USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 69
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His first experience as a teacher was in 1881, at Pickerington, Ohio, where he taught a special summer school. In the winter of 1881-1882 he was employed to teach the school that had been the nursery of his education. Here he met with such success as led to his being called, the following year, to teach the village school of Waterloo, Ohio. That he succeeded in this school is evident, for one of his pupils was so influenced by his teaching that she became his life partner. But to teach in a rural school was not the goal for which he was striving. At the end of five years' service he resigned his position at Waterloo C. L. BOYER and entered college, from which he graduated in 1891 with the degree of A.B. After graduating from college, he returned to teaching, taking charge of the schools of Lithopolis, Ohio. In 1893 he was called to Lima College, where he became Professor of Mathematics and Principal of the Normal Department. This position he occupied until 1897, when he resigned to become Superintendent of Schools at Logan, Ohio. In 1899 he was elected to superintend the city schools of Circleville, Ohio.
Mr. Boyer has always been an active member of the Teachers' Association of the State and has lent his influence to the betterment of his profession. His affable manners and keen sense of justice make him a safe and popular school man. His integrity and upright con- duct give evidence of a clean Christian character. He is a firm believer in the dignity of labor, and does not hesitate to engage in any honest toil, whether on the farm, in the fac- tory, or in the school-room. Mr. Boyer takes the ground that an education does not lift one above the sphere of labor, but that it enlarges his capacity for work, widens his influence and enables him to command the forces, that they become factors in his success.
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Charles J. Britton,
Superintendent of the Public Schools of Kenton, Ohio, is one of the rising young edu- cators in the State of Ohio. He was born on the 3d of July, 1867, near Williamsburg, Ohio. His ancestors were of the strong, virile type of cavaliers who originally settled in Maryland and Virginia, and later, attracted by the romance, mystery and fertility of the Ohio wilderness, came Westward and assisted in its development. His father, B. Britton, though past the four-score mark, is still living in this little village, and can scarcely be said to liave retired from the active business duties of life. His mother was Martha J. Boyd, one of the daughters of the pioneer family that came to Ohio in 1823. Mr. Britton's boyhood days were spent on a farm, and year followed year as uneventful to him as to the average country boy. He learned to work, went to school, and after the usual apprenticeship was graduated from the village High School under the control of Byron Williams, a teacher of rare merit and a man of great character. In rapid succession the panorama of his educational life passed. His education was largely received at the National Normal University and the Uni- versity of Michigan. This work, supplemented by continuous teaching, by persistent study and travel, has made Mr. Britton a very well informed man. He holds life certificates in Ohio and Illinois ; was in the schools at Olney, Illinois, and later became Superintendent of Schools at DeGraff, Ohio, for a period of eight CHARLES J. BRITTON vears. From here he went to Gallipolis, Ohio, for three years, and is at present at the head of the schools in the thriving city of Kenton, Ohio. Mr. Britton, through his educational work, is well known among the school men of the country. He is a member of the N. E. A., many State and local organizations, a Knight Templar, a Methodist in religion and a Repub- lican in politics. He was married to Ada F. Sanders, of Piqua, Ohio, on the 23d of Novem- ber, 1892, and is the father of one child, Helen Pauline. The best evidence of work and manhood is found in the testimony of the friends and pupils of a school man, and the people, patrons and pupils of the towns and cities whom Mr. Britton has served testify their appre- ciation for him and his work in terms of unqualified approval.
Ralph M. Brown,
Superintendent of the Public Schools of Troy, Ohio, was born at Marseilles, Wyan dotte County, Ohio, on the 17th of April, 1863. He is the son of Jacob C. and Alvira (Hull) Brown, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. On his mother's side he is a mem- ber of the historic Hull family, his grandfather being a cousin of Commodore Isaac Hull. The grandfather of his father came from that one-time French province of Alsace. Ralph M. Brown, at the early age of six years, went with his parents to Kansas, where his father
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took up a homestead, receiving his education in the common schools of Kansas and the Kansas Normal School, of Paola, Kansas. Since returning to Ohio he has attended two summer sessions of the University of Michi- gan, one of the Ohio Wesleyan University, and one of the Michigan State Normal Col. lege. In 1892 he passed successfully the State examination at Columbus, Ohio, and was granted a High School life certificate.
At the age of eighteen years he started in public life as teacher in Washington County, Kansas. Later he taught in Miami County and the village of Spring Hill, that State. In the spring of 1889, Mr. Brown came to Troy, Ohio, to fill a vacancy caused by the resigna- tion of the Principal of the Edwards School. At the close of that term he was elected Principal of the building and the Junior High School, which was established in the fall. This position he filled for ten years, with the RALPH M. BROWN exception of one year (1894-1895), when he was associated with his brother as editor of the Oklahoma Daily Times-Journal, in which he is still financially interested. In 1899 he was elected Principal of the High School, which position he filled until his election to the Superintendency in 1902, at a yearly salary of $1,600. His salary has been increased each year since, until he is now receiving $1,800. During the summer of 1903 Mr. Brown taught mathematics in the summer session of the Michigan State Normal College, Ypsilanti. Michigan. In political belief he is a Repub- lican, and socially he is connected with the various orders of the Masonic fraternity. On the 7th of August, 1901, he was married to Miss Georgia Fox, of Ovid, Michigan, a graduate of the Michigan State Normal Col- lege, and for the two years preceding a teacher of the Troy High School. Their home has been made glad by the advent of a little girl, Florence Louise, who arrived on the 3d of December, 1904. His residence is now No. 114 Raper Street, Troy, Ohio.
N. H. Chaney, A.M., Ph. D.,
In the educational circles in Ohio, Dr. N. H. Chaney has gained prestige, occupying an enviable position in the ranks of the profession in this State. It is a widely acknowledged fact that the most important work to which a
N. H. CHANEY, A. M., PH. D.
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man can direct his energies is that of teaching, whether it be from the pulpit, from the lecture platform or from the school-room. Its primary object is ever the same-the devel- opment of one's latent powers, that the duties of life may be bravely met and well per- formed. To the labor of instructing the young Dr. Chaney devotes his time, energies and thought, and his labors have had far-reaching effect, not only in the dissemination of the knowledge gleaned from books, but also in the establishment of principles of growth and of mental concentration, which will have effect upon the life of the student after leaving the school-room. In 1902 he accepted the position of Superintendent of the schools of Youngstown, and already the educational system of this city has felt the stimulus of his efforts, and has been advanced to a higher standard.
Dr. Chaney is a native of Highland County, Ohio, born on the 4th of March, 1856, a son of John A. and Mary C. (Holmes) Chaney. His father was born in Pennsylvania on the 7th of March, 1825; the family is of Scotch-Irish lineage. The Doctor's father was but a boy when his parents took up their abode in Highland County, where he was reared to manhood, and then took up farming as a life work, following agricultural pursuits throughout his entire business career. He passed away on the 21st of April, 1880. His wife was born in New Jersey in 1832, and with her parents came across the mountains to Ohio in her girlhood days, the family settling in Fayette County, Ohio. She still survives her husband, and now resides in New Vienna, Clinton County.
Dr. Chaney is the third in order of birth in a family of four living children, and like the others of the household he attended the common schools of Highland County in his youth. At the age of seventeen he began teaching school, and was thus engaged until twenty years of age, when, desiring to add to the knowledge he had already gained, he entered Wilmington College, in Clinton County, Ohio, from which institution he was grad- uated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1880; three years later, in the spring of 1883, he received the degree of Master of Arts from his Alma Mater, after three years of advanced critical study of the German language and literature. He then entered upon a careful and extensive study of English literature and speculative philosophy in the Ohio Wesleyan University, which conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree in 1892, for the work which he had done in the former branch, and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1893 for his attain- ments in the latter branch.
Dr. Chaney believes that education is a matter of a life-time, and his extensive read- ing and investigation are continually broadening a mind whose possessions have already reached the classification of the scholarly. He has studied to a considerable extent in the University of Chicago, and he holds a life State certificate in Ohio. As an educator he has attained distinction as a recognition of his superior ability, and under his guidance several schools of Ohio have made rapid, satisfactory and practical advancement. After com- pleting his first course in Wilmington College, he became Superintendent of the schools of Clarksville, where he remained until 1884. From 1885 until January, 1887, he was Super- intendent of the schools of Blanchester, Ohio, and from January until June, 1887, was Principal of the High School at Washington Court House. He was then advanced to the Superintendency of the schools of that city, where he remained until 1898, covering a period of eleven years. He then accepted the Superintendency of the schools of Chillicothe, con- tinuing there until he secured his present position, coming to Youngstown in 1902. He was elected President of the Ohio State Teachers' Association at the session of that body, at Put-in-Bay, June, 1903.
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Dr. Chaney makes a close and thorough study of his work, its needs, its conditions and its possibilities, and he bases all of his labors upon thoroughly practical methods. He has taken as his motto, "First a man, then a scholar," and he has made it his aim to develop in the pupils character that shall form the basis of upright manhood and womanhood. He believes with Sydney Smith that "the real object of education is to give children resources that will endure as long as life endures; habits that time will ameliorate, not destroy ; occupation that will render sickness tolerable, solitude pleasant, age venerable, life more dignified and useful, and death less terrible." Dr. Chaney is a fine scholar, a superior teacher, a close organizer and a fair-minded but firm executive. He inspires teachers and pupils with his own zeal and interest in the work, and he makes, as far as possible, a study of each pupil, insisting that his individuality shall be preserved and his latent powers of selfhood shall be developed.
In 1880 Dr. Chaney was united in marriage to Miss Anna Roush, of Sabine, Ohio, and they now have three daughters, Bertha, Opal and Emma. The Doctor gives his political support to the Republican party, and keeps well informed on the great problems affecting the Nation's welfare. Fraternally, he is a Mason, having been raised in the lodge at Clarksville, Ohio, in 1883. The following year lic took the chapter degrees in Hills- boro, and in 1884 he also became a Knight Templar in Hillsboro Commandery. He is likewise an Odd Fellow, and a member of Temple Lodge at Washington Court House. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has labored earnestly and effectively for the moral as well as the intellectual development of the race. He realizes that the intellectual and moral natures are so closely allied that it is impossible to instruct the one without in a measure influencing the other, and certainly the best results are accomplished when the work goes hand in hand. He has therefore endeavored to create an atmosphere of justice, of truth and of honor, not only in the school-room, but upon the campus, and the good influence of such a course is immeasurable. That Dr. Chaney is a man of broad intelligence and genuine public spirit, has been shadowcd forth between the lines of this review. Strong in his individuality, he never lacks the courage of his con- victions-the dominating elements in his individuality being a lively human sympathy and an abiding charity, which, taken in connection with the sterling integrity and honor of his character, have naturally gained for him the respect and confidence of men.
R. P. Clark,
Superintendent of the Public Schools of Ashtabula, Ohio, is a man who has earned an enviable reputation as an educator, and one whose attainments in his line of endeavor are recognized by the leaders in his profession all over the State of Ohio. For the past few years he has occupied the position which he now fills with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the people in his district. During all his active life he has been associated with the educational advancement of the State, and is thoroughly conversant with all the details of his profession, having occupied every position of trust in the chosen field to which he has devoted his life. He is a man of splendid attainments, a careful student, and one who has the welfare of those under his charge at heart. The success of the schools of Ashtabula has been largely contributed to by the painstaking initiative of Mr. Clark. He resides at Ashtabula, Ohio.
Frank Theodore Cole
Was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, on the 22d of June, 1853. He is descended from Thomas Cole, who settled at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1634, through the linc that moved
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to Boxford and Harvard, Massachusetts, and Westmoreland, New Hampshire, where his father, Theodore Cole, was born on the 19th of May, 1813, and where he grew to manhood.
When Theodore Cole was twenty-two years of age he went to New Bedford, Massa- chusetts, and shipped as "green hand" on a whaling ship. In May, 1843, he sailed as master of the ship Parachute, and made three voyages in that capacity, acquiring a competence and retiring from the sea. After his first voyage as master, he married in August, 1845, Livilla, daughter of Captain Wilson, and Lucy (Atherton) Gleason, of Westmoreland, New Hamp- shire. She was born on the 21st of March, 1818.
In October, 1845, Captain Cole sailed in the ship "Marengo," and in November, 1848, in the ship "Cowper" on a long voyage to the Arctic Ocean. Mrs. Cole accompanied him. They sailed for Cape de Verde, around Cape Horn, to the Sandwich Islands, where he lett Mrs. Cole for the summer, and steered direct for Behring Strait, passing Oonalaska in June, He remained one season in the Arctic regions, discovering the Plover Islands on the 15th of July, 1849, although he never claimed title as discoverer. On his return to the Sandwich Islands his wife joined him, and they sailed for Hong Kong, where a month was spent in preparation for another Arctic voyage. On this voyage Mrs. Cole was with him. He sailed through the Japan Sea, stopping at Petropalaska, and into the Arctic, where the cargo was completed, and then they sailed for home, arriving on the 22d of March, 1851. Captain Cole decided to give up the sea, and engaged in merchandising and manufac- turing in Brattleboro, Vermont, where he lived seven years, and where his children were born.
In 1859 the family moved onto a farm in Westminster, Vermont, and in 1867 again moved, to Waverley, Massachusetts, Captain Cole engaging in the produce business in Bos- ton. In 1876 he returned to the old home town of Westmoreland, New Hampshire, where he FRANK THEODORE COLE died on the 2d of July, 1884. During his resi- dence in Westminster he represented that town in the Vermont Legislature, and in 1881- 1882 represented Westmoreland in the New Hampshire Legislature. He voted for Fre- mont in 1856, and thereafter was a member of the Republican party. Both he and his wife were reared under Universalist influences, but about 1876 they joined the Con- gregational Church.
Frank Theodore Cole, the oldest child, was educated in the public schools, and prepared for college at Phillips Andover Academy and at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Massa- chusetts, graduating from the latter school in June, 1873. He entered Williams College and graduated with the degree of A.B. in 1877, and from Columbia in 1879 with the degree of LL.B. In December, 1879, he was admitted to the bar in the Second District of New York. He settled in Columbus, Ohio, in the same month, was admitted to the bar of Ohio in February, 1880, and practiced his profession there until the Ist of January, 1887. Two
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years of business life followed, when he opened the Columbus Latin School, and in that profession has since been engaged.
During the years of his law practice he was somewhat interested in politics, being Pres- ident of the Garfield and Arthur Glee Club in 1880 and a director of the succeeding clubs of 1884 and 1888, and was a member of the City Committee and of the County Committee from the old Ninth Ward. From 1880 to 1882 he was on the Executive Board of the Y. M. C. A., serving as Chairman of the Entertainment Committee.
Sunday School interests have claimed much of his time. For ten years he was Secre- tary of the Franklin County Sunday School Union ; assistant superintendent of the Sunday School of the First Congregational Church some twelve years; assistant superintendent of the Goodale Sunday School Mission for two years, and first superintendent of the Mayflower Sunday School. When this latter school was organized into a church he withdrew from the First Church and became one of the charter members and a trustee of the new organi- zation, remaining while his services were needed, and then returning to the mother church.
Mr. Cole has always been interested in athletics, and was one of the founders and twice President of the Columbus Tennis Association, and for some six years past President of the Columbus Golf Club. He was one of the charter members of the Columbus Whist Club; was at one time member of the University Club, the Monday Club, the Garfield Club, the Columbus Club, and is now a member of the Arlington Country Club.
During the years 1888-1889 he was Secretary of the Disbursement Committee of the centennial celebration of the passage of the ordinance erecting the Northwest Territory, and of the encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, held that year at Columbus.
In 1886 he published "The Early Genealogies of the Cole Families in America," and has since prepared a partial genealogy of the Gleason family, besides furnishing several bio- graphical articles for the "Old Northwest" genealogical quarterly, of which publication he is editor. He is a life member of the Ohio Historical and Archaeological Society, and of the "Old Northwest Genealogical Society." Of this latter organization he has been an officer from its organization, and since June, 1903, has been the Secretary.
The Columbus Latin School, which Mr. Cole organized in 1889, was the outgrowth of a school for boys, established in 1888 by Mr. Charles Moore, and taught during the year 1888-1889 by him, with the assistance of his brother, Dr. H. M. W. Moore, M.D. Mr. Moore, deciding to accept a position at Yale, disposed of the equipment and Mr. Cole opened the school on Grant Avenue near Broad Street. He had the assistance of Mr. T. Starr Corey, A.B. in mathematics; of Professor C. R. Von Lybel, who continued with him nearly eight years, in German, and of other talent in the Junior branches. The next year a partnership was made with Amasa Pratt, A.B., lately Superintendent of the School for the Deaf, and enlarged quarters were secured at No. 441 East Town Street. This partner- ship continued for two years, at the end of which period Mr. Pratt withdrew. Mr. Abram Pratt, A.B., M. Charles Poulalion, with Mr. Von Sybel, were the assistants. Mr. Frederick B. Ryder, A.B., was secured as assistant, remaining for two years, when he started a rival school. During the next five years the school had the assistance of Misses Carolyn Scott, Mary T. Burdick, A.B., Mary E. Ferrell, H. DeNagy, Marie C. Duby, and Messrs. E. J. Russell, A.B., B. A. Eisenlohr, A.B., C. E. Albright, A.B., Rev. H. Hoffman, Joseph F. Marsten, A.B., and John Lewis, removing on the Ist of January, 1895, to No. 527 East Broad Street, and in September, 1898, to the corner of Broad and Seventeenth Streets. During these ten years there were in attendance at the school the following pupils : Frank M. Anderson, John Guy Atkinson, Wm. Auld, George N. Barvere, Chester and Percy Briggs, John Beebe, Lawrence Bright, Guy Baldwin, Samuel D. Blake, Guy and Max Butler, Percy Bissell, Louis
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Boyha, Ruth Brown, Lawrence Cummings, Campbell M. Chittenden, Rea Chenoweth, Leroy Converse, Dean Crawford, Andrew Campbell, Frank and Albert Drake, Robert P. Duncan, Dean S. Davis, Otto Darst, L. R. Day, Charles H. Evans, Charles Firestone, William M. Frisbie, Wade Fornoff, Adam Foverman, Cecil Fanning ; Reynolds, Jesse and Helen Guerin ; Melbury Greene, Meldrum and Eugene Gray, William H. and Edward A. Gorman, Edward Galvin, Ambos Harris, George G. Henry, Thomas Hallwood, Louis Haywood, Walter Herr, Jay B. Hofman, Herman Hubbard, Allen and Harold Hayden, Louis Hosher, Paul Hardy, Clarence Hills, Carl G. Jahn, Agnes Jeffrey, William Joyce, Bertram G. Jones, E. Bernard Jones, Charles Johnston, Yamanaka Kosoburo, Lincoln and Marie Faye Kilbourne, Turney Keys, Philemon Karshner, John Lilley, Frank and Paul Lindenberg, Charles Lee, Paul Loving, H. R. M. Landis, George Longstreth, Herbert Linthwaite; James, John and Jessie March ; Baldwin McComb, William P. Markeson, William E. McConnell, Clinton S. Main, Ewing Martin, William Merkle, Brent E. McCoy, Bruce McCracken, Harry and Ann Mil- ler, Louis Miller, Perin Monypeny; Norton, Rex and Corrine Monsarrat, F. B. Moore, McMann, Joseph F. Marsten, J. Mark Naughton, James Nelson, William Nicholas, Charles Outhwaite, Edward T. Powell, Frank Potter, Selden Pratt, William C. Park, John F. Putnam, Edward and Jacob Reinhard, Carl M. Ruhlen, Karl Ricketts, Andrews and Hayes Rogers, Archibald and Starling Rodgers, Richter, Austin Randall, Frederick N. Sinks, Otto H. Stutson, Edward Strittmater, Fred Sager, Edwin R. Sharp, Jr., Percy Stafford, Stephen Sheldon, Paulding F. Sellers, Herbert and Mary Leuter, Fred Thomas, Allen G. and Tod Thurman, Harry and Ellison Waite, Percy Waddel, Oscar Wolfram, Walcott, George F. Whittemore, Eugenia Gray Watson, Maurice Eugene Zapp. Of these, eighty entered college; thirty-six have graduated, or are now under-graduates.
In 1899 Mr. Cole joined with Professor Abram Brown, long Principal of the Central High School in Columbus, and with Miss Alice Gladden, establishing "The University School of Columbus," becoming Secretary, while Mr. Brown was Principal. The school was located at No. 106 East Broad Street. At the end of the first year Miss Gladden withdrew. The school moved to No. 187 East Broad Street into a building especially altered to suit its requirements. Mr. Brown returned to High School work in the fall of 1901, and Mr. Cole became Principal, and still continues in that position. The school has had the assist- ance of Messrs. E. E. Rich, B.S., John S. Norris, B.S., C. P. Fairbanks, B.S., M. Guibert de la Mache, Ernest Pierce, A.B., F. D. Kunkel, A.B., Cyrus Scott, and Misses Margaret D. Saxton and Mary Wirth. Those in attendance, aside from any mentioned above, were: William Andrews, Mildred Alberry, Orville T. Adams, Thomas L. Beckwith, Paul But- terworth, William L. Bell, Howard WV. Burger, Lucian Brown, Walter E. Bock, Alfred Blake, John Bennett, E. Alfred Carpenter, Elizabeth Cole, Willis W. Case, Jr., Clarence G. Craig, Theodore Cole, Ralph B. Campbell, William Carparis, Winfield S. Clark, William A. Car- lisle, Farfield Crowley, Margaret S. Dobbie, Ray and Wilbur Dunham, Platt F. Downerd, Edward M. Doelker, William D. Duffy, William H. Dickenson, Jr., Nelson F. Evans, George Follett, Paul Hamilton, Jr., Robert Burnwell Fuller, C. Barney Goodspeed, Walter J. Guil- bert, Baldwin J. Gwynne, Thomas J. G. Gifford, Lyman R. Haller, Emil W. Hosher, Groves B. Higgins, Lillian C. Howard, Lawrence B. Holmes, Lewis A. Huston, Harold S. Hall- wood, Helen Hall, Harry Heyl, William A. Hutchins, Lawrence C. Hornbrook, Neal Has- brook, Francis J. Judge, Helen D. Johnston, Katrina and James Kilbourne, W. M. Kennedy, Robert Little, Edward Lauman, Herbert M. Lang, Malcolm McNaughten, Harry Monett, Henry and Huston Miller, Robert K. McAllister, Walter Blake Mckinney, D. Edward McDanald, William A. McAfee, Robert A. McConnell, Carter G. Monsarrat, William M. Newson, Edward and David Neil, Marion Parker, Claren E. Pfeifer, William Powell, Leo
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