WILLIS B. BRYSON.
Postmaster of Wooster and one of the most influential men of the city, Willis B. Bryson is a native of Pennsylvania and an honorable representa- tive of an old and highly esteemed family which for many years was identified with the material progress and general interests of Lawrence county, that state. His father, Joseph E. Bryson, born in the county of Lawrence and a life-long resident of the same, was a bookkeeper and a man of high moral worth and greatly esteemed by those with whom he mingled. He served in a Pennsylvania regiment during the late Civil war, earned an honorable record as a soldier and was killed in a railroad accident in the year 1871.
The Brysons are of Scotch-Irish lineage and originally settled in Cum- berland county, Pennsylvania, where the subject's grandfather, James D. Bryson, was born and reared. In early life he removed to New Castle, Law- rence county, Pennsylvania, where he worked for a number of years as a millwright and where he also served ten or twelve years as county commis- sioner, besides representing that jurisdiction at one time in the Legisla-
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ture. He was a fine mechanic and, during his long experience in constructing mills, made may improvements in machinery, including among others an improved turbine water wheel which he invented and which was pretty gen- erally adopted and is still in use. A man of affairs as well as a mechanical genius, he took an active interest in public matters, kept in close touch with the great questions and issues of the times and wielded an influence in the community which in due time made him a leader among his fellow citizens. He lived a long and useful life and was called from the scenes of his earthly labors and triumphs in the seventy-seventh year of his age.
The maiden name of the subject's mother was Rose E. Means, daughter of Daniel Means, of western Pennsylvania. A native of the Keystone state, she married her husband in Lawrence county, and bore him two children, Willis B., whose name introduces this sketch, and Mrs. C. E. Ohliger, of Kansas City, Missouri. Mrs. Bryson was a woman of well-balanced judg- ment, practical intelligence and beautiful life, and early impressed upon the minds and hearts of her offspring those principles which make for correct con- duct and strong, well-rounded character. She died in 1906, at the age of sixty-seven years, and left to her posterity the memory of noble deeds and high ideals which they cherish as a priceless heritage.
Willis B. Bryson was born December 10, 1864, in New Castle, Penn- sylvania, and spent his early life pretty much after the manner of the majority of city lads. At the proper age he entered the public schools, where he made commendable progress in his studies, and in 1884, when nineteen years of age, came to Wooster, Ohio, and engaged in the mercantile business, which he carried on with encouraging results for a period of nine years, devoting his attention during the time to the notion and wallpaper trade. Disposing of his establishment in 1903, he entered the employ of the Cleveland & South- western Traction Company, with which he continued two and a half years, when he resigned his position to take charge of the postoffice at Wooster, to which he was appointed on May 8, 1906.
On becoming a citizen of Wooster Mr. Bryson at once began taking an interest in public affairs and it was not long until he forged to the front and rose to a position of prominence and influence in political circles. He early embraced the principles of the Republican party and in due time became an earnest advocate of the same, his activity in working for the success of the party and his judicious advice in its councils leading, in 1897, to his being chosen chairman of the Republican executive committee, which position he held for a period of twelve years and in which he demonstrated ability and leadership of a high order. In recognition of valuable services while at
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the head of the above organization as well as by reason of his fitness for the place, he was appointed, as already noted, to the important position of post- master, the duties of which he has since discharged with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the department and the general public, proving a capable, courteous and obliging official in whom the people, irrespective of po- litical affiliation, repose implicit confidence.
Mr. Bryson is a public-spirited man and lends his influence and material assistance to all worthy enterprises for the advancement of the city in which he resides and is also deeply interested in those measures and movements having for their object the social, intellectual and moral welfare of the com- munity. He is a stockholder in the Wayne County National Bank, in Woos- ter, besides having interests in various other utilities of minor import. Like the majority of wide-awake, enterprising men, he discharges his duties to the public with the best interests of the county, state and nation at heart, and as a representative American of his day and generation endeavors to realize in himself his high ideals of manhood and citizenship. He holds membership with the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish rite, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a member of Canton Wright, Patriarchs Militant.
Mr. Bryson was married in 1889 to Naomi Foote, daughter of E. D. Foote, of Wooster, the union being blessed with one child, a son, Willis D., an intelligent youth of fourteen years, who bids fair to realize the fond hopes which his parents entertain for his future.
JAMES A. WELTMER.
The Weltmer family has always figured prominently in the life of Wayne county, each member so comporting himself as to gain the admiration of his neighbors in respect to material as well as the public and social side of life. One of the best-known of the present generation is James A. Weltmer, whose birth occurred in Plain township, April 18, 1853, the son of George W. and Isabella (Rittenhouse) Weltmer, the former born in Plain township and the latter a native of the state of Pennsylvania. The subject's paternal grand- parents were John and Elizabeth (Kean) Weltmer, the former born in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, and the latter a native of Scotland. It was in 1816 that they came to Wayne county, Ohio, and settled in Plain township, section 22, the place now being known as the Rittenhouse farm. Jacob Welt-
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mer, father of John, came to this county in an early day and bought forty acres of land which he cleared and set out in fruit trees, some of the trees still living; it was one of the first large orchards in this part of the state and it proved to be very successful from a financial venture. Jacob Weltmer re- mained on that place until his death. The subject's paternal grandparents, Matthias and Catherine (Godwaldt) Rittenhouse, were natives of Pennsyl- vania. They came to Wayne county, Ohio, in 1830 and settled in Plain township, section 21, now known as the Stair farm, consisting of eighty acres. The farm was unimproved when Mr. Rittenhouse bought it, but the same was cleared by him and transformed into a comfortable home. He later moved to Ashland county, where his death occurred, as did also that of his wife. Their son, William, served three years as a soldier in the One Hun- dred and Twentieth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war. George, father of the subject, went out in March, 1864. in the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Regiment National Guard of Ohio, serving seven months. Matthias, brother of William Rittenhouse, also served as a private in the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Regiment, all surviving the struggle.
George Weltmer was educated in the home schools and early in life learned the shoemaker's trade. Both grandfathers of the subject were shoe- makers, having solicited work by going from house to house. George Welt- mer also farmed in section 27, Plain township, on forty acres which he owned and where he lived until his death in 1867; his wife died on September 6, 1885. Besides farming and shoemaking, George Weltmer paid especial at- tention to raising sheep and horses. Politically, he was a Republican and an active worker in the party, holding some of the local offices, including that of school director. He was also a very active worker in the Evangelical church. To Mr. and Mrs. George Weltmer five children were born, three daughters and two sons, namely : Lucy ; Melissa, deceased : James A. ; Alpheus ; Kath- erine, deceased.
James A. Weltmer, of this review, was educated in the common schools of Plain township. He began farming early in life and has been very successful, being a hard worker and a good manager. In 1877 he purchased forty acres, upon which he erected all the buildings and made other substantial improve- ments. He has made his own way through life, having received assistance from no one. He has dealt somewhat extensively in livestock, having been an extensive horse and lamb feeder, in connection with his general farming.
Mr. Weltmer was married in 1877 to Ida Felger, daughter of George and Lydia (Rynard) Felger. The Felger family originated in the state of Pennsylvania, and in an early day came to Wayne county, Ohio, where they
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began life in the woods, but became fairly well established here. The Felger family had eleven children, as follows : Viola, Jenetta, Ida May, Ira, Julius, Hattie, Sadie, Zeanas, George, Olla and Stella, all alive and financially in good circumstances. To Mr. and Mrs. Weltmer four children have been born, namely : Blanche, who married Thomas R. Campbell, is the mother of two children, Josephine Lenora and Thomas Richard; George W. married Hope Sprang, and their child is James Frederick; J. A. died when three years of age, December 14, 1890; June Isabel.
Mr. Weltmer is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, his family also belonging to that denomination. Politically, he is a Republican and firm in his beliefs in the principles of the same. Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of the Maccabees, and Mrs. Weltmer belongs to the Ladies of the Maccabees.
B. G. COPE.
The gentleman to a brief review of whose life and work the reader's attention is herewith directed is among the foremost business men of Orr- ville, Wayne county, Ohio, and has by his enterprise and progressive methods contributed in a material way to the industrial and commercial advancement of the city and county. He has in the course of an honorable career been most successful in the business enterprises of which he is the head, and is well deserving of mention in the biographical memoirs of Wayne county.
Mr. Cope is a native son of the Buckeye state, having been born at East Greenville, Stark county, on the 14th of March, 1874. He is a son of Daniel and Margaret Cope, the former of whom was of English antecedents and the latter of good old Pennsylvania-German stock. The father is still living in Stark county, which has been his home for more than half a cen- tury, being now eighty-six years old. The subject's mother died about twenty years ago. B. G. Cope secured his education in the public schools of Green- ville and Massillon, and has supplemented this during the subsequent years by close reading of the best literature as well as keen observation of men and things, so that today he is considered a well-informed man. When a boy of sixteen years, Mr. Cope became interested in the work of drilling and during the following five years he followed the business of prospecting for coal. He then learned the trade of machinist, at which he was employed for five years. He was shrewd and far-sighted and, recognizing an opening for business, he was quick to take advantage of conditions. With the assistance
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