USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 10
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JACOB BENTON GROBY.
Jacob Benton Groby, who was formerly actively and successfully identified with the building interests of Montgomery county, conducting an extensive busi- ness of this character in Miamisburg, is now living retired on his fine farm of eighty acres on the Cincinnati and Dayton pike. His birth occurred in Miamis- burg, Ohio, on the 12th of August, 1855, his parents being David and Eliza Ann (Warner) Groby. His paternal grandparents were Henry and Catharine (Beck) Groby. The former, a native of Germany, took up his abode in Berks county, Pennsylvania, after coming to this country and subsequently made his way to Montgomery county, Ohio. His oldest brother, Jacob Groby, was the first representative of the family in this county. Jacob Warner, the maternal grand- father of our subject, who was likewise a native of Germany, became one of the first settlers in this county.
David Groby, the father of Jacob Benton Groby, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, on the 17th of May, 1824, and obtained his education in the Key- stone state. He was a young man of seventeen years on his arrival in Montgomery county, Ohio, and on entering business life took up carpentering and contracting, eventually becoming recognized as one of the most extensive builders in Miamis- burg. He was one of the county's most respected and best known citizens and his demise, which occurred on the 17th of January, 1908, was the occasion of deep and widespread regret. His family numbered five children, as follows: William H., who is now deceased; Mrs. Sarah Brehm, a widow residing in Miamisburg, Ohio ; Amanda, who has likewise passed away; Jacob Benton, of this review ; and Eliza, deceased.
Jacob B. Groby obtained his education in the schools of his native town and in early manhood learned the carpenter's trade under the direction of his father. He conducted a successful and profitable business as a contractor throughout his active career and owned a planing mill in Miamisburg in association with his father. On severing his connection with building interests he took up his abode on his present farm of eighty acres and is now living retired in the enjoyment of well earned ease, leaving the active work of the fields to his son, Mark G. Groby.
On the 23rd of November, 1876, Mr. Groby was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Goudy, a daughter of T. B. and Lucetta (Hoover) Goudy. Her father was one of the well known and highly esteemed residents of Miamisburg and a man of prominence in public affairs, at one time serving as county auditor. Mr. and
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Mis. Groby are the parents of two children. Clara Lucetta is the wife of J. Allen Kauffman and has three children: Thomas Benton; Russell Groby and Allene. Mark G., a young man of nineteen years, has completed his education and now devotes his time and energies to the cultivation and improvement of his father's farm with excellent results.
Fraternally Mr. Groby is identified with the Odd Fellows Lodge, No. 18, of Miamisburg, and the Senior Order of United American Mechanics at that place, in both of which organizations he has filled all of the chairs. He is likewise a thirty-second degree Mason, belonging to the blue lodge, the chapter and the Scottish Rite. The family are members of the Lutheran church and take an active interest in its work. Having lived in this county throughout his entire life, Mr. Gro- by is well and favorably known within its borders and that his career has ever been an upright and honorable one is indicated by the fact that the associates of his boy- hood and youth are still numbered among his stanch friends and admirers. His in- terests are thoroughly identified with those of Montgomery county and at all times he is ready to lend his aid and cooperation to any movement calculated to promote the general welfare.
ANDREW WILFRED EICHELBERGER.
Andrew W. Eichelberger is known in business circles of Dayton as a member of the firm operating under the name of T. D. Eichelberger Sons, as dealers in cement, lime, etc. He was born in this city, February 12, 1852, his father being Theobald D. Eichelberger, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1821. He spent the first twenty-five years of his life in the state of his nativity and in 1846 came to Dayton where for a time he engaged in the cooperage business, while later he turned his attention to house painting, in which he continued until he became a representative of the lime and cement trade in this city in 1869. Subsequently he extended the scope of his business to include builders' supplies and established an important and growing enterprise. At the time of the Civil war he was a stanch advocate of the Union's cause, but was physically incapacitated for active service with the army. In his fraternal relations he was an Odd Fellow and both he and his wife were life-long members and active workers in the First Lutheran church. He was married in Greene county, Ohio, in 1850, to Miss Melinda Wolf, a daugh- ter of John W. Wolf, and unto them were born two sons, Andrew WV. and John W:
The elder brother, spending his boyhood days in his parents' home, was sent at the usual age to the public schools wherein he pursued his studies through con- secutive grades. Later he took a course with the Miami Commercial College and when he had thus qualified for the practical and responsible duties of a business career he joined his father, who had previously established business as a dealer in lime and builders' supplies. He was put in charge of a branch house in Spring- field, Ohio, in 1876, and there remained until 1882 when the branch store was closed out and he returned to Dayton. Here he became a partner of his father and of his brother, John W. Eichelberger, under the firm style of T. D. Eichel- berger Sons.
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In 1879 A. W. Eichelberger was married in Springfield, Ohio, to Miss Jose- phine M. Hamilton and they have two sons, John Lee, who is a Scottish Rite Mason of the thirty-second degree; and Charles Hamilton.
In his fraternal relations Andrew W. Eichelberger is an Odd Fellow. His religious faith is indicated by his attendance in the Lutheran church and his political views are manifest in the stalwart support which he gives to the men and measures of the republican party.
John W. Eichelberger, the junior partner of the firm, was born in Dayton in 1854 and his early experiences were similar to those of his brother. He married Miss Milly Gilbert and unto them were born two sons, Gilbert and Pearl. The mother of A. W. and John W. Eichelberger is still living and yet makes her home in Dayton. Like the others of the family, John W. Eichelberger is a Lutheran, belonging to the first church of that denomination in Dayton, and in his lodge relations he is connected with the Odd Fellows and the Elks. He, too, votes with the republican party but neither brother desires nor seeks public office as they prefer to give their undivided attention to business affairs which, capably con- ducted, are bringing to them a substantial measure of prosperity. They have built up an excellent trade in the line which they handle and if success depends upon unremitting energy and reliable business methods they will long continue on the road to prosperity.
FRANK J. McCORMICK.
Frank J. McCormick, proprietor of the Dayton Supply Company, conducting a wholesale business in plumbers' supplies, is numbered among the worthy citizens that the Emerald isle has furnished to the new world. His birth occurred in County Roscommon, Ireland, in 1843, and in 1848 he was brought to America by his widowed mother, the family home being established in Boston, Mas- sachusetts, where they remained for about two years. The family then removed to Sandusky, Ohio, and remained there until 1855.
On the 9th of January, 1855, Mr. McCormick arrived in Dayton, being then a youth of twelve years. He started in business life as a newsboy on what was then the Indiana Central Railroad but is now a part of the Panhandle system and, after being employed in that way for a time, he secured a position as fireman on a loco- motive. That he was capable and faithful in that capacity is indicated by the fact that he was promoted to engineer on the 26th of October, 1863, being then a month less than twenty years of age. He remained as a locomotive engineer for fourteen years, a part of that time with the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad and afterward with the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton road. In 1876 he left the road and turned his attention to the business of dealing in plumbing and steam heating supplies in Dayton in connection with M. J. Gibbons under the firm style of Gibbons & McCormick. This partnership existed until December, 1889, and was then dissolved, since which time Mr. McCormick has conducted a wholesale business in plumbers' supplies under the name of the Dayton Supply Company.
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He also manufactures some specialties in his line and now has a trade which makes his enterprise a very profitable and satisfactory one.
In 1870 Mr. McCormick was married to Miss Bridget Gibbons and they have three living children: Frank J .; Elizabeth, the wife of John C. Baggott, of Day- ton ; and Nellie Gibbons McCormick. Mr. McCormick and his wife are communi- cants of Sacred Heart church and he belongs to the Knights of Columbus and to the Dayton City Club. In politics he is an independent democrat. While he usually supports the principles of democracy he does not consider himself bound by party ties, preferring to reserve for himself the right to form his own conclu- sions regarding the advisability of any course of political action. He has served for two terms in the Dayton city council and was for a number of years a trustee of the Dayton Hospital for the Insane. In all matters of citizenship he is pro- gressive, seeking the public welfare rather than personal aggrandizement and desiring the substantial progress of the community at large rather than the pro- motion of partisan measures. In a review of his life we note many commendable traits aside from the fact that he started out in the world for himself at a very early age. His diligence and adaptability have been the cause of his continuous rise and today he is numbered among the business men of substantial worth in his adopted city.
SAMUEL FLETCHER GEORGE, M. D.
It is difficult to characterize in a few words or even sentences the work of such a man as Dr. Samuel Fletcher George. Watching him in a round of profes- sional calls one might feel that his entire attention was concentrated upon that work, and it is well known that he is an able physician. He is, however, just as successful and just as capable in various lines of business, is active in politi- cal and fraternal circles and, moreover, keeps abreast with the best thinking men of the age, thoroughly versed at all times on questions of vital import to the general public. In short, he is a dynamic force in whatever he undertakes and possesses much of the spirit of the initiative, so that he has become a leader in many lines of activity.
A native of Elmira, New York, Dr. George was born February 16, 1843, and is of Welsh lineage, the family being founded in America by his grandfather, Lemuel George, who left the little rock-ribbed country of Wales after having learned the tanner's trade and married in that land. Arriving in the United States, he located at Utica, New York, where for many years he owned and conducted an extensive tannery, accumulating thereby a substantial fortune. His religi- ous views were in accord with the Episcopal faith. His family numbered one son and a daughter, Lemuel and Margaret. The former was born in Utica, New York, in February, 1799, and after receiving a collegiate training became a minister of the Methodist church, devoting his life to that holy calling as pastor of churches in Albany, Seneca Falls, Ithaca, Geneva, Elmira, Horse- heads, Corning, Bath, Syracuse and other New York cities. He was recognized as one of the prominent divines of his denomination, possessing a notable gift
DR. SAMUEL F. GEORGE
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of oratory added to inspiring zeal and unfaltering consecration to his work. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Rhosilla Lowell, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1801, and was a daughter of Simon and Cynthia Lowell and a cousin of James Russell Lowell. Her mother was Cynthia Stone, a sister of the mother of General Benjamin Butler, and through the Stone family Dr. George was a cousin of President Arthur. The marriage of Rev. George and Rhosilla Lowell occurred in Auburn, New York. The former spent his last days in retirement and passed away at Seneca Falls, New York, July 15, 1872. His widow survived him for two decades, dying in Buffalo, New York in February, 1892. Their sons and daughters were William L., Henry S., Edward and Edwin (twins). Melvina C., Horace C., Elizabeth E., J. Russell, Charles W., Mary H., Samuel F. and Francis W.
The itinerancy of the Methodist ministry caused the residence of the George family in Elmira, Corning, Horseheads and Syracuse, New York, during the youthful days of Dr. George, who was a public-school student to the age of fifteen and then entered Knoxville Academy in Steuben county, New York. Later he became a high-school student in Syracuse, during which period he lived with an uncle who was a minister. About two weeks after Fort Sumter was fired upon he obtained money from his uncle and returned to his parents' home in Elmira with the intention of joining the army, but he was only eighteen years of age and his father would not consent to his becoming a soldier. He had had some military training and was a natural tactician, so that it was not long before he was employed by the state to drill recruits, thus spending the year 1861. In the spring of 1862 he organized a company, entered the service as major, his enlistment papers having been made out early in the year, but it was not until August that his father reluctantly signed them. His command became a part of the Fiftieth Regiment of New York Engineers and Major George saw detail duty at Syracuse until December, 1862, when he left for the front and five days later was under fire at Fredericksburg. He was then with the Army of the Potomac until the surrender of Lee, his regiment building all bridges and throwing all pontoons for the army. While he was frequently in the range of the enemies' bullets and his clothing was often perforated thereby, he never was wounded and in May, 1865, was mustered out at Fort Barry, Vir- ginia.
For a brief period after the war Dr. George was located in Elmira, New York, and then entered upon the study of medicine in Syracuse, where he re- mained for about three years. Later he was graduated from the Reformed College at Macon, Georgia, but in 1869 gave up the study of medicine to accept a clerkship in a wholesale tobacco and cigar house in Syracuse at a salary of twelve dollars per week. That his ability and fidelity were at once recognized is indicated by the fact that thirty days later he was head clerk and participated in the management of the business. A year later he resigned his position to engage in the grocery business in order to save money he had loaned to a mer- chant in that line. Sixty days later, however, the grocery firm failed and he lost all. The firm had an indebtedness of twenty-two hundred and fifty dollars but in the following year Dr. George liquidated the entire amount. It was during that period that he also took up the study of law and was admitted to practice.
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The business instinct has always been strong within him and he has in large measure that quality which, for want of a better term, has been called "com- mercial sense." He gained a second start by purchasing a lot in Syracuse and with borrowed money erecting thereon a handsome residence, which he sold at a good profit. With the money thus acquired he met the expenses of a course in Hobart College, from which he was graduated in 1873, it being his intention at the beginning of his college course to enter the ministry. Following his graduation, however, he began the publication of a paper, the Anti-Monopolist, at Buffalo, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; and Richmond, Virginia ; with headquarters at Buffalo, and while thus engaged he also published the Buffalo Sunday Transcript. In 1875 he disposed of the latter and removed to Philadelphia, becoming general manager of the Philadelphia Evening Chronicle, in which position he continued for six months, during which time he canceled an indebtedness of eighty thousand dollars against the plant and sold the paper with a profit of twenty-five thousand dollars to the proprietors. It was at that time that he suggested the plan of a morning newspaper to Mr. McClure and Mr. Mclaughlin and other newspaper men, which resulted in the organization of the Philadelphia Morning Times, of which he became manager. In 1876 he began the publication of the Camden (New Jersey) Tribune, a morning paper, which he sold three months later. This terminated his active connection with journalism and in Philadelphia he resumed the practice of medicine. In 1877 he went to York, Pennsylvania, where he continued in practice for a year, after which he was a member of the medical fraternity in Buffalo until 1882, since which time he has been numbered among the prominent representatives of the profession in Dayton. He was graduated from the Eclectic Medical Col- lege of Cincinnati in 1886 and at all times has been interested in professional advancement, quickly discerning that which is essential in the work of the medical fraternity.
Moreover, Dr. George has been very prominent in business enterprises of the city, including the National Medicine Case Company, of which he is president. In 1900 he set on foot a movement toward building and equipping the Cincin- nati, Dayton & Fort Wayne Railroad, an electric third rail system, one hundred and ninety-four miles in length. In 1903 a company was organized with a capital stock of one million dollars and an authorized capitalization of twelve and one- half millions. In that year Dr. George was chosen president and general man- ager of the company and so continues to the present time, his efforts being a potent factor in furthering the interests of the project which has become a profit- able enterprise.
Not alone in the line of his profession has Dr. George been a wide student. He is a deep thinker and logical reasoner and has carried his investigations far and wide into the realms of general and scientific knowledge. All those ques- tions which are a matter of vital interest to statesmen and to men of affairs are familiar to him. He has been a close student of political, social and economical problems and has frequently addressed large audiences on the subject of social economy and other questions that have agitated public thought. He has never been a follower, but ever a leader in lines of advancement and never has he hesitated to express his honest opinions, his position at no time being an equivocal
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one. He gave stalwart allegiance to the republican party until 1880, when he joined the greenback labor party. He afterward affiliated with the democratic party until 1892 and then allied his interests with the people's party. During the campaign of 1896 he worked earnestly for the support of the principles in which he believed and was also one of the effective campaign workers in 1908.
In May, 1875, Dr. George was married to Miss Elizabeth A. Abbott, a native of Philadelphia and a daughter of Hezekiah Abbott, a contractor and builder of that city. They became parents of a daughter and two sons: Charlotte Cecelia, who was married in Covington, Ohio, to Richard R. Deaver; Benja- min Butler, who was married in Dayton to Beatrice Jewell, a daughter of George Jewell; and Wilbur Van Buzkirk, who was born April 2, 1884, and was drowned January 8, 1898.
In his fraternal relations Dr. George is popular, holding membership with the Masons, Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Grand Army of the Republic. His religious faith is indicated in his membership in the Episcopal church. Perhaps no better summary of his work or indication of his salient characteristics can be given than in quoting from the Bulletin of Com- merce which, in a mention of Dr. George, said: "He is a self-made man, so to speak, and his associates have the conviction that his maker had a strong ele- ment of wisdom. He is popular with all classes of men, especially with the laborer, for whom he would broaden the opportunities of productive industry. He is absolutely free from a desire for private gain at the expense of the public or at the cost of a neighbor. If he represents a constituency or an interest he re- gards them as a trust as sacred as the inheritance of orphanage. He has de- veloped abilities of a high order and knows how to employ them to the advantage of every honorable undertaking. He is as decisive in his conviction as he is just, and yet he is at once kind, gentle and always courteous among his asso- ciates. His broad views upon public questions and comprehension of the true policy of government render him a power in his state and his judgment of decided value to the nation. In business affairs he is deliberate, cool and decisive ; is never frenzied with speculation, has no inclination to handle hot irons, nor is he blinded in the flash of bogus diamonds. His well known, also his indom- itable spirit, conservative balance and progressive energy keep him in the 'lime- light' of business or his profession. In the exercise of these qualities there is always 'something doing.' With ability as a guide, courage as a motor and in- dustry as a balancing power, no obstacles creep in between him and success."
WILLIAM ROSS FUNK, D. D.
Rev. William Ross Funk, D. D., general manager of the United Brethren Publishing House, is of German-Swiss origin, his forefathers emigrating to the United States early in the seventeenth century. Three of the family served in the Revolutionary war under General Washington. Joseph Funk, his great-grand- father, left Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, soon after the Revolutionary war and settled in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, where he purchased one thousand
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acres of land from the government. Upon this land Daniel Funk, a son of Joseph, lived and died. In a log cabin situated on a portion of this land Abraham Funk, the father of Dr. Funk, was born April 5, 1820. In 1845 he was married to Miss Catherine Zumbro and began their home life in the cabin in which the husband was born. To them eight children were born, the youngest of which was Will- iam Ross Funk who was born August 1, 1861.
Abraham Funk was a very successful business man, combining farming and stock raising and had a wide acquaintance and associaton with many of the lead- ing men of western Pennsylvania and at the time of his death, December 31, 1879, was one of the most respected citizens of his native county. His mother, Cath- erine Zumbro Funk, was of pure German ancestry, both of her grandfathers emi- grating from Germany. She was a woman of very deep piety and strong in- tellect, and especially devoted to the church of her choice, the United Brethren in Christ. Her mother was baptised by Bishop Philip William Otterbein, the founder of the United Brethren church, while the family yet resided in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. She survived her husband's death seventeen years and died July 29, 1896.
On a farm one-half mile from the place where his great-grandfather had settled seventy-five years before, the subject of this sketch spent his early childhood, attending the country school until he was eighteen years of age. He then en- tered Otterbein University, Westerville, Ohio, at the beginning of the school year of 1879, remaining a student until the close of the year 1882. On August 3, 1882, he was married to Miss Lottie M. Hamlin, of Iowa, a student at Otterbein Uni- versity. He entered Union Biblical Seminary September, 1882, at Dayton, Ohio. After one year in the seminary he was assigned by the Allegheny conference, of which he is a member, to Industry, Pennsylvania, where he served a one year pas- torate and during that time he built a parsonage. He returned to the seminary Sep- tember, 1884, and completed a full theological course, graduating in May, 1886. In 1886 he was assigned to the pastorate of the Westmoreland charge of Allegheny conference, being the same county in which he was born. After a two years' pastor- ate, in which he built a new church and parsonage and received two hundred people into church membership, he was assigned to the church in Scottdale, Penn- sylvania, September, 1888, where he served a pastorate of four years and suc- ceeded in erecting a new church at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars. In September, 1892, he became pastor at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, where after serving five years, he was elected publishing agent by the general conference of his church May, 1897, at Toledo, Iowa, having completed eleven years as an itin- erant minister and having received over one thousand persons into church fellow- ship.
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