USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 70
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D. Phillips, Robert S. Platt, Charles A. Pech, Frederick R. Palmer, John M. Plaished, Elmer J. Reinhard, Paul F. Ross, Katharine and Louise Robinson, Florence Rodgers, E. K. Stewart, Jr., John William Strickler, Carl G. Sater, Robert E. Sheldon, Jr., Louis Ray Sutton, Edgar J. Sayers, George H. Smith, Herbert S. Thomas, Guy Walker, Percy R. Williams, William and Randolph Warner, William O. Wolfe, Herbert C. Whysall, Barry Wall. Twenty-nine of them have entered college, and thirty-seven are still preparatory students. The students of this school have entered Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell, Columbia, Smith, Wellesley, Wells, Pennsylvania State, Alfred, Western Reserve, Case, Wooster, Marietta, Ohio Wesleyan, Ohio State and Kenyon; also the Starling Medical, the Ohio Medical University, University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson Medical and the Cincinnati Law School. The work done has been of a high grade, and the teaching force of the best of cultivated and educated men and women. It has done a good work also in the influence it has had through private teaching by its Faculty outside of the regular school hours, to many boys and girls whose names do not appear on the above lists.
Eliab Washburn Coy,
Principal of Hughes High School at Cin- cinnati, Ohio, is recognized among the fore. most educators of the State of Ohio, where he has devoted the principal part of his life in the interests of education. He was born on the 6th of December, 1832, in the State of Maine, from whose rugged shores some of the' greatest men in the history of this country have emanated. Mr. Coy received a careful and thorough education and is a graduate from the famous Brown's University, where in the year of 1858 he received the honorary title of A.M. Later, in the year of 1886, the University of Princeton conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Immediately after his graduation from Brown's University he accepted the position of Superintendent of Schools at Peoria, Illinois. While occupying his position, in his spare time he devoted his attention to the study of law, was admitted to the bar, and in the years of 1865 to 1868 he ELIAB WASHBURN COY practiced his profession. But the profession of teaching called him with irresistible force, and in the latter year he returned to Peoria High School in the capacity of Principal. Later he was Principal of the High School Department of the State Normal University, at Normal, Illinois, for two and a half years, and for three years he was editor of the educa- tional journal, "Illinois Teacher." In 1873, Dr. Coy went to Cincinnati, to accept the position of Principal of Hughes High School. For thirty-two years Dr. Coy has occupied this position, and the record made by him for continuous occupancy of this office is not dupli- cated by any other educator in the State of Ohio, and in all probabilities not by any other man in this country. He was married in 1863 to Genal Harrington, and is the father of
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three daughters. Dr. Coy was President of the National Council of Educators, and is a member of the Ohio State Teachers' Association. He has often furnished articles on edu- cational subjects, and is the author of "First Lessons in Latin," a work which has been recog- nized by the authorities and has been used for practical educational purposes in many schools.
Orville Crist,
Superintendent of the Public Schools of Tippecanoe City, Ohio, is a man well known among the educators of the State. He was born on a farm near Xenia, Ohio, on the 14th of March, 1870. His early education was obtained in the district schools of Greene and Clarke Counties. In the fall of 1887 he entered the academy of Wittenberg College, at Spring- field, Ohio, where he remained through his preparatory course and Freshman year. After teaching for two years in the district schools of Clarke County, he returned to college and graduated in June, 1896. In the fall of the same year Mr. Crist became Principal of the High School at Tippecanoe City, Ohio, and held that position till he was elected to the Superintendency in 1903.
Charles L. Cronebaugh,
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Superintendent of the Public Schools of Massillon, Ohio, was born on the 5th of May, ORVILLE CRIST 1864, in Salem Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and was raised on a farm. He is the son of Charles and Elizabeth Cronebaugh, both of whom emigrated to this country at an early age. The father was a native of Rhenish Bavaria, and the mother a Prussian. Mr. Cronebaugh received his early education in the district schools of his home county; later he attended Buchtel College, at Akron, Ohio; the National Normal University, at Lebanon, Ohio, from which institution of learning he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science, and the Ohio State University, at Columbus. He started into public life at the age of nineteen years as a teacher. Prior to that time, however, he had worked on the farm, in the mines and on the railroad, thereby earning sufficient money to enter college. Later, while teaching, he continued his work at college for a period of seven years. Mr. Crone- baugh's experiences as teacher are varied and extensive. He possesses all the natural qualities that are bound to make a man successful in everything he undertakes. He taught for three years in the country schools, for seven years in Port Washington, one year in the grammar school, six years as Principal of those schools, one year as Principal of the Den- nison High School, three years as Principal of the New Philadelphia High School, and six years as Superintendent of the public schools of Cambridge, Ohio. He resigned from this position in 1904, to accept the Superintendency of the public schools of Massillon, Ohio. In political belief, Superintendent Cronebaugh is a steadfast Republican. He is a member of the Knights Templar, and belongs to the National Educational Association, the State Teachers' Association, the Eastern Ohio Teachers' Association, in which body he is Chair-
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man of the Executive Committee at the present writing. On the 29th of June, 1899, Mr. Cronebaugh was united in marriage to Miss Catherine McLean, by which union ne is the father of one child, Robert Everett McLean Cronebaugh. He is a member of the Presby- terian Church, and has an attractive residence located at No. 24 South East Street, Mas- sillon, Ohio.
H. H. Cully,
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Superintendent of the Public Schools at Glenville, Ohio, was born and reared upon a farm in Sugar Creek Township, Wayne County, Ohio, on the 3d of June, 1861. He attended the common district school until he was sixteen years of age. He then entered the village High School at Dalton, where he pre- pared for teaching and for college, alternating five months in school in the winter time with seven months' hard work upon the farm. In August, 1882, he entered the Senior Prepara- tory Department of Mt. Union College, from which college he was graduated in the classical course in 1887. He taught school in the common district schools from four to five months of each year that he was in college, thereby earning every dollar of his collegiate expenses, except the money which was expended the first term, that was earned by hauling ties and bridge timbers with his H. H. CULLY father's team, upon the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, which was built in 1880-1881, and passing near his home. Prior to graduating from college he was elected Principal of the Dalton (Ohio) schools, where he had previously prepared for college. After three years of service he was elected Superintendent of the schools at Burton, Geauga County, where he remained for five years, and was then elected Superintendent of schools at Glenville, the largest and wealthiest suburb of Cleveland, stretching along the banks of Lake Erie to the northeast of the city. Prior to the annexation of the Second Ward to Cleveland last Sep- tember, this suburb had a population of about eight thousand people. Under the new municipal code, it was made a city. A new High School building has just been completed at a total cost of nearly $75,000 for site and building. For the amount of money expended, it is admitted to be one of the best High School buildings in the State.
Superintendent H. H. Cully is President of the County Board of Teachers' Examiners. In 1903-1904 he was President of the Northeastern Ohio Teachers' Association. For three years past he has been identified with the Wooster (Ohio) University Summer School, where he has had charge of the Departments of Pedagogy and Superintendency. He has numerous calls to address various educational organizations, as well as many civic and church organizations.
Mr. Cully was married to Miss Ora M. Harper, of Dalton, Ohio, on the 31st of Decem- ber, 1891. They own a very pleasant home at No. 318 North Doan Street. They have no children.
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J. M. H. Frederick,
Was born on a farm four miles west of Akron, Ohio, on the 19th of September, 1863- the day of the Battle of Chickamauga, the fiercest conflict of the Civil War. When he was three years old, his family moved to their present homestead in Maple Valley, just outside the city of Akron. His parentage on his father's side is German, and the subject of this sketch is of the seventh generation in this country. On the mother's side his lineage is English and Scotch-Irish, and in this branch he is of the sixth generation in this country. His mother's maiden name was Ellen Viers. Her ancestors are said to have come from France with William of Normandy and to have found lodgment in the north of England and south of Scotland. His great-grandparents on both sides were pioneers in Ohio. One of them, Dorsey W. Viers, was the first white child born in Jefferson County, on the site of the present Court House at Steubenville.
As a boy, Mr. Frederick went to school in a "little white schoolhouse" for seven years. In speaking of this experience, he says he believes he accomplished more in two terms in a poorly graded school than in those seven years of district school.
At the age of seventeen he entered the pre- paratory department of Hiram College, under President B. A. Hinsdale, and spent five years at this institution. At the beginning of his last year here he was offered the position of instructor in either Greek or Elocution. Hav- ing taken a course in the summer school of the National School of Elocution and Oratory, he accepted the latter position. His work in this class was eminently successful, as its member- ship steadily increased from the beginning.
J. M. H. FREDERICK
The next year he went to Amherst College, from which he graduated in 1886 with the degree of A.B. President Julius H. Seelye was then President. Mr. Frederick prizes his contact with President Seelye and President Hinsdale, counting it among the richest compensations of his college course.
Mr. Frederick takes a keen interest in political affairs. He is a liberal Republican in his party affiliation. In 1892 he compiled his "National Party Platforms," which has run through two large editions. There are few politicians and statesmen who are without copies of this work. In religion, while a member of the Disciple Church, he is free in thought and tolerant of other beliefs. In philosophy he is an idealist and an optimist.
On leaving college, it was Mr. Frederick's purpose and ambition to teach, but almost immediately he was drawn into journalism. For many years he held positions on editorial staffs, particularly on the Cleveland Leader, the Akron Telegram, and the Akron Beacon. During this time he wrote special articles for metropolitan newspapers and magazines.
In 1895 the Lakewood Superintendency came to him, practically unsolicited. Elected
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at a low salary, his advances have been rapid, until he now receives $2,500 per year, the highest salary paid in a town of its size in Ohio.
He has served as a member of the County Teachers' Institute Committee of Cuyahoga County, and as Secretary and President of the same. He has also been President of the County Teachers' Association and Treasurer of the Northeastern Ohio Teachers' Associa- tion. In 1901 he was chosen as Ohio's director for the National Educational Association by that body at the Detroit meeting. The next year he represented his State on the Nom- inating Committee of this organization, and at the St. Louis meeting in 1904 was elected Vice President of the Association.
He has been prominently mentioned for the Superintendency of large cities, but feels that he still has a work to do in Lakewood. He has steadily refused to consider the position of Teachers' Examiner for Cuyahoga County, repeatedly exerting his influence in behalf of one of his associates, who was seeking the position-a pleasing evidence of one of the prominent traits of his character.
Cuyahoga County is particularly fortunate in having an able set of men as leaders in all matters educational, and Mr. Frederick has been one of the chief promoters in bringing about a happy state of friendly fellowship among them, while his helpful suggestions and genuine friendliness for the younger men in the profession have inspired not a few of them to higher and better things.
As a member of the County Superintendents' Round Table and the Cleveland School- masters' Club, he has done much to mould the educational thought and method of his part of the State.
Mr. Frederick has two daughters, Mildred and Mary, of whom he is justly proud. He considers Mrs. Frederick the best and truest woman on earth. As he gives to his mother credit largely for his habits, so he attributes to his wife much of the credit for his success. When the fight has been thickest she has ever been at his side to assist and cheer on. She is very devoted to her home, but of late years she has found time to assist the cause of the elevation and improvement of woman. She is now serving her third term as Secretary of Cleveland Sorosis. She has been also a depart- ment Chairman of this society, and has repre- sented it in city and State Federation meetings.
Mr. Frederick is a Mason, having taken all the York Rite degrees and all the Scottish Rite degrees up to and including the thirty-second. He is High Priest in Bahurim Council of the Scottish Rite. He is a member of Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine ; also a Knight of Pythias. In college he joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity.
(H. A. Redfield, Nottingham, O.)
Franklin Paul Geiger,
A successful educator, the present Superin- tendent of the Canal Dover Public Schools, was born at Malvern, Carroll County, Ohio, in 1870. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John J. Geiger, and his boyhood was spent upon his father's farm. He attended the district schools
FRANKLIN PAUL GEIGER
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of the neighborhood and later the Malvern High School. Following this, he taught school, for a number of years, in the rural districts, and in 1889 entered Mt. Union College, at Alliance, Ohio, graduating in the normal course in 1892; in the commercial course with the degree of B.C.S. in 1894; he also graduated in the classical course the same year with the degree of A.B. Not only did he graduate, but won double honors in classes. In the military department at college, young Geiger took high rank, serving as Captain of cadets, the highest promotion possible. On leaving college he was Principal of the High School at Carrollton, Ohio; later a teacher in Lancaster (Ohio) High Schools; then coming to the Principalship of the Canal Dover High School, and after five years' efficient service, the Board of Education unanimously promoted him to the Superintendency, which position he still holds, to the universal satisfaction of the Board and the patrons.
Mr. Geiger is a broad-minded, progressive educator, possessing wonderful ability, good judgment, ripe scholarship and a personality that leaves its impression upon every depart- ment of the schools. He is a close student of pedagogy, active in the Ohio Teachers' Read- ing Circle, and all teachers' organizations. He is a member and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Eastern Ohio Teachers' Association, the Ohio State Teachers' Associa- tion, the National Educational Association, and is frequently on the program for an address at the meetings of these different associations. In 1899 the State Board of Examiners granted him a common school life certificate, and in 1901 he captured a High School life certificate. He is a young man with a high purpose and a determination to win, and a bright and successful future is before him. While generally absorbed in his school work, Professor Geiger finds time to devote to other matters. He is President of the City Board of Examiners and devotes much time to profitable reading and study. In fraternal matters he is a Knight Templar, a K. of P., and a Son of Hur. He was married on the 17th of June, 1896, to Miss Eleeta V. McConkey, oldest daughter of Dr. and Mrs. William J. McConkey, of Canton, Ohio. They have two children, Wendell Wellington and Hazel Rowena.
I. C. GUINTHER
I. C. Guinther,
Superintendent of the Public Schools at Galion, Ohio, is an educator of large experi- ence. He was born in Whetstone Township, Crawford County, Ohio, and received his early education in the public schools of Tully and Whetstone Townships. By diligent study he acquired enough knowledge to be able to start his career as a teacher at the age of eighteen years, when he was tendered a position in the district schools at Winchester. Later he taught in the schools of Plains, Pleasant View, Hill Grove and Pleasant Hill, and in the graded schools at Nevada, Galena, Utica and Galion, Ohio. During all this time, Mr. Guinther never neglected his books. Always being anxious to add to his knowledge, he entered N. W. O. S. U., from which institution he graduated in 1883, receiving the degrees of B.S. and A.M. Mr. Guinther has also received all the grades of certificates ever
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issued by the State of Ohio. He has had experience in teaching in all grades of school work, and in tutoring in college, as well as in conducting normal sessions and instructing in Teachers' Institutes. In 1892 Mr. Guinther accepted the position of Principal of the Galion High School, and four years later he was elected Superintendent of the public schools of that city. His record in that place is an enviable one, and his services have been of incalculable value to the students who have come under his directions. Mr. Guinther lives with his family in a pleasant home at Galion, Ohio.
J. M. Hamilton,
Superintendent of the Public Schools of Lebanon, Ohio, one of the educators of the State whose name undoubtedly will come for- ward with prominence in the future, was born in Nicholas County, Virginia, in the year of 1862. He received a careful education in his early youth, and is a graduate from the National Normal University at Lebanon, with the degree of B. A. Mr. Hamilton has had a wide experience in every grade of school work. He was Principal of the schools at Liberty Hill, Texas; was a member of the Faculty of the National Normal University for two years, and has been connected with the public schools of Lebanon for a period of ten years, four of which as Principal of the High School, and six in the capacity of Superintendent of Schools. He is the holder of a State Teachers' Certificate, and is President of the Southwest- ern Ohio Teachers' Association and an active member of the National Educational Associa- J. M. HAMILTON tion. In church work Mr. Hamilton takes an active and keen interest, and he has made his name identified with all movements for the spiritual welfare of his people. A Mason in high standing, he is well and favorably known among the organizations of that fraternity. Mr. Hamilton is recognized as a thorough and conscientious teacher, and one who does everything in his power to advance the interests of the schools of Lebanon, Ohio. Superintendent Hamilton is a married man, and resides with his wife and one child in Lebanon, Ohio.
George W. Harper, A.M., Ph.D.,
Was born on the 21st of August, 1832, in Franklin, Warren County, Ohio, of Quaker stock. The family moved to Cincinnati in 1843, where he assisted his father during the next four years in the grocery and commission business. The training received during this period proved to be of great value during his subsequent career. In 1847 he entered the public schools, was two years in the Central High School, from which he passed to the Woodward College, from which he graduated in 1853, taking the valedictory honor. He intended to pursue the study of law, but through the personal influence of his old teacher, Dr. Joseph Ray, he was induced to accept temporarily a position as teacher in
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Woodward High School, where he continued to teach for forty-seven years, the last thirty-five being Principal of the school, which position he resigned on the 23d of June, 1900. In 1869 he was granted leave of absence by the Board, and spent four months traveling in Europe, during which tour he made a careful study of the school systems and methods in Great Britain and on the Continent. The observations then made were of great value to him, not only in his regular school work, but in the papers he has read and the discussions in which he has engaged in teachers' institutes and conventions.
Mr. Harper is best known by reason of his work and publications on geology. He has made eight exploring expeditions in the South, and one as far west as Utah and the Yel- lowstone, carefully studying the botany, natural history, and especially the geology of those regions. The results of these trips have been published in pamphlet form. His catalogue of the silurian fossils, containing over seven hundred species, is accepted by all geologists. He has published three catalogues of fresh-water and land shells, the last a second edition, with descriptions, and another containing all the species of bivalves of the Mississippi drainage. One of his last publica- tions is entitled "A Description of our Com- mon Rocks." For over twenty years Mr. Harper was assistant editor of the journal of the Cincinnati Natural History Society. He has been elected President of the society, once in 1885 and again in 1904, which position he now holds. He was for thirty-five years President of the Board of Trustees of the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery. In September, 1873, he was requested by the trustees of the McMicken funds to organize the Cincinnati University. In compliance with this request, a provisional corps of teachers was appointed, and in October fol- lowing classes were formed in mathematics, chemistry, physics, Latin, Greek, French and German, the courses beginning where the High School instruction left off. These GEORGE W. HARPER, A. M., PH. D. classes were continued during the year, front 2 to 5 p. m., in the Woodward building. The following year a permanent organization was effected. Mr. Harper is now Treasurer of the Teachers' Aid and Annuity Association, a Trustee of the Ohio Humane Society, a member of the Board of Education, and also of the Union Board of High Schools, where, owing to his long connection with the public schools, he is well fitted to render valuable service. In 1885 he became the local observer of meteorology for the Smithsonian Insti- tution. His rain records have been very valuable to the city in determining the capacity of the sewer system. In 1861 Mr. Harper had conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts by the Denison University, and later on Doctor of Physics by Princeton.
Mr. Harper became a member of Trinity M. E. Church at the age of fifteen ; at seven- teen he was a teacher in the Sabbath School; at twenty-one was a class leader and trustee, and at twenty-five was elected Superintendent of the Sunday School. Some years later
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he transferred his membership to Asbury M. E. Church, near Woodward High School, his chosen field of work, and though he is nearing his seventy-third birthday, is still active in his Christian work, as Superintendent of the Sunday School and in other departments of the church.
On the 8th of July, 1858, he was united in marriage to Charity Ann, daughter of Friend and Evaline Durrell. Two sons and three daughters were born to them, of whom one daughter, Mrs. Frederick H. Turner, and two sons, E. Ambler Harper, Engineer of Kansas City, and George D. Harper, a prominent attorney of Cincinnati, still survive.
On Mr. Harper's retirement from the school with which he had been so closely iden- tified for forty-seven years, his old pupils gave him a reception, presented him with a handsome loving cup and other reminders of their love and esteem, and a large album, signed by several hundred who were present and containing the cards of many others then living at a distance. The following is the closing paragraph of a series of resolutions, handsomely engraved, in the album :
TO GEORGE W. HARPER His pupils inscribe this title of a GOOD TEACHER.
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