USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 60
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regular Republican candidate, an Independent candidate, and finally an Independent "Reform" candidate. Mr. Yaple was triumphantly elected by a majority of 137. In April, 1903, after the new code for the Ohio cities took effect, Mayor Yaple was re-elected for a second term, this time by a majority of 859, the largest majority any candidate for any office ever had in that city. During the centennial celebration of the admission of Ohio into the Union as a State, held in Chillicothe in May, 1903, Mayor Yaple represented his city, the first capital of the State, in the exercises. Mr. Yaple has been a member of the Democratic Executive Committee of Ross County for the past six years, and was Chairman of said committee for 1903, having been Secretary in 1898 and 1900. At the Congressional Con- vention held at New Lexington, Ohio, for the Eleventh Congressional District, in May, 1904, Mayor Yaple was selected as one of the delegates to the Democratic National Con- vention held at St. Louis, and at said convention he was chosen by the Ohio delegation to represent the State of Ohio on the Committee on Credentials. On the 29th of June, 1903, he was married to Miss Ada Blankenship, daughter of Mr. Valentine Blankenship, of Chil- licothe, Ohio.
George Murray Young,
Was born in Litchfield County, Connecti- cut, on the Ist of April, 1802. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, his grandfather, Dr. Hugh Murray Young, having been an early Irish emigrant to that State, forced to take refuge there on account of his participation in the Robert Emmett rebellion. He was edu- cated at Exeter and Poughkeepsie academies, and then, learning the trade of a printer, car- ried on business for a time as a printer and publisher. In 1826 he marriel Sibel Green, daughter of Benjamin Green, of Lyme, New Hampshire, and grand-daughter of Colonel Ebenezer Green, a Revolutionary soldier.
In 1835 he moved with his family to Ohio and located at Newark, where for ten years he was extensively engaged in mercantile pur- suits. In 1840 he was the Whig candidate of Licking County for State Senate, and in the face of a strong Democratic majority ran sev- GEORGE MURRAY YOUNG eral hundred ahead of his ticket, and came within forty votes of an election. In 1845 he went to Cincinnati. In 1851 he moved to Dayton, and in 1854 was elected Mayor of that city, and re-elected in 1855, and was subse- quently appointed United States Commissioner, an office which he held until his death. His wife, Sibel Green Young, died in Dayton in 1865.
He was Grand Worthy Patriarch of the Sons of Temperance when that order numbered thirty thousand in Ohio. In politics he was a Whig, and subsequently a Republican. Dur- ing the war he was a staunch Union man. He was a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church, and was at all times, and in whatever community he resided, honored and respected for his integrity and strength of character. His natural abilities were of the highest order,
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and would have made him conspicuous as a leader, and his ambition called him to more important positions in public life. Modest and retiring in his manners, he was, nevertheless, when aroused a man of great executive ability. Clear and strong in his convictions of right and duty, he defended his principles with a zeal and persistency which knew no fear and would accept no compromise. He was a ready writer and forcible speaker, a great reader, and thoroughly informed in politics, history and general literature, proud of his New Eng- land origin, and an admirer of the Puritan character. He died at Dayton, August 30th, 1878.
Edmond Stafford Young,
Son of George Murray Young, was one of the ablest members of the Dayton bar, a prom- inent citizen of that city, and one of the fore- most lawyers of the State. He was born at Lyme, New Hampshire, on the 28th of Feb- ruary, 1827. He attended college at Granville, Ohio, and afterwards at Cincinnati, graduating from Farmers (afterwards Belmont) College, near that city, in 1845. At the latter institution he had among his schoolmates the late ex-President Benjamin Harrison, Murat Hal- stead, Hon. L. B. Gunckel and the late Judge Henderson Elliott, of Dayton. He read law in the office of W. J. Mckinney, of Dayton, and after a term of service in the office of the Clerk of the Court of Montgomery County, Ohio, graduated from the Cincinnati Law School, and was admitted to the bar in the year 1853.
Mr. Young's professional partners were, successively, George W. Brown, Hon. D. A. Houk and Oscar M. Gottschall, with the latter of whom his partnership continued from 1866 EDMOND STAFFORD YOUNG until 1879. In 1878 his eldest son, George R. Young, was admitted to the firm, which, under the name of Young, Gottschall & Young, continued until the year 1879, when Mr. Gottschall retired. Mr. Young and his son remained together in the practice under the firm name of Young & Young until his death in 1888.
In September, 1856, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mr. Young married Sarah B. Dechert, daughter of Elijah Dechert, a prominent lawyer of Reading, Pennsylvania, and grand- daughter of Judge Robert Porter, of that city. Her mother, Mary Porter Dechert, was descended from Robert Porter, a native of Ireland, who came to Londonderry, New Hamp- shire, and afterwards moved to Pennsylvania, where he took up his permanent residence. His most successful and prominent son (Mrs. Dechert's grandfather) was General Andrew Porter, who served with distinction as an officer during the Revolutionary War. After its close he was commissioned Major General of militia in Pennsylvania, and was tendered the position of Secretary of War by President Madison, but declined. His son, Judge Robert Porter, of Reading, Pa., was born January 10th, 1878, and served during the latter part of the War of the Revolution as a Lieutenant of Artillery. Having entered the army with his father when but II years of age, he was perhaps the youngest soldier and officer of the war.
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Edmond Stafford Young was a strong Union man and an earnest supporter of President Lincoln's administration. He was appointed by Governor Brough, Commissioner of the Draft of Montgomery County, and made the largest draft of any in the State. He also served as a member of the Military Committee, and was identified with the organization of all the local companies raised in Dayton and its vicinity.
Mr. Young was a member of the first non-partisan Police Board of Dayton, appointed in 1873, by which the present metropolitan police system of that city was inaugurated. He was also one of the founders of the Dayton Bar Association, now known as the Dayton Law Library Association.
During the course of his practice he was frequently urged to accept a judicial position, but declined. He was a member of the Ohio State Bar Association, and also of the American Bar Association. He died suddenly on the evening of February 14th, 1888, while still in the active practice of his profession, leaving his widow, Sarah Dechert Young ; two sons, George R. and William H. Young, and one daughter, Mary (a girl of most lovable traits and marked intellectuality, who died on the 13th of August, 1895), surviving.
Mr. Young was a man of striking physical appearance, and of marked mental charac- teristics. He was born to be a lawyer. His breadth of intellect, his strong, determined will, his sound, impartial judgment, his remarkable reasoning powers, his gift of nice and correct discrimination, made up a mental organization distinctively legal ; while, at the same time, his large and well proportioned head, with its high, expansive forehead, set firmly on his broad, square shoulders, gave him a personal appearance in keeping with his mental char- acteristics. He was a strong and pure type of that class of American lawyers, who, eschewing outside schemes for the promotion of wealth or personal aggrandizement, devote to their profession the full measure of their powers, and seek happiness in the conscientious dis- charge of their professional, domestic and civic duties.
GEORGE R. YOUNG
George R. Young,
Eldest son of Edmond Stafford and Sarah Dechert Young, was born at Dayton, Ohio, on the 2d of October, 1857. He was educated in the public schools of that city, graduating from Central High School in June, 1875, with highest honors, winning a gold medal for scholarship. For a time he pursued classical studies and German under private tutors, and then read law in the office of Young & Gott- schall, until his admission to the bar in April, 1878. He was admitted by the court (after passing on the question of his eligibility) some months before he reached his majority, and was probably at the time the youngest attor- ney in the State. Shortly after his admission he entered the firm of his father, which then became Young, Gottschall & Young, and so continued until Mr. Gottschall retired, in 1879. The firm then became Young & Young. Upon the death of his father, Edmond Stafford Young, in 1888, George R. Young at once
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formed a partnership with his brother, William H. Young, under the same name of Young & Young, which still continues.
Mr. Young has never held official position. In 1881 he was nominated by the Repub- lican party, while in the East, and without his request or knowledge, for Prosecuting Attorney against the Hon. John M. Sprigg, then running for third term. He returned only two weeks before election, but Mr. Sprigg's majority against him, although the county was largely Democratic, was only 240. In 1885 he received the Republican nomination for City Solicitor, but, the city being then Democratic, he was again defeated by a small major- ity. Since this time he has never been a candidate for political office, attending strictly to the practice of his profession and giving it all his time and attention, and he has met with marked and well merited success. He has taken a leading part in the trial of many important cases, and is recognized by the profession both as a sound and able lawyer and as an advo- cate of superior ability.
In 1894 he was unanimously recommended by the Montgomery County Bar for the position of Circuit Judge, to succeed Hon. John A. Shauck, elected to the Supreme bench, but withdrew his name before any appointment was made by the then Governor Mckinley, owing to lack of time to arrange to give up his extensive practice. He has been for years a trustee of the Dayton Law Library Association, and is a member of the Ohio State and American Bar Associations. He is unmarried.
William H. Young,
1
Second son of Edmond Stafford Young, was born March 2, 1860. He attended the public schools of Dayton, and later read law in the office of Young & Young, a firm composed of his father and brother. After his admission to the bar in 1884 he entered the offices of Young & Young, and at the death of his father on the 14th of February, 1888, he and his brother formed a partnership under the same name, which still continues.
Mr. Young is a Republican in politics, and has usually taken an active part in campaign work. Although he has never held or sought political office, his name has been frequently mentioned in connection with the Congres. sional nomination and other honorable posi- tions. He has attained quite a reputation for eloquence as a speaker, is an effective stumper and jury advocate, and holds an enviable position at the bar as an able and successful lawyer. He is unmarried.
John L. Zimmerman,
Attorney at law at Springfield, Ohio, is a popular Democrat in the State. He is a native of Ohio, being born, bred and educated within the boundaries of the Buckeye State. His life has been a series of successes, and to-day he is one of the largest legal practitioners in Clarke
WILLIAM H. YOUNG
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County, owns wide business interests and is a citizen of whom the people of his native city look upon with the highest esteem. During all of his active life he has been a Demo- crat, closely identified and associated with the different political organizations of that belief, and never since he entered the political arena has there been a campaign in which he has not done some substantial good and made his activity felt in some manner. Mr. Zimmer- man was born near Washingtonville, Mahoning County, on a farm, being a descendant of the pioneer families of Ohio, his great-grandfather having moved to Columbiana County in 1803. He lived on this farm until seventeen years of age, and his early education was obtained in the country schools. He taught school in the winter of 1874, following which he attended Mt. Union College. In the fall of 1875 he entered Wittenberg College, Spring- field, Ohio, from which institution he was graduated with honors in 1879. The follow- ing two years he read law with Judge J. K. Mower, and in October, 1881, was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Ohio. On the Ist of May, 1882, Mr. Zimmerman began the practice of law in Springfield, which he has continued uninterruptedly to this date. He has twice been elected President of the Clarke County Bar Association, which is a good index to his high standing as a lawyer. In all the years he has been prominent in poli- tics, he has never been a candidate for public office save twice, once when he was candidate for Congress in the Seventh District against Walter Weaver, and in 1903, when his name was prominently mentioned for the position of JOHN L. ZIMMERMAN Governor of the State of Ohio. For eighteen years he has been a member of the Board of Directors of Wittenberg College, part of the time serving as President of that Board. He has also been a director of the Warder Free Library, Springfield, Ohio, for a period of fifteen years, and is ex-President of the National Improvement League of America, an insti- tution with a hundred thousand affiliated members, which is wielding large influence in beautifying cities, villages and hamiets throughout the United States. Chief among his public benefactions is the donation to Wittenberg College of the Zimmerman Memorial Library, constructed and presented nine years ago. It is a splendid structure, and is viewed with admiration by all who visit the college. Mr. Zimmerman was a liberal con- tributor to the building of the Masonic, K. of P. and I. O. O. F. Homes, he being a member of the two former organizations. He has given to Springfield four of its most substantial business blocks-the Zimmerman Building on Main Street, Citizens' National Bank Build- ing, the three-story structure at No. 7 West Main Street, and the five-story new Zimmer- man Building on the corner of Main and Limestone Streets. He is a director and one of the organizers of the Citizens' National Bank; Vice President of The E. W. Ross Com- pany, which employs a large force of men in the manufacture of feed cutters, and Vice President of The D. Q. Fox Company, wholesale grocers. In 1889 he was married to Miss
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Helen E. Ballard, a daughter of one of the representative families of the city. Two promis- ing sons, Charles Ballard and John L., Jr., are the result of this union. Mr. Zimmerman is devoted to his home, and never is he happier than when in the society of his own family.
Otis Upton Walker,
Who is now serving his third term as Mayor of the thriving city of Alliance, Stark County, Ohio, was born in the village of Ragersville, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, on the 9th day of January, 1874, being the eldest child of Edward S. and Wilhelmina (Neff) Walker and descended from sturdy Colonial stock, which fought in the War for Independence and afterward endured pioneer hardships in the then new land of Ohio. Asher Walker, one of his great-great-grandfathers, was born of English parentage in the colony of New Jersey in 1758, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and later moved to Western Pennsylvania, thence to Ragersville, where he died in 1842. One of his grandsons, Samuel P. Walker, mar- ried a grand-daughter of Martin Garver, who had settled near Ragersville in the early days of the nineteenth century, and whose father, Christian Garver, or Gerber, had emigrated from Northern Switzerland to the colony of Maryland in 1730. Samuel P. Walker accumu- lated a competence in agricultural pursuits, and was a man of wide influence. As an officer in the Quartermaster's department during the Civil War he traveled over a wide range of country securing horses for the army, thus becoming well known through a large part of the State. He was the father of fourteen children, one of whom was Edward S. Walker, father of the subject of this sketch.
Edward S. Walker was born near Ragers- ville on the 18th of November, 1849. He received a common school education and learned the trade of harness making. In the fall of 1870 he was married to Wilhelmina OTIS UPTON WALKER Neff, daughter of Jacob and Christina Neff, well-to-do Scotch-German residents of Tuscarawas County. To this union there were born three children : Otis U., in 1874; Torry S., in 1875, and Mame F., in 1876. The family moved in 1881 from Ragersville to Berlin, Holmes County, where Mr. Walker engaged in business for two years. His health becoming much impaired, they then moved to a farm near Gar- rettsville, Portage County, where they resided about four years, when they located in Marl- boro, Stark County, where he engaged in the hotel and harness business until the death of Mrs. Walker, after which he gave his attention to the harness business alone. His good wife, who was a type of gracious Christian womanhood, died on the 4th of April, 1902. Her death no doubt was hastened by her grief over the tragic death of her noble son Torry, who was instantly killed on the 6th of April, 1901, by the explosion of a chemical engine in the Alliance Fire Department, of which he was a member. Though she was in comparatively good health at the time of the terrible accident, she was laid to rest by the side of her
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beloved son, in the Marlboro cemetery, on the first anniversary of his death. Mame F., only sister of Otis U. Walker, is the wife of Sherwood Austin, of Marlboro.
Otis U. Walker was about twelve years of age when his parents took up their residence in Marlboro, and there he continued his educational discipline in the public schools, receiv- ing a certificate to teach school at the age of sixteen, and graduating from the High School with the class of 1893. Even as a boy, he manifested the spirit of self-reliance and deter- mination which are his dominant characteristics to-day. At the age of thirteen he appren- ticed himself to learn the barber trade, at which he soon became proficient, and through which he paid his own expenses while in the High School. In the summer of 1893, with a view to completing a course in Mt. Union College, he came to Alliance and opened a barber shop near the college, by conducting which he acquired the funds with which to meet the expenses of his collegiate course, which he followed out while devoting himself to the work of his trade. Notwithstanding the arduous nature of his labors in the shop, he applied him- self with such enthusiasm and assiduousness to his studies that he was able to complete the regular four years' scientific course in three years, being graduated with the class of 1896 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. While in college he was exceptionally popu- lar with the students, and was chosen for various positions of responsibility. Thus he was manager of the basket-ball and foot-ball teams, periodical reader in the annual literary society contests, an officer in the cadet corps, Captain of the Republican Marching Club, editor of "The Dynamo." the college monthly, and of "The Unonian," the college annual, the last named being considered the highest honor of the Senior year.
After his graduation Mr. Walker was employed as city editor of the Alliance Daily Leader, in connection with which he did special work for the Cleveland Leader. While actively engaged in newspaper work, he devoted his evenings to the reading of law, having as a preceptor William L. Hart, of Alliance, one of the representative members of the bar of Stark County. To these two lines of work he was giving his attention at the time war was declared against Spain, when he responded to the call of duty and patriotism by enlisting, in June, 1898, as a private in Company K, Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, known as "McKinley's Own," which was recruited largely in Stark County, the home of President McKinley, and took an honorable part in the campaign of Santiago de Cuba. In the midst of the campaign he was stricken with a tropical fever, and for weeks his life hung in the balance, his being saved to years of further usefulness being accomplished largely through the great fraternal devotion of his brother Torry, who was a member of the same com- pany, and who, with the heroism of a generous heart, carried his brother upon his back from the low ground, where he had been left by an overworked hospital corps, to higher ground, and placed him beneath the shelter of a large tree, out of the broiling sun and treacherous damp. Owing to the crowded condition of the regimental hospital, Upton was nursed the greater part of the time by his brother in their own tent, and he made such a brave fight against the disease, which was claiming hundreds daily, that, in spite of the scarcity of proper food, water and medicine, he again became able for light duty before leaving the island. However, for many months after returning home he was incapacitated by weak- ness from returning to work. The regiment was mustered out at Wooster, Ohio, on the 21st of November, 1898.
After he had sufficiently recuperated his health, Mr. Walker again engaged in newspaper work, first returning to his old position on the Alliance Leader, then serving on the repor- torial staff of the Pittsburg Times for several weeks for the purpose of gaining certain prac- tical knowledge of the newspaper business which he could not secure in Alliance, and then identifying himself with the Alliance Daily Review. He was thus employed when, in the
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spring of 1900, the Republicans of Alliance nominated him for the office of Mayor, and he was elected by a gratifying majority. He was but twenty-six years of age at the time, and both the nomination and election were won over men of mature age and experience. Of his initial administration as Mayor another publication has spoken as follows:
"In the administration of the affairs of the city and in the performance of the duties of his office, Mayor Walker gave such general satisfaction and won such general approval, that the people, almost regardless of party affiliation, rallied to his support for his re-elec- tion, and in the spring of 1902 he was given a majority even greater than when he was first elected to the office."
In 1903 the new municipal code of Ohio went into effect, necessitating a new election for . all municipal offices throughout the State. Mr. Walker, having served but one year of his second term, again became a candidate, and at this election received the extraordinary honor of having the largest vote ever given any candidate for any office at any election ever held in the city. Thus he is now serving his third term as chief executive of Alliance.
On the 23d day of April, 1902, Mayor Walker was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Matthews, a popular and accomplished young lady, the daughter of David and Mary A. Matthews, of Alliance. Her father was born in Wales and came to America in his youth, while her mother is a native of Portland, Maine. Mr. Matthews was Superintendent of the foundry department of the Morgan engineering works at Alliance for nearly twenty years previous to his retirement in the spring of 1904, and is one of Alliance's most highly respected citizens.
Fraternally, Mr. Walker is identified with the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Sigma Alpha Epsilon college fraternity, the Spanish War Vet- erans, and the Society of the Army of Santiago. He also is Vice President of the Alliance Republican Club. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mayor Walker holds a high position in the hearts of the people of Alliance. His plucky fight for an education, against the odds of poverty and adversity, first won their respect, as may be judged from the fact that he had resided in Alliance less than seven years when first elected Mayor, and was without any of the influences usually deemed necessary to political success. His career as an official has still further strengthened their regard for him, as he has at all times been just, sensible and progressive, though conservative. His careful and deliberate manner of dealing with public questions has given the people at large implicit confidence in his judgment. The following appreciative estimate of his char- acter appears in "Old Landmarks of Canton and Stark County," edited by Hon. John Dan- ner, of Canton :
"With Mr. Walker there has always been a distinct appreciation of the value of time, and he has wasted little, as may be inferred. In connection with his official work he is continuing the study of law, and his intention is to thoroughly prepare himself for the legal profession, for which he is well adapted by natural proclivities and mental powers. He is a young man of gracious and sincere personality, and his popularity comes as a natural sequence. Of fine intellectuality and forceful individuality, the future holds much in store for him."
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