USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 75
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JACOB WELLINGTON WYANDT
Jacob Wellington Wyandt,
Superintendent of the Public Schools of Bryan, Ohio, an educator of great proficiency in the northwestern part of the State, and a man of high literary attainments, was born on the 7th of October, 1862, in a log house in Van Wert County, Ohio. The progenitors of Mr. Wyandt followed the occupation of farm- ing as far back as the family history has been traced, and Mr. Wyandt is the first member of his family who devotes his life to the noble profession of teaching. His education was received at Ada ; the Tri-State Normal College at Angola, Indiana, and the Chicago Univer- sity. He graduated from Tri-State Normal
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College in July, 1890, after having taken a philosophical course. All his mature life, Mr. Wyandt has been a student, as well as an instructor, and has made his own way in the world, earning his living by teaching and thereby obtaining the necessary means to further his educational desires. As a student he has a remarkable record. While having charge of the Superintendency of the schools of Angola, Indiana, in the summer of 1896, Mr. Wyandt took examinations in twenty-five branches, and secured an average of 98.5 per cent. The following spring he took examinations in thirteen branches, and was granted a life license to teach in the State of Indiana. He started his career as a teacher in the country schools at the age of twenty, and in 1893 accepted the position of Superintendent of the Angola schools, coming from Van Wert, where he had been Assistant Principal. He held his position in Angola until 1903, when he was tendered the Superintendency of the schools at Bryan, Ohio, which position he now fills with credit to himself and the people who have placed him in that responsible office. He also is City School Examiner. In political life, Mr. Wyandt is a Republican, and, while residing in Van Wert, occupied the position of Deputy County Auditor. Socially, he is a leading member of the K. of P., and has a large and influential circle of friends. On the 26th of August, 1891, Mr. Wyandt was married to Miss Martha Purinton, by which union he is the father of four children, three of whom are living. The family attends the Congregational church, and resides at Bryan, Ohio.
J. W. Zeller,
For twenty-seven years Superintendent of the Findlay Public Schools, was born on a farni in Hancock County, near Mt. Cory, Ohio. Superintendent Zeller has spent all his life in Northwestern Ohio. His father and mother came from Wurtemberg, Germany, sixty-four years ago, and became pioneers in the settle- ment of Hancock County. Reared on the farm, he began teaching in the rural schools at the age of seventeen years.
Five winters as teacher in these schools, graduation from a normal school and from a college, three years as teacher in village and town High Schools and Superintendent; his Superintendency of the Findlay public schools for twenty-seven years, including the super- vision for years of the rural schools of Findlay Township-this in brief tells the story of his public school work.
During all these years Professor Zeller has been a close and hard student of the science J. W. ZELLER and art of education and of the great educa- tional problems of the day. He has also been a close student of subjects related to the science of education-political science and the science of jurisprudence-and completed a course in the former twelve years ago, for which work a degree was conferred on him, and the latter subject he completed eight years ago, and after a rigid examination was admitted to the bar. These subjects were pursued, not with a view of leaving school work, but rather for the mental discipline and breadth of thought
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afforded. Nowhere in the State has educational growth and improvement been greater during the last two decades than in Northwestern Ohio. Mr. Zeller has not only been closely allied to and identified with all the educational agencies and movements in this section, but of the entire State. In recognition of his high service he has been honored with many positions of trust in his chosen profession. He was one of the original organizers of the Northwest- ern Ohio Teachers' Association, an organization which numbers more than one thousand active members, and is one of the most vital and effective educational agencies in the State. He has been present at and participated in every meeting since its organization thirty years ago; he has frequently served on the Executive Committee, has been twice honored with the Presidency, and declined to accept this honor a third time when tendered him, at a recent session in Findlay. He has served as a member of the Executive Com- mittee of the Ohio State Teachers' Association, was a member of the Legislative Com- mittee of the same association for eight years and six years ago was honored with the Presidency of the Superintendents' Department of the State Association.
As institute instructor he has served two terms in half of the counties of the State, and at these meetings many of his co-instructors have been among the leading educators of the country. Mr. Zeller has been very fortunate in having been closely associated with such distinguished men as Drs. Schaeffer, State Superintendent of Pennsylvania; White, Hinsdale, Harvey, Hancock, Lehr, and many others of equal renown. Superintendent Zeller also served two terms on a Board of Examiners, and holds a State life certificate granted in 1881 after passing a rigid examination in nineteen branches. His advice has been fre- quently sought by younger men of the profession and freely given on educational sub- jects, courses of study, school organization and administration. He has been an inspiration to many a younger teacher in Northwestern Ohio and will leave his educational impress on the schools in this section of the State. It has been the habit of his life to attend all the county quarterly institutes, and by these and other means he has kept in close touch with the work and needs of the county schools.
No comments need be made on his efficient service in behalf of Findlay's schools. When he was chosen Superintendent of these schools twenty-seven years ago, there were two and a half school buildings, a corps of sixteen teachers, and nine hundred pupils. No city of this class in the State grew by such leaps and bounds, requiring the erection of so many school buildings, and the consequent expenditure of so much money. In four years Findlay leaped from a population of 4,500 to more than 18,000, with an enrollment of 3,600, which necessitated fourteen school buildings and a corps of eighty-three teachers. This rapid growth, demanding a large expenditure of money, has necessitated the practice of a most rigid economy in the administration of the city schools. These facts have made their administration an extraordinary task, and yet, despite this unavoidable, unfavorable circum- stance, Findlay city schools rank with the best in the State. During all these years Super- intendent Zeller has been fortunate in securing an able corps of teachers, and being a hard and effective worker, he has inspired his teachers to do hard and effective work.
This brief sketch indicates that his educational career has brought him in touch with every phase of public school work, and that he is both by education and experience eminently qualified to render high service in his chosen profession.
J. J. Burns,
Of Defiance, Ohio, who during his active life was one of the best known educators in the State, and who, though now retired, takes the liveliest interest in all matters pertaining to educational advancement, enjoys the distinction of being one of the very few School
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Commissioners of the State of Ohio that have been elected on the Democratic ticket, he having served in that important office in the years of 1878 to 1881. His experiences as a member of the teaching profession have been varied and extensive. He has filled all positions in his profession, from a teacher in the district and county schools, where he started his educational career at an early age, up to that of Superintendent of schools. As a lecturer on subjects applied to teaching he is well and favorably known all over the State of Ohio. For many years he has been Superintendent of Schools at Defiance, Ohio, and largely through his efforts, knowledge and initiative the school system of Defiance has grad- ually grown in usefulness and efficiency, until to-day it occupies a plane second to none in Ohio. Since his retirement from active life, Mr. Burns is quietly enjoying his declining years, occupied by literary labors, and at the present time is engaged in the compilation of a work which he intends to publish, pertaining to the history of schools of Ohio. He resides in Defiance, Ohio.
William Fuchs,
The popular instructor and composer, of Columbus, Ohio, was born in the capital city of Ohio on the 3d of July, 1877, and is the son of William and Amalia (Noethlich) Fuchs. After receiving a good education in the public schools of his home city, he entered into busi- ness life, and studied law for a short time, but soon turned his attention to music, for which he showed a great talent from his childhood. At the age of sixteen, Mr. Fuchs began teaching mandolin and guitar, and met with instantaneous success. His record of over one thousand pupils in ten years is one which few musical men can equal. In 1896 Mr. Fuchs won for his bride Miss Lillian de Tascher Schaub, an accomplished young lady, whose qualities of mind and heart, even more than her beauty, won universal regard and brought to him social success and popularity. Their married life lasted only five and one-half years. She died in 1902 in Florida, while on a visit for her health. Besides instructing over one WILLIAM FUCHS hundred pupils each week, Professor Fuchs is a successful composer of songs, and is the author of over one hundred vocal and instru- mental compositions. He is also connected with H. Turkopp & Co., commission merchants of Columbus, in the capacity of overseer of the accountant department, and is director of a mandolin and guitar club of over one hundred players, whose annual entertainments and concerts he manages.
A. P. Bunker,
Of Dennison, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, is recognized as one of the most promising young musicians in his part of the State, and it may well be said that he has a brilliant future before him. He is the son of German parents and a native Ohioan, born, bred and
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educated in the Buckeye State. He received a good education, and in early youth developed a splendid talent for music. He therefore was given under the care of the best music teachers obtainable, and at the present writing he undoubtedly is the best violinist of Uhrichsville and Dennison. Mr. Bunker has been teaching for a number of years, and among his pupils are the children of the foremost citizens of Tuscarawas County. Together with his efforts as a successful teacher, he is also conductor of the opera house orchestra at Den- nison, in which city he makes his home.
Thomas J. Gardner,
A member of the City Council of Middleport, Ohio, and a very popular man in his part of the State, was born in the year of 1845, in West Virginia, that time a part of Virginia, about thirty-five miles from Pomeroy. Both his parents were native Virginians, who came to Middleport in 1854. The venerable mother of Mr. Gardner still survives, and is now living on the old homestead at the age of seventy-seven years. Mr. Gardner was educated in the schools of his neighborhood, after which he became identified with the steamboat business. During the War of the Rebellion he, in 1864, joined the One Hundred and Fortieth Ohio Regiment and served for a period of one hundred days. Mr. Gardner has been closely con- nected with the municipal affairs of his home city, and for twenty-four years has been continuously a member of the City Council of Middleport, with the exception of one term. He is a lifelong Republican, and in all probability will be rewarded by his party for his services by being nominated at the next municipal convention of the Republican party as its candidate for Mayor. He is a member of the G. A. R. Mr. Gardner was married twice. By his first wife he had three children, one of whom, a son, died, after reaching maturity. By his second wife he has one child. Mr. Gardner's residence is located at Middleport.
BROOKS FORD BEEBE, M. D.
Brooks Ford Beebe, M. D.,
Is one of the foremost physicians of Cincin- nati, Ohio, and whose name since his gradua- tion from the Medical College of Ohio has been closely identified with that institution. He was born on the 25th of June, 1850, in Wash- ington County, Ohio. His father, William Beebe, M.D., was the only son of a prominent physician of the same name, one of the first who practiced his profession in Ohio, and a veteran of the Mexican War. Dr. Beebe's mother, Elizabeth Rathbone Beebe, was a native Ohioan and of New England ancestry. The Doctor's education was received in the common schools of his home county, after which he prepared himself for college under private tuition, finally entering Marietta Col- lege, from which he graduated with the class of 1873. Prior to completion of his education he had taught school for some years, com- mencing at the age of eighteen, when he successfully passed a teacher's examination, receiving a certificate of the highest grade.
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Through his labors in this field he was enabled to complete his collegiate training. After leaving college he decided to enter into mercantile life, spending three years in those pur- suits, but finding it not congenial, he subsequently began the study of medicine, to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He graduated from the Medical College of Ohio, now the Medical Department of the University of Cincinnati, on the 10th of March, 1880, when he immediately took up the practice of his profession. Entering into a com- petitive examination, he received the position of resident physician of the Good Samaritan Hospital at Cincinnati, holding the same for one year. The next eight years he spent on the medical staff of the United States Marine Hospital at Cincinnati, as surgeon. Leaving that hospital, he became engaged in the general practice of his profession, meeting with marked success. Dr. Beebe is a member of the Cincinnati Academy of Medicine and the Ohio State Medical Society.
Lewis F. Barnes,
An engineer of prominence in the city of Wellston, Jackson County, Ohio, and Presi- dent of the Wellston Plumbing and Machine Company, was born on the 29th of January, 1863, in Jefferson County, New York State. His parents, Daniel Barnes, a lumber dealer and mason, and Mary Gates, were both natives of the Empire State, to which their ancestors emigrated many generations ago. Mr. Lewis F. Barnes received his education in the schools of his native State, and at the age of seventeen started in business life. For a number of years he followed lumbering and farming, and then, displaying an unusual talent for mechanics, became engaged in the electrical business, and, after hard and diligent studies, finally entered the profession of an engineer, in which he attained a high standing. To-day he is recog- nized as an assayer of extraordinary ability, and is an authority on the testing of ores and other minerals. He is the originator of the Wellston Portland Cement Company, with which firm he was connected for a number of years. As President of the Wellston Plumbing and Machine Company, he directs the affairs of the thriving enterprise in a most creditable manner. In political life, Mr. Barnes is known as one of the strong adherents of the Repub- lican party in his district, and in 1903 he was elected President of the Wellston School Board, a body he was a member of for four years. Socially, he is a prominent member of the Elks and K. of P. In 1887 he was united in marriage to a popular young lady, Miss Sarah J. Van Camp, of Peck, Michigan. By this marriage he is the proud father of two children both girls. Mr. Barnes is gifted with an analytical mind, joined with great executive ability, and possesses those sterling qualities which impel a man to attain the highest pin- nacle of success.
John O. Eckert,
Among the younger representatives of the bar of Hamilton County there is none who has a more promising future before him than the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. Mr.
JOHN O. ECKERT
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Eckert's birthplace is the thriving city of Portsmouth, Ohio, where he was born on the 27th of November, 1874. He is of German ancestry, his great-grandfather having emigrated to this country in the commencement of the past century, settling in Scioto County, when the southern part of Ohio was thinly populated, and engaging in the milling business. Mr Anton Eckert, his father, was a well-known lumber dealer of Portsmouth. After passing through the public and High Schools of his native city, Mr. John O. Eckert removed to Cincinnati, in which city he, after concluding to enter upon the study of law, attended the McDonald Institute, where he was thoroughly instructed in the details of his chosen pro- fession. His admittance to the bar before the Supreme Court of Ohio followed in 1898 after which event Mr. Eckert immediately embarked in his legal career in Cincinnati, which has been a very successful one. His practice is ever growing, and day by day his reputation as a lawyer is increasing. In political belief he is a Republican, untiring in his efforts and aggressive in his manner of promoting the principles of Republicanism. He is one of the leading members of the Stamina League and has filled the most prominent admin- istrative positions in that famous political organization. Socially, he is a Mason, Shriner, Knight Templar, and a member of the I. O. O. F.
J. C. Clutts,
Of Wellston, Ohio, a man whose name is synonymous in his home city for all that is progressive and enterprising, and one who is largely interested in the commercial and industrial life of Jackson County, is a man of most splendid abilities. He is a native of the city in which he resides, his father having been one of the pioneers of Jackson County, and one of the originators of the great industries that now flourish in that county. Mr. J. C. Clutts was carefully educated and prepared for the position which he now occupies He is heavily interested, not only in mining, but also in immense iron works. In political life, Mr. Clutts is a most important factor in his home county. A lifelong Republican, he has always been ready to foster and promote the interests of the great party with which he is affiliated. He is a man of splendid character, public spirited and forceful in execution. His business capacity is something to be wondered at. He is a married man, and resides in a beautiful home in Wellston, Ohio.
WILLIAM P. ROGERS
William P. Rogers,
Dean of the Cincinnati Law School, Cin- cinnati, Ohio, a man who ably fills the re- sponsible position which he now occupies, is a native of Indiana, born on the 3d of March, 1857, near Bloomington, that State. His father, William K. Rogers, was a farmer, whose English ancestors came to this country about the year 1700. On his father's farm Mr. Rogers remained until he had reached the age of seventeen years, when he began teaching school. Prior to his advent into active life he received such education as was possible
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in the district schools of his neighborhood, and at the Preparatory School at Bloomington. For four years he followed the profession of teaching, attending in the meantime the Indiana State University at Bloomington, being enabled to continue his studies by means of his earnings as a teacher. This well-known institution conferred upon him the degrees of A.B. and LL.B. After his admission to the bar in 1882, Mr. Rogers took up the practice of the legal profession, continuing in the same for the period of ten years. He was in partnership with Mr. John H. Louden, and their firm during the partnership enjoyed a lucrative practice in the city of Bloomington. In 1892 he was offered a professorship in the Indiana State University Law School, and retired from practice to accept the same. Obtaining a leave of absence from that institution, Mr. Rogers later attended the law school of the Columbia University at New York, and upon his return to the Indiana State University, he was elected Dean of the Law School, which position he held until 1902. In that year he was elected Dean of the Cincinnati Law School, which institution has had for its head some of the greatest jurists the State of Ohio ever produced : Judge Cox; William H. Taft, the present Secretary of War; Gustavus Henry Wald and others. Mr. Rogers has always been a Republican, and during the years he practiced his profession was active in the affairs of his party. The only political office he ever held was that of Treasurer of the city of Bloom- ington, which position he filled for two successive terms. He retired from active political life when he began his career as a teacher of law. Dean Rogers is admirably equipped for the career he has chosen. He has strong intellectual endowments, clear conceptions and great powers of logic and analysis. A man of imposing appearance, affable in manners. broad in human sympathies, he combines all the qualifications which go to make a suc- cessful man in any walk in life.
Emil Wiegand,
One of the most talented violinists of Cincinnati, Ohio, is a native of the Queen City He comes of a musical family, his father, Mylius Wiegand, now deceased, having been in his time one of the ablest conductors and musicians of Cincinnati. The son's musical career began very early, the age of ten years finding him playing first violin in his father's orchestra. Six years later he conducted an orchestra himself. After several years' train- ing by his father, and continuous study on the violin, he entered the College of Music at Cincinnati, receiving instructions from some of the foremost European masters. He is a graduate and post-graduate on the violin from that institution, receiving both the Springer and post-graduate gold medals. After gradu- ation he was tendered the position of violin instructor in the College of Music, which position he successfully filled for several years. Determined to establish an institution under his own name, he resigned from that position and organized the Emil Wiegand Violin School. Later he went abroad and studied with the great Belgian violinist, Eugene
EMIL WIEGAND
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Ysaye. Upon his return he re-opened his school, devoting most of his time to solo work and teaching. He is a composer of merit, and has written works for the violin, piano and voice, a string quartette, and an overture for grand orchestra. Mr. Wiegand is identified with the foremost musical affairs of his city, and as a soloist and teacher occupies an enviable place in the musical world.
Louis Waldemar Sprague,
Of Dayton, Ohio, one who has made a reputation as a master in the music world, was born on the 22d of May, 1876, at Auburn, New York. He is the son of Dr. Edward Payson Sprague, director of the Cleveland Institute of Music, a native of New York, and Maximilia Morris Sprague, who was born in Virginia. Mr. Sprague comes from good New England stock on his father's side. His great- grandfather, Daniel Sprague, was one of the founders of Poultney, Vermont; his grand- father was Rev. Isaac Newton Sprague, D.D., LL.D., whose influence brought Henry Ward Beecher into prominence in Brooklyn, who built the large free Catherine Street Church in New York City, and also largely from his own1 funds erected the handsome church on Bridge Street, Brooklyn. In this and other charities he expended several fortunes. The Spragues are direct lineal descendants of the English LOUIS WALDEMAR SPRAGUE peerage. On the mother's side Mr. Sprague's great-grandfather was William Morris, of Rev- olutionary war-time fame. (Lossing's history of the United States.) The maternal grand-father, William Morris, was a wealthy planta- tion owner of Virginia, and was known as the perfector of the artesian well drill. (Hard- esty's history of Virginia.) Louis Waldemar Sprague received his education in the public and High Schools of Detroit, Michigan. He did not finish his course at the High School however, as private tutors were engaged for him to prepare him to enter West Point. He later abandoned military instructions to take up the study of music, for which he always had a strong desire. Appreciating the study of sciences as a brilliant medium for menta! training, Mr. Sprague attended lectures and clinics in the Medical Department of Wooster University. He never graduated from any collegiate institution, as he had too much prac- ticing to do to regularly enter any college, realizing that the course would so absorb his entire time that he could not give attention to the special studies which he found necessary for his training for a musical career. His musical studies were begun under the tutorship of. his mother, continued by his father and concluded under Chevalier Anton DeKontzki, that world-renowned Polish musician, and Dr. Hans von Buelow. At the early age of seven years, Mr. Sprague first appeared in public as soloist in boy choirs in Detroit. For six years he remained in choir work, after which his real career in music commenced. Mr. Sprague has made a name for himself as concert pianist, composer, lecturer, teacher of piano and theory, and as a director of musical affairs. He was formerly a Principal in the Cleve- land Institute of Music and the Ohio Normal School. During the seasons 1897-1898 he
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