USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 40
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HARRY S. O'NEILL.
Harry S. O'Neill, conducting a profitable and growing business as a buyer of leaf tobacco in Dayton, was born in this city, on the 26th of July, 1873. As the name indicates the family comes of Irish lineage. The great-grandfather of our subject was William O'Neill, a native of Ireland, who spent his entire life in that country. His son, Charles O'Neill, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, and became the founder of the family in the new world. He learned the carpenter's trade in his native country, became a contractor and crossed the Atlantic to the United States in the interests of an English syndicate to superintend the con- struction of the Cumberland Valley Railroad. Locating six miles east of Cham- bersburg, Pennsylvania, he lived in that section of the country until his death which resulted from an injury that he had sustained about 1848. He married Elizabeth Sherman, a native of Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Salisbury Sher- man, who was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where in early life he served an apprenticeship to the blacksmith's trade. He afterward learned the trade of cutlery and was foreman of a factory in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, for a num- ber of years. He then joined a company at Gettysburg and aided in establish- ing a cutlery factory there. At Gettysburg he married Miss Catherine Whealen and after his marriage removed to Franklin county near Chambersburg, where he resided for sixty-five years. He had reached the venerable age of ninety-eight years at the time of his demise. His daughter Elizabeth became the wife of Charles O'Neill and, surviving her husband for many years, died at the home of her son, William S., in Van Buren township, Montgomery county, Ohio, where she passed away when more than sixty years of age. In his political views Charles O'Neill was a democrat and studied and discussed the questions and is- sues of the day but never sought office as the reward for party fealty. He super- intended the construction of the old Tappewann Railroad from Gettysburg to the Caledonia Iron Works and was then in the employ of Thaddeus Stevens. He was a man of varied experiences and wide learning. In his youth he had been educated for the Catholic priesthood and his brother, Arthur O'Neill, joined the
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priesthood and continued to serve the church throughout his life. The wife of Charles O'Neill was in earlier life a Lutheran but afterward became a Catholic.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Charles O'Neill were born three sons and four daughters, including William S. O'Neill, the father of our subject. He was reared to farm life and acquired a good education in the common schools of Pennsylvania. Early in his business career he worked for twelve and a half cents per day but his energy and ability soon won him a better return for his labor. In 1858 he made his way to Montgomery county, Ohio, and secured employment as a farm hand on one of the farms which he now owns. The second year was spent in raising tobacco and in the following winter he chopped cord wood and split rails. In 1864 he purchased ten acres of land in Miami township which he soon afterward sold and then invested in forty acres in Van Buren township. From time to time he added to his property, becoming owner of one hundred and sixty acres in Mercer county and one hundred and forty acres in Van Buren township, Mont- gomery county, the latter being the farm upon which he was first employed on coming to Ohio. For two years he carried on general farming in Miami town- ship but with that exception devoted his energies to farming in Van Buren town- ship until his removal to Dayton. In addition to the properties previously men- tioned he owns one hundred acres of land in Washington township. For many years his attention was chiefly given to the cultivation of tobacco and from 1868 he engaged in buying tobacco, continuing in that business until his death which occurred on the 29th of December, 1899. He was married in Montgomery county, in March, 1863, to Miss Elizabeth Shroyer, a daughter of Jacob and Mary Himes Shroyer. They became the parents of five children: Carrie May, who died at the age of nineteen years ; Amanda Ellen, who passed away at the age of twenty-one; Charles Shroyer, who died at the age of twenty ; Harry Sherman, of this review; and Mary Elizabeth, the wife of Elwood E. Rice. The parents became members of Zion's Reformed church, in which Mr. O'Neill long served as a trustee. His political allegiance was given to the democracy and in all mat- ters of citizenship he was progressive, seeking at all times the greatest good to the greatest number.
Harry S. O'Neill, whose name introduces this record, was reared in Dayton and began his education in Van Buren township school No. 12. He spent four years at St. Mary's Institute and he afterward pursued a business course in the Miami Commercial College. He then joined his father, William S. O'Neill, who was engaged in the leaf tobacco enterprise, and they were associated in the business until the father's death in 1899. Harry S. O'Neill has since been alone in business and his interests of this character have reached large proportions. He now handles an extensive amount of leaf tobacco annually and his capable management of his business has brought to him a gratifying competence.
On the 28th of July, 1897, in Dayton, Mr. O'Neill was united in marriage to Miss Luella Rahn and they have five children: William Sharp, Sherman Lewis, Marguerite Elizabeth, Harry Rahn and Virginia.
In his political views Mr. O'Neill is an independent democrat for while he usually supports the men and measures of the democracy, he does not consider himself bound by party ties and is interested in the independent spirit of the times which is one of the most hopeful signs pointing to reform in politics. He always
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takes an advanced stand along lines of progress and improvement, earnestly de- siring the best interests of the community. He belongs to the First Reformed church and the sterling traits of his character, which are many, have gained him a firm hold on the confidence and good will of friends and business associates.
ANDREW PLOCHER.
Andrew Plocher, proprietor of the City Forge & Iron Works and thus actively associated with the industrial interests of Dayton, was born in Wurtem- berg, Germany, June 19, 1850. He came to America in 1868, when a young man of eighteen years, and at once took up his abode in Montgomery county, Ohio, being employed for two years on a farm in the vicinity of Miamisburg. He felt, however, that city life was preferable and removed to Dayton, where he worked at the blacksmith's trade, which he had learned in his native land. He was thus employed until 1894, when his laudable ambition prompted him to engage in business on his own account and he opened a shop. From the beginning the en- terprise was successful and gradually he extended his interests in the develop .. ment of the enterprise of which he is now proprietor. The City Forge & Iron Works constitutes one of the important industries of Dayton. He has occupied his present quarters since 1900 and the constant ring of the iron is proof of the amount of business which is here carried on. His patronage has continually in- creased in volume and importance until his business is today one of the exten- sive concerns of this character in Dayton.
In 1874 Mr. Plocher was united in marriage in Dayton to Miss Eva Bern- hard and unto them have been born three children, namely: John A., who wedded Miss Bertha Lastner; Carl A., who married Miss Amanda Buehner; and Flora L., who wedded Leonidas Miller.
In his social relations Mr. Plocher is a Mason, belonging to the lodge and the council and he is also connected with the Knights of Pythias. He was reared in the Lutheran faith and he gives his political allegiance to the democ- racy. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to come to the United States, for the business opportunities which he sought were here found and in their improvement he has made substantial financial advance. His work has brought to him the merited reward of labor and his life record might well serve as a source of encouragement and inspiration to others, showing what may be accomplished when one has the will to dare and to do.
THOMAS H. CRIDLAND.
Thomas H. Cridland is the vice president of the Joyce-Cridland Company, of Dayton, manufacturers of railroad jacks. This is one of the largest produc- tive industries of the city, having had continuous existence for about thirty-seven years-an era of substantial growth. He was born in Dayton, November 8,
ANDREW PLOCHER
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1852, and is a son of Thomas W. Cridland, a native of Leicester, England, born in 1811. In the year 1822 he crossed the Atlantic to America with his parents and in 1852 became a resident of Dayton. He was married in Cincinnati, in 1850, to Miss Amanda M. Looker, and they had three children of whom Thomas H. is the eldest. After residing in Dayton until about 1889 or 1890, during which time he was continuously engaged in business, he went to Los Angeles, Cali- fornia, where he died in 1891. His widow long survived him and passed away in the same city on the 14th of October, 1908. Through the period of his res- idence here Thomas W. Cridland had conducted a profitable business as a manu- facturer of picture frames and molding and had also owned and carried on two photograph gallcries.
At the usual age Thomas H. Cridland was sent to the public schools where- in he continued his studies through successive grades until he reached the age of sixteen. He then started in business life with his father, Thomas W. Cridland, with whom he continued until twenty years of age, when he entered into part- nership with J. O. Joyce, the father of his present partner, for the manufacture of railroad jacks. Their plant was originally at Franklin, Ohio, but after three or four years they came to Dayton where they continued the business, which was incorporated in 1893 under the present style of the Joyce-Cridland Company, with the subject of this review as vice president. The business of the house has increased year by year for its output fills a demand for high-grade goods of the character which they handle.
In 1873 Mr. Cridland wedded Miss Cora A. Joyce, a daughter of J. O. Joyce, and they have one son, H. C. Cridland. In politics a republican, Mr. Cridland has not been active in the party work in recent years nor is he identified with any club, nor fraternal organizations. His interests have largely centered in his business and his administrative power is displayed in its carefully guided and managed affairs.
HERBERT C. ROBISON.
Herbert C. Robison, resident manager of The Corbin Screw Corporation, was born on a farm in Warren county, Ohio, March 2, 1872. He represents one of the old pioncer familics of that locality, his father being James T. Robison, who was likewisc a native of Warren county, born in 1824. This fact alone indicates that the family was cstablished in the county when it was still a fronticr district, for the work of improvement and development had been scarcely begun in that part of the state during the first quarter of the nincteenth century. James T. Robison was rearcd to the occupation of farining, which pursuit he followed throughout his entire life. He was married in Xenia, Ohio, to Miss Grizelah B. Law, and they became parents of eight children, all of whom reached years of maturity : Bcllc, the widow of Dr. Lee Corbin, who served for two terms as coroncr of Montgomery county and died in Dayton in 1898; William Law, living in Warren county ; T. Scott, who makes his home in Franklin, Ohio; Ralph M., also a resident of Warren county ; Enima Adessa, who died in 1907 ; Fannie
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M .; Herbert C .; and Mary Pearl. The father was one of the old-time Presby- terians and molded his life by his religious faith and belief. He died in 1901, having for about ten years survived his wife who passed away in 1891. They were married in 1851 and, therefore, traveled life's journey together for forty years.
Herbert C. Robison was reared on the home farm in Warren county, Ohio, to the age of sixteen years and during that period pursued his education in the district schools. He then left home to attend Wittenberg College at Springfield, Ohio, and was graduated from that institution in 1894 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He afterward came to Dayton where he pursued a business course in the Miami Commercial College and on the 2d of March, 1895, he entered upon his business career by accepting a position of assistant bookkeeper, in the Malle- able Iron Works. For seven months he remained there, after which he became connected with the Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Company, the predecessors of The Corbin Screw Corporation. He went upon the road as a traveling sales- man and thus represented the house from the Ist of October, 1895, to the Ist of June, 1907, when he became resident manager at Dayton. The other officers of the company are: Charles Glover, president; Clarence A. Earl, vice president ; Theodore E. Smith, treasurer ; and George P. Spear, of New Britain, Connecti- cut, secretary. Mr. Robison's long experience on the road made him thoroughly acquainted with the trade and its demands as well as the manufactured product and thus he was well qualified by long experience for the onerous duties which devolved upon him in his present connection.
On the 8th of June, 1898, Mr. Robison was married in Dayton to Miss Alida Lee Perrine, a daughter of James F. Perrine, and they have become parents of one child, Julia Lee. The wife and mother died May 31, 1899. Mr. Robison belongs to the First Presbyterian church, in which he is serving as deacon. His political allegiance is given to the republican party but while he feels a citizen's interest in the political questions of the day he does not seek nor desire' office, as the reward for party fealty. He belongs to the Beta Theta Pi and those who meet him in social relations find him a genial courteous gentleman, whose ways readily win friendship.
CHARLES E. HALLER.
Charles E. Haller, superintendent of the Department of Infirmary of Day- ton, was born in this city, January 24, 1860, and was here reared, the public schools affording him his opportunities in an educational way. He passed through consecutive grades and at length was graduated from the Miami Commercial College with the class of 1880. Thus trained for business life, he secured a clerkship in a Dayton store and for four years acted in that capacity, but all the time he was imbued with the ambition to one day become the owner of a business that his labors might more directly benefit himself. To this end he carefully saved his earnings until his capital was sufficient to enable him to start upon an independent venture. He then established a wholesale confectionery
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house and for fourteen years conducted the business with growing and gratify- ing success. He was afterward identified with various other lines, including five years spent in the insurance business, and on the 10th of July, 1908, he was ap- pointed to his present office by the board of public service. His faithfulness and capability in the discharge of his duties thus far have won for him high com- mendation and the merited confidence and good will of those who are familiar with his public service.
On the 2d of October, 1883, in Dayton Mr. Haller was united in marriage to Miss Anna L. Focht and they have one daughter, Myrtle M., who is now the wife of Clarence Crewe and they have one child, Anna May. Mr. and Mrs. Hal- ler have a pleasant home in which they extend cordial hospitality to their many friends. Mr. Haller belongs to the Odd Fellows Society in both the subordinate lodge and the encampment and is a member of the First Reformed church. He gives his political allegiance to the democracy and while the honors and emolu- ments of office are not sufficiently attractive to him to cause him to seek po- litical preferment, he is nevertheless awake to the duties and obligations as well as the privileges of citizenship and seeks the city's welfare through his coopera- tion in many measures for the public good.
CHARLES EDWARD PEASE.
Charles Edward Pease, president of the Buckeye Iron & Brass Works of Dayton, occupies a foremost place in the ranks of the representative business men of the city. Possessing an incisive, comprehensive knowledge of all phases of the business, he has also manifested intelligent anticipation of possibilities and thus in his work has ever met the increasing demands of the time. Deter- mined and energetic, he is a dynamic force in business circles of this city and moreover is honored and respected by all, not alone because of the success he has achieved but also owing to the straightforward business principles he has ever followed.
Montgomery county is proud to number Mr. Pease among her native sons. His birth occurred in Carrollton, now West Carrollton, August 20, 1836, his parents being Horace and Sarah L. (Belville) Pease. His grandfather, Joseph Pease, was born, lived and died in Suffield, Connecticut, and was a son of Joseph Pease, Sr., also a native of that state. The ancestral home of the family was at Hull, England, whence representatives of the name came to the new world at an early period in its colonization.
Horace Pease was born in Suffield, Connecticut, February 14, 1791, and held the rank of sergeant at the time of the war of 1812 but saw no active service. Coming to Ohio in 1816, he located first in Cincinnati, where he resided for seven or eight years and then removed to Montgomery county in 1823, taking up his abode on Hole's creek, five miles southwest of Dayton, where in 1839 he established the first fruit distillery of the locality, making peach and apple brandy. He continued the business for some years and also carried on farming but subsequently withdrew from those lines of business activity and made his
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home in Carrollton, where he established a flouring mill, which he conducted until 1851 or 1852 under the firm name of H. & P. Pease. In 1839 he built a flouring mill in Dayton on East Third at the corner of Canal street, now owned and operated by Joseph R. Gebhart & Son. The mill was conducted by H. & P. Pease until 1866, when Horace Pease retired, spending his last days in hon- orable retirement in Dayton. For a long period he was recognized as one of the prominent business men of the city, being associated with various enter- prises, including the old State Bank, of which he was a director from the time of its organization until it was merged into the Dayton National Bank. He then continued as a representative of its directorate up to the time of his demise. In all matters relative to the welfare and progress of city, county and state he was actively and helpfully interested and for a number of years represented Mont- gomery county in the Ohio general assembly, leaving the impress of his in- dividuality upon its legislation and laboring at all times for the public good. He was serving on the board of county commissioners when the old stone court- house was erected, the designs for which he made and in the building of which he took a deep interest. He held membership in the old-school Presbyterian church and his life was actuated by its principles and teachings. His death oc- curred in Dayton in 1875, while his wife passed away in 1862. She was born at St. Georges, Delaware, in 1810, and was the daughter of a Presbyterian min- ister.
They were the parents of six children, of whom Walter Belville Pease, the eldest, served as captain of Company C in the First Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war. This was the first company to report at Columbus under the first call for troops. He participated in the battle of Bull Run and served throughout the period of hostilities, being promoted to a captaincy in the Seven- teenth United States Infantry and acting as captain of General George B. Mc- Clellan's body guard. After the close of the war he remained with the regular army until his retirement with the brevet of lieutenant colonel. He died at Las Vegas, New Mexico, in 1890. The other members of the family of Horace Pease are: Charles E., of this review; Frank, who died in childhood; Josephine, who married James Stockstill, of Dayton ; Anna L., the widow of Horace Phillips, of Dayton ; and Hattie, the deceased wife of Charles B. Clegg, of Dayton.
Charles E. Pease was about three years of age when his parents removed from Carrollton to Dayton and in the public schools he acquired his preliminary education, while later he attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison, but left that institution in his junior year, in 1859, and returned to this city. In the meantime he had had some business experience, having worked as a machinist in Dayton, but left the shops in order to enter college.
On his return he joined his father, Horace Pease, in the milling business and in 1857 he made his first independent business venture by operating a mill at Ful- ton, on the Rock river, in Wisconsin, where he continued with varying success for two years. In 1861 he entered the firm of W. B. Pease & Company, of Day- ton, and assumed the management of the business when his elder brother, Wal- ter B. Pease, joined the army for service in the Civil war. The following year, however, Charles E. Pease also responded to the call for military aid and in the fall of 1862 became connected with the quartermaster's department at Nash-
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ville, Tennessee, under Captain Charles T. Wing, with whom he was associated until the close of the war. For a time, however, he was at Chattanooga and later returned to Nashville, where he remained until 1865, when he resigned and went to Memphis, Tennessee, where for two years he was engaged in the grocery business. On the expiration of that period he located in Cincinnati and was ap- pointed United States gauger, in which position he was stationed at Coving- ton, Kentucky.
After filling the position for eighteen months Mr. Pease resigned and in Jan- uary, 1870, returned to his old home in Dayton, purchasing an interest in the firm of Hoglen & Grafflin, becoming successor of the latter. The firm at that time was engaged in the manufacture of tobacco machinery. The style was changed to Hoglen & Pease and so continued until the Ist of June, 1876, when Mr. Pease purchased his partner's interest and incorporated the present busi- ness under the name of the Buckeye Iron & Brass Works. He has continu- ously acted as president of the company, which is engaged in the manufacture of brass goods for engine builders, steam fitters, tobacco cutting machinery and linseed oil and cotton seed oil machinery, all of which are manufactured under patents controlled by the company. As the head of this enterprise, which is one of the most important productive industries of the city, Mr. Pease has long occupied a prominent place in business circles. The business has developed from small proportions until it is one of the largest manufacturing plants of the city, its output being shipped to all sections of the country. The plant is splen- didly equipped with the latest improved machinery and the business, expanding year by year, now brings a most substantial income to the stockholders. Mr. Pease is also a director and stockholder of the Dayton Natural Gas Company and has other business interests of importance.
On the 3d of October, 1865, in Cleveland, occurred the marriage of Charles E. Pease and Miss Laura G. Erwin, a daughter of John Erwin, one of the pioneer residents of the Forest city. They have become parents of two sons: Calvin Erwin, who died in 1902 at the age of thirty-five years; and Edward Gardner Pease, now vice president of the Buckeye Iron & Brass Works.
Aside from his business interests Mr. Pease is well known in various con- nections. He is prominent in the ranks of Masonry, having attained the thirty- second degree of the Scottish Rite and the Knight Templar degrec in the York rite. He is also a member of the Mystic Shrine and in his life exemplifics the beneficent spirit of the craft. Moreover he is a faithful member of the Presby- terian church and in politics is an active republican whose cfforts in behalf of the party have been far-reaching and beneficial. He served for twelve years as a member of the city council at Dayton, exercising his official prerogatives in sup- port of many measures which have been of inestimable value to municipal de- velopment and growth. Many tangible evidences are given of his devotion to the city's welfare, among which have been his effective efforts to beautify the city with flowers early each spring. His home is a handsome residence at the corner of Sccond and Wilkinson streets and this is one of the visible cvidences of his life of well directed thrift and enterprise. What a man does and what he attains depends largely upon his opportunities but the well balanced man, men- tally and physically, is possessed of sufficient courage to venture where favoring
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