USA > Ohio > Knox County > Past and present of Knox County, Ohio, Vol. II > Part 14
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After the war young Larimore returned to Ohio and attended the public schools at Utica and he taught school in his home district for two winters. His uncle decided that the subject would not make a good farmer on account of his wounds and insisted that he take up the study of medicine, which he ac-
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cordingly did in the office of Drs. Matthew Thompson and Smith on March 20, 1865, in Mt. Vernon. He took his first course of lectures at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1866 and 1867. After the death of Dr. Matthew Thompson, on June 19, 1867, the subject became a student under Dr. John W. Russell, Sr., remaining in his office one year. He attended his last course of lectures at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, from which he was grad- uated on March 29, 1869. Thus exceptionally well equipped for his life work, he began practicing medicine and surgery in June, 1869, and the same year he became a member of the Knox County Medical Society and the Ohio State Medical Society. In June, 1872, he joined the American Medical Association at its annual session in Philadelphia and sailed for Europe a few days later to make a study of hospital conditions of that coun- try. He remained abroad one year, taking a six-months post-graduate course of instruction at Vienna, in order to further equip himself for his work. Re- turning to America in June, 1873, he resumed practice in Mt. Vernon and here he has since remained as a general practitioner and surgeon, making a specialty of surgery and winning a wide reputation for his skill and uniform success in both, enjoying a large and ever growing patronage and taking a very high rank among his professional brethren throughout the state who recognize him as having few peers and no superiors. He has always been a student and has kept well abreast of the times in all that pertains to his pro- fession. A new incentive to excel in surgery was brought about by attending lectures and operations of Dr. Joseph Lister, the father of aseptic surgery, in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1872. He has met with remarkable success in this line.
Doctor Larimore has been a member of every local and district organi- zation in this section and has been honored by the highest positions in each of them. In 1896 he was elected president of the Ohio State Medical Society, and he presided with rare ability at the annual meeting held in Cleveland in May, 1897. He was the first to practice the new surgery in this, section and the first to use the hypodermic syringe and to use cocaine as a local anes- thetic. The Doctor is a writer of no mean ability on medical subjects and he has been a frequent contributor to medical journals on various subjects of medi- cine and surgery, and he enjoys the well deserved distinction of having per- formed more surgical operations than any surgeon, dead or living, in Knox county.
Doctor Larimore was married on December 30, 1875, to Mary Frances Odbert, daughter of Thomas and Mary Elizabeth (Hughes) Odbert, a prom- inent Mt. Vernon family, their daughter being well educated and a lady of
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culture -and refinement. This union has been graced by the birth of three daughters, namely : Elizabeth, who married William H. Mckinley, of Cam- bridge, Pennsylvania ; Mary is deceased; Harriet is at home.
In his political relations Doctor Larimore has always been loyal to the Republican party and active and influential in public matters. He has been a member of the United States pension examining board ever since its crea- tion in 1884; he has served as a member of the Mt. Vernon board of educa- tion and as city councilman. Fraternally, he belongs to the Masonic order and is also a member of Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and the Union Veteran Legion. He and his family are members of the Baptist church and have always been active in church and Sunday school work and actively identified with the interests of the church. The Doctor was for years superintendent of the Sunday school. He has an attractive, commod- ious and modernly furnished home at No. 206 North Main street, which is a favorite gathering place for the many friends of the family which has long been prominent in the social life of the community.
Doctor Larimore built the first apartment house in the city in 1895 at the southwest corner of Main and Chestnut streets, where his well equipped and tasty offices are maintained. In 1904 he redeemed one of the most for- bidding sites in Mt. Vernon by the erection of a modern, up-to-date building, the Union block. He has always been alert to the city's best interest and has supported all movements having as their object the general improvement of the city and community. He is the owner of much valuable city property.
In the years 1907 and 1908 the hold of Doctor Larimore on life was frail and precarious, a serious ailment attacking him which necessitated three severe abdominal operations, the last one, performed on August 4, 1908, prov- ing successful and completely restoring him to health.
The Doctor has traveled extensively both in Europe and the United States, and, being a keep observer, with well developed perceptive faculties, he has been greatly benefited in this manner, and is an intelligent talker on any topic, an obliging. genial, charitable and cultured gentleman whom it is a pleasure to meet.
ROBERT C. KIRK.
Although Robert C. Kirk has long been sleeping the sleep of the just, he is still remembered by most of the citizens of Knox county who knew him "in life's morning march when the bosom is young" and who were influenced by him to make the most of life and the opportunities that came to them, for
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he is described as a man of many sterling qualities of head and heart, honest, energetic, kind, noble and patriotic. He gained a conspicuous position in public life and, having ably performed his tasks, became one of the distin- guished men of the Buckeye state of a past generation.
Mr. Kirk was born February 26, 1821, at Mt. Pleasant, Jefferson county, Ohio. His parents were both natives of Pennsylvania. His father, Eli Kirk, was a farmer and his death occurred in 1838, the mother surviving until she reached the age of eighty-two years.
Robert C. Kirk attended the district schools and later the Ohio Univer- sity at Athens. Upon leaving college he entered the office of Dr. William Hamilton at Mt. Pleasant to study medicine and later he attended the medi- cal department of the old university at Philadelphia, from which he was graduated, whereupon he went to Fulton county, Illinois, where he began the practice of his profession. In 1843 he returned to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and abandoned medicine for the mercantile life. In the spring of 1844 he en- gaged in the dry goods business in Mt. Vernon with T. W. Rogers, which partnership continued until the death of Mr. Rogers. He then formed a part- nership in the same business with his father-in-law, John Hogg, which con- tinued until 1853, when the firm sold out. In 1857 he went to Winona, Minnesota, and engaged in the real estate business with his brother, returning to Mt. Vernon in 1858, which remained his residence until his death. He had been very successful both as a physician and as a merchant and proved him- self to be a strong, energetic and capable man of affairs.
Mr. Kirk was always a stanch Republican in politics and always active in party affairs and a man of strong character and convictions. In 1856 he was elected to the Ohio state Senate and served one term with distinction to himself and with satisfaction to his constituents. In 1859 he was elected lieutenant-governor of Ohio, and in 1862 President Lincoln appointed him minister to the Argentine republic and during his residence at Buenos Ayres he successfully settled all the old claims due American citizens, amounting to over four hundred thousand dollars. These claims originated in 1814 and were abandoned by former ministers. Over nineteen thousand dollars was sent from Buenos Ayres to Mr. Bellows, president of the United States Sani- tary Commission, for the benefit of our soldiers during the Civil war, during Mr. Kirk's residence there as minister. After a most praiseworthy tenure of office there for four years, he resigned in 1866 and returned to Mt. Vernon, Ohio. In 1869 he was appointed by President Grant to the same position, which he held until 1871, when he again resigned and in January, 1872, he returned to his home in Mt. Vernon. In February, 1875, he received from
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President Grant the appointment of internal revenue collector for the thir- teenth Ohio district, of which Knox county was a part. This office he held with his usual success until there was a consolidation by Congress of revenue districts and the office was removed to Columbus, Ohio.
On December 11, 1843, Mr. Kirk was united in marriage with Eleanor Hogg, daughter of James Hogg and wife, one of the prominent early families of Mt. Pleasant, Ohio. This union resulted in the birth of four children : John E., the eldest son, served through the Civil war in the Ninety-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry and he died at Mt. Vernon in January, 1873, at the age of twenty-nine years ; Desault B., a complete sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work ; Plempton and William H. were twins.
In public affairs Mr. Kirk took a deep interest, was always fully abreast of the times in current issues, well informed, profoundly educated, a keen observer and a man of dauntless courage. He unquestionably possessed the qualities which typify the gentleman and because of his many commendable attributes and his exemplary life he was one of the best known and most highly esteemed men of his day and generation in this section of Ohio and he num- bered his friends by the scores wherever he was known, many of whom were the leading men of the nation.
ANDREW D. WELKER, M. D.
In his chosen field of endeavor Dr. Andrew D. Welker, of Gambier, Knox county, Ohio, has achieved success such as few attain, and his present standing among the leading medical men of this section of the Buckeye state is duly recognized and appreciated, not only in his own city and county, but also throughout this locality. In addition to his long and creditable career in one of the most useful and exacting of professions, he has also proven an honorable member of the body politic ; rising in the confidence and esteem of the public, he has filled worthily high and important trusts and in every rela- tions of life has never fallen below the dignity of true manhood nor in any way resorted to methods and wiles that invite criticism or censure. As a citizen he easily ranks with the most influential of his vicinity where he has long been a power. His course. has ever been above suspicion and those favored with an intimate acquaintance with him are profuse in their praise of his many virtues and upright character.
Doctor Welker was born on October 22, 1847, in Howard township, Knox county. He is the son of William Elliott Welker and Rachael (Dur-
ANDREW D. WELKER, M. D.
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bin) Welker. Abraham Welker, the great-grandfather, came from Wash- ington county, Pennsylvania, to Howard township, Knox county, Ohio, in the latter years of the eighteenth century when this country was a wilderness and the home of the Indian and wild beast, probably about 1790, when there were only a few settlers in the county. He settled on the edge of what was known as the Indian field, containing about forty acres of cleared land. Even the Indians knew nothing of when or by whom it had been cleared. Here the family settled, developed a farm and became identified in the settlement of the new country. Paul Welker, the subject's grandfather, was a soldier in the war of 1812 and was in the Hull surrender at Detroit, an important event in that war. In private life he was a farmer and fond of hunting, spending much of his time in the woods with dog and gun. His brother, Andrew Welker, was also a soldier in the war of 1812. They were in the command of Col. Lewis Cass, prominent in the history of that period.
William Elliott Welker, father of the subject, was a farmer and owned a good farm in Howard township, this county, where he lived and died. He also teamed for some time for a merchant of Kinderhook, now called How- ard. He was a man of industry and exemplary character. The Durbins were also an early pioneer family. Benjamin Durbin, the great-grandfather, came with his family from Maryland and engaged in milling in College town- ship. Grandfather Samuel Durbin was also a farmer and miller. The family of William E. Welker and wife was composed of three sons and one daugh- ter, namely: Andrew D., of this review; Sarah E. is deceased; Lewis G. lives in Mt. Vernon; Alexander E. is a practicing physician in the West. The father, William E. Welker, died on December 25, 1891, and his widow died in January, 1905. He was a Republican in politics and was always interested in public affairs.
The son, Andrew D., of this sketch, grew up on the home farm and engaged in the general farm work. He attended the country district schools and later a select school at Millwood. Later on he taught school for three years. He began his medical studies under Dr. D. S. Coleman, Dr. William T. McMahon and Dr. Robert Moffett, of Millwood. He spent the winters of 1870, 1871 and 1872 in the Louisville Medical College at Louisville, Ken- tucky, receiving his degree in the spring of the latter year, having made a good record for scholarship there. When General Morgan was in Congress from the Mt. Vernon district he furnished the subject a scholarship in the college mentioned above. Doctor Welker came to Gambier, Ohio, after his graduation and here began the practice of his profession and here he has since remained, having enjoyed a liberal and ever growing practice with the entire (36)
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community, ranking high among the leaders of a community noted for the excellency of its professional talent. He has been very successful as a gen- eral practitioner and has kept well abreast of the times in all matters per- taining to his profession, having ever been a profound student of medical science.
Doctor Welker has been twice married, first in 1870 to Louisa White, daughter of Anthony and Kizzian (Wade) White, a prominent family of Howard township, Mr. White having been a large landowner and an in- fluential citizen. His death occurred in 1868.
To Dr. and Mrs. Welker two children were born, Minnie, deceased, and Sarah E., who is at home. The wife and mother died in August, 1875. The Doctor's second marriage took place in May, 1878, to Frances E. Col- will, daughter of Simon and Ann (Heard) Colwill, who came from England in 1835 and settled near Gambier, Knox county, Ohio. To this second union one son was born, Vincent B., who lives in Gambier.
Doctor Welker is a member of the County Medical Society, the State Medical Society and the National Medical Association, and he has always taken much interest in these societies. Politically, he is a Democrat. He is a member of the Gambier board of education and is at this writing president of that body. He has served in the town council and as health 'officer for a number of years. He is the owner of a fine farm near Howard, which joins the old Indian field. Here is carried on, under his general supervision, gen- eral farming and stock raising. His place consists of one hundred and eighty acres, well improved and well kept. Besides this excellent farm he has a modern and attractive home in Gambier. The Doctor belongs to the Catho- lic church.
Doctor Welker started in life a poor boy and he entered his profession with nothing but courage and character of a high order, and with this de- termination to win he has succeeded not only in his profession, but he has acquired an ample competency for his declining years, at the same time winning the confidence and esteem of a very wide circle of friends and ac- quaintances.
WALTER B. JOHNSON.
There are individuals in nearly every community who, by reason of pro- nounced ability and force of character, rise above the heads of the masses and command the unbounded esteem of their fellow men. Characterized by
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perseverance and a directing spirit, two virtues that never fail, such men always make their presence felt and the vigor of their strong personalities serves as a stimulus and incentive to the young and rising generation. To this energetic and enterprising class Walter B. Johnson, the present popular and efficient postmaster at Fredericktown, Knox county, very properly be- longs. Having never been seized with the roaming desires that have led many of our young men to other fields of endeavor and other states, where they have sought their fortunes, Mr. Johnson has devoted his life to industries at home and has met with a fair measure of success all along the line, as we shall see by a study of his life history. By his advocacy of wholesome living, pur- ity in politics and honesty in business, he has long enjoyed the undivided re- spect and esteem of all who know him, being regarded as a worthy citizen and representative of a sterling old pioneer family.
Mr. Johnson was born on March 2, 1855, in Fredericktown. He is the son of James and Margaretta (Glime) Johnson, the father having been born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, on a farm near the birthplace of James G. Blaine. Mrs. Johnson was born in Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsyl- vania. The grandparents, on both sides of the house, came to Ohio in an early day, locating first in Guernsey county, and there the parents of the subject were married. The first years of their married life were spent at Wheeling, where Mr. Johnson was engaged in the mercantile business; later they moved to Claysville, Guernsey county, this state, and there Mr. Johnson continued the mercantile business until 1853, when he moved to Frederick- town, Knox county, and here the father of the subject continued merchan- dising until 1871, when he moved with his family to Waterloo, Indiana, and there opened a store, which he continued to conduct until 1881, in which year he moved back to Fredericktown, and here he lived retired until his death, on November 25, 1891. He had been very successful as a merchant and enjoyed a good trade in all the places that he conducted a store, always gaining the confidence of the people and doing business on an honest basis. The death of his wife occurred on April 25, 1891. They are buried in For- est cemetery at Fredericktown. The father was a life-long Republican and always took an active interest in public affairs. He and his wife were both members of the Presbyterian church, he being an elder in the same for many years and active in church and Sunday school work.
Walter B. Johnson was educated in the public schools of Fredericktown, and while in school assisted his father in his business as much as possible, and he clerked in his store during the time that the family lived in Waterloo, In- diana, and for a time he was on the road as a traveling salesman. When the
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family returned to Fredericktown, the subject and his brother, Jesse G., formed a partnership with Cyrus Hosack, under the firm name of Johnson Brothers & Company, and engaged in the dry goods business. This firm con- tinued from 1882 to 1888, when the firm dissolved and discontinued business, after six years of continuous success. Mr. Johnson then engaged in the general life insurance business, principally with the Equitable of New York, in which he continued until November 15, 1897, having built up a large patronage. In that year he was appointed postmaster at Fredericktown by President Mckinley, and he has continued to discharge the duties of this office to the present time with a fidelity to duty that has won the hearty com- mendation of the department and the people and in a manner that reflects much credit upon himself. At that time this was a fourth-class office, but about fourteen months later it was advanced to the third class. In this class there are ten grades of offices according to their receipts, and Fredericktown is now in the eighth grade of the fourth-class offices, coming very near the point of advancement to a second-class office. When Mr. Johnson was ap- pointed postmaster there were no rural route deliveries. Now there are seven from the Fredericktown office. The first route established in Knox county was secured through the efforts of Mr. Johnson. This route was operated out of Fredericktown and it was also the second route in the fourteenth Ohio congressional district. This route covers territory about sixteen miles in diameter and has brought a large amount of business to the Fredericktown office, the business here now requiring ten postal employes in connection with the handling of mail. There were only two when Mr. Johnson assumed charge of the local office.
When the subject's father came to Fredericktown he purchased property from the grandparents of Hon. Frank Hitchcock, now postmaster-general, and the grandparents of the latter are buried in Forest cemetery here.
Mr. Johnson has always been a Republican in politics and has long been active in party affairs. Prior to his appointment as postmaster, he was a member of the Republican county central committee and for some time he was a member of the Republican county executive committee, and a frequent dele- gate to county, district and state conventions. He served four years in the town council and was also justice of the peace for one term and he is now secretary of the Forest Cemetery Association and he has been a member of the cemetery board for over twenty years. In all positions of public trust he has performed his duties most faithfully and conscientiously, always to the satisfaction of the public.
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Mr. Johnson was married on August 24, 1899, to Julia C. Castner, daughter of Samuel J. and Mary A. (McFarland) Castner. The father was born in Philadelphia. Grandfather Jacob Castner at one time owned the land now comprising the campus of Bryn Mawr College. Samuel J. Castner came to Fredericktown in 1867 from Woodbury, Bedford county, Pennsyl- vania, and he was engaged in the harness business, but before coming to this state followed farming in connection with the harness business. He was a Republican in politics and served in the Pennsylvania Legislature and was justice of the peace for a period of thirty-seven years in Bedford county, Pennsylvania. He was of the Quaker faith and was a prominent man in his community. His death occurred in May, 1908, and his wife died in March, 1910. They are both buried in Forest cemetery, Fredericktown.
Mr. Johnson is a member of the Masonic order and he and his wife belong to the auxiliary Order of the Eastern Star. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is a member of the official board and has been for several years. He is active in church and Sunday school work. Mrs. Johnson is a member of the women's organizations of the church and active in the work of the same.
PATRICK A. BERRY. 1
Characterized by breadth of wisdom and strong individuality, the achievements of Patrick A. Berry, judge of the probate court of Knox county, but represent the utilization of innate talents in directing efforts along lines in which mature judgment, rare discrimination and a resourcefulness that hesi- tates at no opposing circumstances, pave the way and ultimately lead to worthy achievements. It is not the intention of the biographer in this connection to give a detailed history of his busy, influential and interesting life, but rather to note, incidentally, his connection with various phases of the development of this locality, his marked achievement at the bar and his laudable work as a jurist, and to show the marked influence he has wielded in advancing the general good of Mt. Vernon and vicinity.
Judge Berry was born on December 23, 1869, in Howard township, Knox county, Ohio, and he is the son of a sterling old pioneer family, John and Mary Ann (Critchfield) Berry. The father was born in St. Clairsville, Bel- mont county, and the mother in Knox county, Ohio. The elder Berry was a successful farmer. He was active in the affairs of his locality and filled
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various township offices, being loyal to the principles of the Democratic party. He was influential and highly respected by all who knew him, being a man of strong characteristics and uprightness. His death occurred in February, 1903, his widow surviving until in January, 1908.
The son, Patrick A. Berry, spent his youth on the farm, assisting with the general duties about the place and attended the rural schools, later entered Bethany College at Bethany, West Virginia, completing his course in 1890. He then entered the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he made a splendid record and from which he was graduated in 1892, when only twenty-three years of age. While in college he was a member of the collegiate fraternity, Beta Theta Pi, and the law fraternity, Phi Delta Phi. After his graduation he located at Atlanta, Georgia, for the practice of his profession and he remained in that city nearly five years, enjoying a very liberal practice from the first, but failing health compelled him to give up the same. While in Atlanta he was active in the affairs of the political party with which he affiliated, and he was associated with Hon. Hoke Smith and other notables of that section. Upon leaving Atlanta he returned to his father's home and assumed the management of the farm with a view of regaining his health. In this he was successful and again entered the arena of public life. In the fall of 1899 he was elected from Knox county as a member of the seventy-fourth Ohio General Assembly, in which he made such a commendable record that his constituents gladly re- elected him to the seventy-fifth General Assembly. During his service of two terms he served as a member of various important committees and made his influence felt for the good of Knox county and the state in general, performing every duty in a manner that reflected much credit upon himself and justifying the wisdom of his election. In 1900 he resumed the practice of law in Mt. Vernon, being associated with Judge Frank O. Lever- ing. In the fall of 1905 he was elected probate judge of Knox county and re-elected in 1908 by a majority of nineteen hundred and forty-two, the largest majority ever given a candidate on the county ticket for any office, which is certainly criterion enough of his popularity with the people of this locality, and he is now serving his scond term as probate judge in an emi- nently satisfactory manner. He has kept well abreast of the times in all matters pertaining to his profession and is in every way well qualified to dis- charge the duties of this important office, his decisions showing a clear and comprehensive understanding of all phases of jurisprudence and are always characterized by fairness and lack of bias. As an attorney he stands in the front rank of the Knox county bar, both as counsel and in the trial of cases,
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