USA > Ohio > Knox County > Past and present of Knox County, Ohio, Vol. II > Part 34
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Benton C. Horn, mentioned above, was born on September 27, 1882. in Butler township, Knox county. He is the son of Eli F. and Augusta ( Mc- Larnan) Horn, the father a farmer now of North Dakota. Benton C. Horn was educated in the country district schools and he has been teaching for three years. A large part of his life has been devoted to farming and he enjoyed a wide reputation as a successful teacher, receiving the highest salary ever paid in Liberty township. During the summers he attended Wooster Uni- versity and taught in Liberty township. Knox county, in the winters, for three years. He was married on December 28, 1909. Politically, he is a Republican. He belongs to the Knights of the Golden Eagle. He is a mem- ber of the Methodist Protestant church and is superintendent of the local Sunday school of this denomination.
Mr. Horn held an agricultural exhibition and corn show in his school the past winter for the purpose of promoting an interest in agriculture. He awarded prizes for the best ten ears of seed corn selected by any pupil. He secured the services of the vice-president of the Ohio Corn Improvement Association to make an address and to act as judge of the corn exhibit. This was the first affair of the kind ever given by any school in the county. and probably in the state. That Mr. Horn is interested in his work can be assumed when it is learned that he personally paid all the expenses of the exhibit. Mr. Horn devotes much of his spare time to the reading of agri- cultural and educational literature.
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JOHN B. LLOYD.
Men who love the esthetic and have eyes for the beautiful, even along the most commonplace stretches of the path of life, are not numerous; most men pass by, unnoted, flowers, sunset shadows and moonlight effects; they may walk through the primeval woods and never hear a bird sing or take note of any of the caprices of the creatures of the wild-these have been trans- planted by the practical things of life in the souls of most men. But now and then one is to be found who devotes his life to the gratification of this attribute rather than plunge into the maddening scramble for the material things of a prosaic world. John B. Lloyd, a noted photographer of Mt. Vernon, is one of the most conspicuous figures of the former class of men in Knox county, for he has made art his hobby and loves the beautiful and ideal.
Mr. Lloyd was born on December 24, 1869, near Dayton, Montgomery county, Ohio. He was left parentless when about six months old and he became a ward of the Warren County Children's Home. When eight years of age he was taken into the family of a farmer of that locality where he worked for his board and clothes until he was sixteen years old. He had the privilege of attending school during that time, in the winter months, which constituted his only opportunity for acquiring an education. At the age of sixteen he engaged with a Warren county farmer for general farm work. with whom he remained two years, during which time he had the privilege of doing extra outside work, so he took a contract to clear fifty acres of tim- bered land, and, being a "husky" lad, he worked early and late and did the work in a short time. He saved his money and when he was eighteen years old he had accumulated the sum of eight hundred dollars. He had long had an ambition to become a photographer and so he arranged to enter the studio of L. E. Kratzer of Lebanon, Ohio, and he remained with him about a year and a half. when he embarked in business for himself at Ripley, Brown county. Ohio, but remained there a little less than a year when he sold his studio and went to Madisonville, Ohio, near Cincinnati, where he was em- ployed in the studio of Young & Carl about three years, then followed a series of engagements at Lexington, Kentucky; Toledo and Loraine, Ohio; fol- lowing which he became connected with the photographic department of the National Cash Register Company at Dayton, Ohio, and he remained in this responsible position until early in 1909, when he came to Mt. Vernon, and he opened a neat, attractive and well-equipped studio at the corner of Main and Vine streets, which is equipped with every modern accessory known in the photographic art. The excellent character and rare individuality of
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Mr. Lloyd's work very soon began to attract attention and he has now acquired a large and rapidly growing business, his patrons coming from all parts of the county and surrounding towns. He has kept well to the fore in his line of endeavor, which art has undergone rapid and almost radical changes during the past decade.
Mr. Lloyd was married on January 1, 1901, to Mary Catherine Emer- ick, daughter of Jonathan and Rebecca (Gowger) Emerick, a prosperous farmer of near Germantown, Ohio. This union has been without issue.
Mr. Lloyd is deserving of a great deal of credit for what he has accomplished considering his early environment, and he is essentially a self- made man, a fine type of that sterling class of American citizens who make stepping-stones of adversities and refuse to be downed by untoward cir- cumstances. He stands high in his profession and as a citizen, and his wife is a refined and cultured lady and an able assistant to Mr. Lloyd in his work.
HENRY CURTIS DEVIN.
An enumeration of the representative citizens of Knox county who have won recognition and success for themselves and at the same time have con- ferred honor upon the community would be incomplete were there failure to make mention of Henry Curtis Devin, who has long held worthy pres- tige in legal and political circles in this section of Ohio, and has always been distinctively a man of affairs, wielding a wide and potent influence among those with whom his lot has been cast, being one of those strong, self-reliant, progressive characters which are occasionally met with and who are of such a distinct type as to seem to be born leaders of their fellow men. Not that Mr. Devin courts that distinction, for he is entirely unassuming, but his great individuality and zeal in whatever he undertakes naturally place him at the head of the crowd and he has been a strong factor in shaping the destinies of the city of Mt. Vernon and vicinity, where he has spent his life. Selecting the law as his sphere, early in life, Mr. Devin has devoted him- self principally to his profession, making himself what he is today, a thorough master of legal science in all its ramifications. The common law. the statutes of Ohio, the history, progress and growth of jurisprudence, as well as the higher and more abstruse principles of equity, are all completely at his com- mand, constituting him a leader at the bar, which position is readily conceded him by his associates.
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Mr. Devin was born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, on March 27, 1868, and is the son of Joseph C. and Ellen (Curtis) Devin. The mother was a native of Mt. Vernon and came of one of the distinguished families of the early days of the community, being the daughter of Henry B. and Elizabeth ( Hogg) Curtis. Henry B. Curtis was of New England stock and came to Mt. Vernon in 1817 and soon engaged in the practice of law, becoming the leading citizen of the community, and prominent in the early professional and financial affairs of the state. Joseph Chambers Devin, father of Henry C., of this sketch, came to Mt. Vernon in 1849 from his boyhood home in Seville, Medina county, this state, and became a law student in the office of Columbus Delano, who later became a national figure. Joseph C. Devin, upon being admitted to the bar, be- gan and always continued practice here. He formed a partnership with Samuel Israel and the law firm of Israel & Devin existed for many years. Later he formed a partnership with Henry L. Curtis, a brother-in-law.
Joseph C. Devin was not only a prominent lawyer, but was also a leader in Republican politics of the county and state. He was at one time in the Legislature as state senator from the Mt. Vernon district, being the only Republican who has ever been so honored in this district, and he was chair- man of the Republican county committee for a number of years and he was very active and influential in campaign work, both locally and in state affairs for many years. His counsel was often sought and was of weight. His death occurred in 1905 and that of his wife in 1907.
Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph C. Devin, Henry C., of this review, and Elizabeth, who married William H. Pratt, of Kenilworth, Illinois. Both parents were members of the Episcopal church and were de- vout church people and numbered their friends only by the limits of their acquaintance.
Henry C. Devin, of this review, was reared in Mt. Vernon and here attended the public schools, later Kenyon College, at Gambier, Ohio, from which institution he was graduated in 1888, being the third honor man in his class, with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. Following this with a post- graduate course, he received the degree of Master of Arts from that college in 1893. He is a member of the Alpha Delta Phi college fraternity, and also a member of the honorary fraternity of Phi Beta Kappa.
After his graduation Mr. Devin spent some time in travel, then took up the study of law in his father's office in Mt. Vernon and he was admitted to the bar in 1893 and he immediately began the practice of his profession, form- ing a partnership, in 1894, with Harry D. Critchfield, as Critchfield & Devin, which continued until 1898. Mr. Devin then practiced alone until 1901, when (48)
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he formed a partnership with Dwight E. Sapp, as Sapp & Devin, which con- tinued until Mr. Sapp's death, in July, 1910, since which time the subject has practiced alone. He was very successful from the first and has long enjoyed a large clientele. As a practitioner he is cautious, vigilant and indefatigable, contesting every point with unyielding tenacity and employing his vast store of legal knowledge in sustaining his positions and attacking those of his ad- versary. In argument he is clear, forcible, logical and convincing, his irre- proachable personal character and untarnished honor giving him great weight with juries, and his known ability and learning equally impressing the bench. He practices in the district, state and federal courts.
Mr. Devin was married on July 10, 1895, to Fanny E. Marsh, daughter of Major Fletcher E. and Mary ( Eaton) Marsh. The mother died when the daughter was quite young. Major Marsh was a resident of Indianapolis and was formerly a major in the regular army. He is now living in Cincinnati.
Two children have graced the union of the subject and wife, Fletcher M., born August 16, 1896, and Elizabeth Curtis, born January 29, 1900.
Politically. Mr. Devin is a Republican and he has always been active in party matters, but never an office seeker, and he has never held office. He has served on the Republican county central committee and has been promi- nent in the councils of the party. In fraternal matters he belongs to the Ma- sonic order. the chapter, council and commandery, having filled all the chairs and has also filled the posts of presiding officer of each of the different bodies. He is a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He and his wife are members of the Episcopal church and Mr. Devin be- longs to the church vestry.
Mr. Devin is interested in the banking business, being vice-president and a director in the New Knox National Bank, of Mt. Vernon, which was founded by his grandfather, Henry B. Curtis, and he wields no small amount of influence in local financial circles. He is also a large holder of town and county real estate, and has extensive interests in the gas and oil develop- ment of this section of Ohio, and is now a director of the Homer National Gas Company, a producing company. He is a man of large affairs and has been very successful in a business way. He was one of the organizers of the Mt. Vernon Telephone Company and is now a director and secretary of the company, much of its success having been due to his efforts and judicious management. He is also a director of the Utica and Homer Telephone Com- pany, also a director in the Sunbury and Galena Telephone Company and a director in the Mt. Vernon Gas Light Company and he is connected with various other companies of different character. He is vice-president of the
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trustees of the Mt. Vernon Public Library, having held this position since 1897. The family home, a commodious and beautifully furnished dwelling of the colonial type, is located at No. 101 North Main street, being the old Curtis homestead where the subject's grandfather, Henry B. Curtis, spent the greater part of his life. This, one of the most attractive of the many splendid homes of Mt. Vernon, has long been noted for its hospitality and atmosphere of refinement, and is presided over with rare grace and dignity by Mrs. Devin, a lady of culture and refinement, and their home is the mecca of local social life.
Mr. Devin has always taken a great interest in the advancement and prosperity of Knox county and endorses every movement which he believes will be a benefit to humanity. He is a sociable gentleman and is held in the highest esteem by all who know him. His achievements represent the result of honest endeavor along lines where mature judgment has opened the way. He possesses a weight of character, a native sagacity, a discriminating tact and a fidelity of purpose that command the respect and approval of all with whom he is associated. He takes first rank among the prominent men of this locality and is a leader in professional, financial and business, civic and social affairs ; cosmopolitan in his tastes, broad-minded, progressive in all that the term implies and a fine example of that virile American manhood which com- mands respect and admiration in every epoch and clime.
WILLIAM C. ROCKWELL.
- One of the best known and most successful of the younger generation of lawyers of Knox county is William C. Rockwell, of Mt. Vernon. Mr. Rockwell was born on November 9, 1873, in Miller township, Knox county, Ohio. He is the son of William and Catherine J. (Mack) Rockwell, the father a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, and the mother of Geauga county, Ohio. The father was a mere lad when his parents brought him to the Buckeye state, probably eleven years old. Here he grew to man- hood, received his education in the old-fashioned schools, and here he was married, devoted his active life to farming and is still living at the age of seventy-three years, in Mt. Vernon; the mother of the subject also survives.
William C. Rockwell spent his youth until he was fourteen years of age in Miller township, this county, the family then moving to Mt. Vernon where they have since resided. He was educated in the district schools of Miller
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township and the Mt. Vernon public schools, though his education was largely obtained outside the schools by personal application. Upon reaching young manhood he engaged in farm work by the month and when about seventeen years old he entered the employ of John Cooper & Company, learning the pattern-maker's trade; the factory finally burned down and with it his tools. and this seemingly untoward incident changed his course of life. He next engaged as a clerk in a grocery store, and began preparing himself for school teaching. He took up his work in the district schools of Knox county in 1898 and taught successfully for three years. While thus engaged he be- gan the study of law with Sapp & Devin, a well known firm of Mt. Vernon, and later he read with Hon. L. B. Houck and was admitted to the bar in 1903. having made rapid progress. In 1907 he added real estate to his business and this has grown to large proportions, in fact, of late, he has given most of his attention to it. He specializes in farm lands and has been a very ex- tensive dealer, his operations being confined largely to Knox county farm lands, of which he is an expert judge. He also handles city property. He has a peculiar ability in bringing together the men who want to buy farms and those who have them for sale.
Mr. Rockwell has a record and a real estate business of which he may well feel proud, his sales running up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. He is a diligent student of up-to-date methods, a hard worker, a good salesman and a strong and heavy advertiser, sparing neither time, brain nor money in his efforts to further his clients' interests and the establishing of his real estate business, which accounts for his success.
Mr. Rockwell was married on July 8. 1903, to Ollie G. Sprindler, daugh- ter of Silas A. and Isabella (Watson) Sprindler, a highly respected Knox county family. The father is deceased and the mother lives in Mt. Vernon. Mr. and Mrs. Rockwell have two children, a son and a daughter, Ona Marie and Ivan S.
Politically, Mr. Rockwell is a Republican and he has always been in- terested in public matters and kept thoroughly informed, though he has never held office. He is progressive in local, state and national affairs, and he believes it the duty of every good citizen to keep well advised on current questions, political and otherwise, and exercise the duties of citizenship ju- diciously and conscientiously. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church of Mt. Vernon and are active in church and Sunday school work. The family home is at No. 210 Oak street, Mt. Vernon. Mrs. Rockwell de- votes her time to her family and she is popular with a wide circle of friends, as is Mr. Rockwell, both being highly regarded throughout the community.
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IRVING C. MILLER.
Without searching in musty tomes or the less satisfactory authority of tradition for lineage, it suffices to state in writing this brief sketch of a master of his craft that his progenitors were in the broadest sense high, their in- fluence salutary and whose characters and sterling worth have been repro- duced on their descendants. The present age is essentially commercial and the man of esthetic nature is the exception ; sordid dollar-getting seems to be paramount with most men; they could get along just as well without ever beholding a beautiful painting, smelling a breath of flower-scented air or read- ing a poem. Such men as Irving C. Miller, well known and popular photog- rapher of Mt. Vernon, who loves art for art's sake and who has the rare gift to see beauties in nature which the average man would pass by unheeded, are all too few. The world would be brighter, happier, better with more such characters, for it has been said that he who has an eye for beautiful things is never a bad man, he has no time to waste on the paltry things of earth, his thought is too exalted, his ideals too high.
Mr. Miller was born on November 30, 1869, in Dayton, Ohio. He is the son of David and Susan (Garber) Miller, both natives of Ohio, where they were reared, educated and married. The father was a carpenter and contractor, spending most of his life in Dayton, where he was regarded as a very skilled workman and successful contractor, erecting many of the city's substantial and attractive buildings. His death occurred about thirty-five years ago, his widow surviving until 1901.
Irving C. Miller spent his childhood and youth in Dayton and attended the Dayton public schools, later entering the Ohio State Normal at Ada, tak- ing the art and literary course. He then took up the study of photography in the Bunker studio in Dayton. He then went to Wichita, Kansas, where he worked two years, and for a time in Kansas City. Returning to Ohio, he located in various towns, later working in a studio in New Castle, Pennsyl- vania, and remained there several years. In 1899 he came to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and on September 15th of that year opened a studio for himself and here he has since remained. He gave his employers eminent satisfaction and, being a close observer and always a student, became exceptionally well equipped for his chosen life work, so that he met with success from the first when he established himself in this city and he now enjoys a very wide pat- ronage throughout the county. He has a neat, well arranged and modernly equipped studio for all kinds of photographic work, which is of the highest grade possible, all modern methods being employed that are meeting the ap- proval of the best photographers in the country.
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Mr. Miller was married on November 23, 1898, to Nellie Sabelia Flocken, daughter of Michael and Elizabeth (Rupensburger) Flocken, a highly esteemed family of Bucyrus, Ohio. These parents were born in Ger- many, from which country they emigrated to America when young in years and were married here. The union of the subject and wife has been without issue.
Mr. Miller's favorite form of recreation is automobiling, which both he and his wife greatly enjoy. They are pleasant people to meet and since com- ing to Mt. Vernon have won a host of friends.
REV. LAWRENCE WILLIAM MULHANE.
Enjoying marked prestige among the clergy of southeastern Ohio, Rev. Lawrence William Mulhane, the able and popular pastor of St. Vincent de Paul's Catholic church, of Mt. Vernon, Knox county, stands out a clear and distinct figure among the useful men of this locality. Characterized by breadth of wisdom and strong individuality, his achievements but represent the utilization of innate talent and fidelity to duty, fearlessly advocating the truth and right, having accomplished much toward ameliorating the condition of his fellow men, often laboring with disregard for his own welfare if there- by he might attain the object sought-to make someone better, happier. Such a life is eminently deserving of emulation, being singularly free from all that is deteriorating or paltry, for his influence has been at all times uplifting and thousands of people have been made better for having known him.
Rev. Mr. Mulhane was born on February 21, 1856, in Massachusetts. He is the son of Dennis and Mary Mulhane. When he was but a boy his parents moved to Ohio, locating at Marietta, where the family home has since been maintained. The subject attended the common schools until he was twelve years of age, then entered the Marietta Academy, where he pre- pared for Marietta College. which he entered at the age of fourteen, being the youngest student ever entering the freshman class of that historic in- stitution. In 1871, and again in 1872, he was honored by being one of the college public declaimers and when fifteen years old he received the second college prize for oratory. In September, 1872, he began preparation for the Catholic ministry. On invitation of Bishop Rosecrans, he entered St. Aloy- sius Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, then presided over by Father Gallagher. later bishop of Galveston, and here he remained four years, taking one year
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in philosophy and three in theology. In 1876 he became a member of Bishop Rosecrans' household, and here began by private study to prepare to enter the famous college, Propaganda de Fide, in Rome, Italy. The death of Bishop Rosecrans changed his plans and, not being of proper age to enter the priesthood, he remained at the episcopal house, in the meantime writing for the Catholic Columbian until November 7, 1879, when he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood by the late Archbishop Purcell and was immediately assigned to duty as assistant rector of St. Joseph's cathedral on Broad street, Columbus, Ohio. The following year, 1880, when the late Bishop Watter- son was appointed bishop of Columbus, Father Mulhane was chosen by him as secretary and chancellor of the diocese, a position of great importance and responsibility. He held this office five years, and on October 1, 1885, he was appointed to take charge of St. Vincent de Paul's parish at Mt. Vernon, Ohio. He found the finances of the parish in bad condition and at once began to talk of paying off the accumulated debt. This he accomplished by the generous aid of the parishioners in exactly seven years. On the Ist of October, 1892, the old debt, amounting to nearly twenty thousand dollars, was wiped out. During this time improvements to the church costing nearly three thousand dollars were also made, and he had carried on the church work untiringly along many lines so that it became one of the strongest churches in the state, the congregation growing in numbers and the general work strengthened.
The town of Mt. Vernon was founded in 1805 and four years later the first Catholic settled here. The first mass ever said in Mt. Vernon was cele- brated by Bishop Purcell, May 23, 1834, at the home of David Morton, a zealous adherent of the faith. The Bishop's next visit was in 1836 and mass was celebrated in what was known as the Banning church. Judge Anthony Banning, who was a Protestant minister, erected a small church on his land ; he was an extremely liberal man and while he held tenaciously to his religious views, he accorded to others the same right and when churches and even the court house was closed to Bishop Purcell, Judge Banning offered his church and Catholic services were held there and there the first Catholic sermon was preached. For many years after this mass was said in the home of David Morgan by the priest who occasionally visited the growing flock. The number of Catholic families increased steadily and priests who visited Danville in the eastern part of Knox county also came to Mt. Vernon until Father Lamy was appointed pastor of St. Luke's in Danville in the fall of 1839, with charge of Mt. Vernon, and was urged by the bishop to begin a church here as soon as possible. In July, 1842, the church at Mt. Vernon
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