USA > Ohio > Knox County > Past and present of Knox County, Ohio, Vol. II > Part 4
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JOHN S. ALAN.
The men most influential in promoting the advancement of society and in giving character to the times in which they live are two classes, the men who study and the men of action. Whether we are more indebted for the improvement of the age to the one class or the other is a question of honest difference of opinion; neither class can be spared and both should be en- couraged to occupy their several spheres of labor and influence, zealously and without mutual distrust. In the following paragraphs are briefly out- lined the leading facts and characteristics in the career of a gentleman who combines in his makeup the elements of the scholar and the energy of the public-spirited man of affairs. Devoted to the noble and humane work of teaching, he has made his influence felt in the school life of the city of Mt. Vernon and Knox county and he is not unknown to the wider educational circles of the state, occupying as he does a prominent place in his profession and standing high in the esteem of educators in other than his own par- ticular field of endeavor.
Mr. Alan is a descendant of sterling ancestors of the old Keystone state, of which he is a native, his birth having occurred in Greenville, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, October 28, 1872. He is the son of Walter T. and Laura (Sill) Alan, the father a Presbyterian minister of Greenville and
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The domestic life of Superintendent Alan began on June 15, 1900, when he was united in marriage with Edna L. Jackson, daughter of John and Sisson E. Jackson, a highly esteemed family of Greenville, Pennsyl- vania. This union has been without issue.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Alan belongs to the Masonic order, the chapter and commandery, being a past master of the Mt. Vernon lodge. Politically, he is a Republican and while he is always interested in the general progress of his community, supporting such measures as make for the gen- eral good, he is not a biased partisan or a seeker of political honors, prefer- ring to devote his exclusive attention to his chosen calling and keep abreast of the times in all phases of the same. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church and he has long been active in church affairs and Sun- day school work.
CHARLES C. IAMS.
Charles C. Iams was born October 23, 1860, at Tomah, Monroe county, Wisconsin, and he is the son of the late Rev. Francis M. and Mary M. Iams. On November II, 1875. the family located in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, where the subject has since made his home. In December, 1875, he was apprenticed to learn the printers' trade in the office of Park's Floral Magasine, and about fifteen months later he became the "devil" in the office of the Mt. Vernon Republican, a weekly paper then published by Wilkinson and Knabenshue. He learned the business thoroughly and passed through all the stages of "devil," pressman, job printer and foreman, and in 1887 became city editor of the Republican under the editorship of the late Col. Charles F. Baldwin, whom he succeeded as editor in the fall of 1894. In January, 1900, the Republican Publishing Company, publishers of the Mt. Vernon Daily Re- publican-News and the Knox County Semi-Weekly Republican-News re- organized as follows: Ben Ames, president ; Charles C. Iams, vice-president, editor and manager, and L. A. Culbertson, secretary and treasurer ; and this organization still continues. The news columns of the papers published by this company teem with the best and brightest chronicles of the world's hap- penings, and from a mechanical standpoint the Republican-News ranks with the best in the state, and it is rapidly growing in importance as an adver- tising medium.
Politically, Mr. Iams is a Republican and has ever been loyal in sup- porting and defending his party principles and he is prominent and influi-
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still active, being prominent in that denomination in his section of the state. The mother of the subject passed to her rest in the spring of 1904.
John S. Alan was reared in a wholesome Christian atmosphere and the ethics inculcated there have had much to do in shaping his subsequent ca- reer. He was educated in the public schools of Greenville, later entering Thiel College at that place, where he made an excellent record for scholar- ship and from which institution he was graduated in 1893, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in 1900 he received the degree of Master of Arts from the same institution. He has long entertained a laudable ambition to devote his life to teaching and, thus well equipped for his chosen vocation, he began teaching in the public schools of Greenville, where he continued for a period of four years, giving success from the first, his record auguring greater things in coming years. Then, for three years he was superintend- ent of the schools at Lowellville, Ohio. The next four years were spent as superintendent of public schools at Fredericktown, Knox county, and fol- lowing this, in 1905, he came to Mt. Vernon as principal of the high school and a year later he was promoted to the superintendency, which position he still holds in a manner that reflects much credit upon himself and to the eminent satisfaction of all concerned.
Professor Alan's years of service as a superintendent have been char- acterized by a series of advancements in educational methods which demon- strate his ability as a man of progressive ideas, besides winning for him an honorable place among the leading superintendents of the state. Pos- . sessing great force of character and executive ability of a high order, he has brought the schools under his care to a high standard of efficiency, in- sisting that only teachers of recognized scholarship and professional ex- perience be employed, and strengthening the courses of study. As an edu- cator he is widely known and his suggestions pertaining to matters educa- tional command respect in all the institutes, associations and conventions of superintendents which he attends, his well known success as a school man- ager and wide practical experience in general educational matters having long been of special value to his fellow associates, among whom he is held in the highest personal esteem. He is still a young man, in the very prime of vigorous physical and mental powers and in possessing genial manners, superior scholarship, which, with his years of close application from common school to high school principalship, and membership with some of the highest educational bodies of the land, it is eminently proper to bespeak for him a fu- ture of still greater efficiency and distinguished service in his chosen field of endeavor.
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ential in the councils of the party, both in county and state campaigns. He has never been an office seeker, but has aided in placing the best men in local offices. He is widely regarded as an able and worthy exponent of good gov- ernment and right living. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Masonic order, hav- ing passed the chairs in the subordinate lodges of these orders as well as in the chapter, council and commandery ; he is a Knight Templar, a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and of the Be- nevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Mr. Iams was married on November 25, 1880, to Katherine M. Hill, daughter of the late J. M. and Elizabeth Hill, and this union has resulted in the birth of one daughter, Edythe.
The Mt. Vernon Republican was established in 1840, and it was con- tinued as a weekly paper until 1885, when it became a semi-weekly, attain- ing a large circulation. Col. C. F. and W. F. Baldwin, proprietors, Col. Charles F. Baldwin being editor-in-chief. A few years later the paper was purchased by the Republican Publishing Company, and in September, 1897, the publication of a daily edition was begun. The following year the word Newes was added to the original name, the publication becoming the Mt. Vernon Daily and Semi-Weekly Republican News. These papers have a wide circulation and are recognized among readers and advertisers as be- ing up-to-date. The company also has a well equipped job office and this department does a large business. The office is modernly equipped in every respect, including a duplex newspaper press, rapid job presses, an abundance of modern type and other materials: the equipment also includes two lino- type machines. The company owns its own building, a substantial two- story brick with basement, and admirably arranged for modern newspaper work.
FRANK O. LEVERING.
The life of the scholarly or professional man seldom exhibits any of those striking incidents that seize upon public feeling and attract attention to him- self. His character is generally made up of the aggregate qualities and qual- ifications he may possess, as these may be elicited by the exercise of the duties of his vocation or the particular profession to which he belongs. But when such a man has so impressed his individuality upon his fellow men as to gain their confidence and through that confidence rises to high and important
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public trust, he at once becomes a conspicuous figure in the body politic of the community and state. Frank O. Levering, ex-probate judge, and one of the leading attorneys of this section of the Buckeye state, is one of the scholarly, public-spirited, progressive citizens of the locality of which this history deals, who, not content to hide his talents amid life's sequestered ways, has by the force of will and a laudable ambition forged to the front in a respon- sible and exacting calling, and earned an honorable reputation in one of the most important branches of public service.
Mr. Levering is a worthy representative of two of our sterling pioneer families and his life has been spent in Knox county, his birth having oc- curred in Middlebury township on September 29, 1862. He is the son of John Cook Levering and Carrie ( Richardson) Levering. When Ohio was a vast wilderness and the land still in possession of the government, and the abode of Indians and many species of wild beasts, the Levering family in- vaded its primeval solitudes and the name has been well known here ever since, figuring more or less conspicuously in the annals of the county of Knox, especially. The first progenitors of this family came to America in the latter years of the seventeenth century-Gerhard and Wigard Levering, who were sons of Rosier Levering, who was born in Holland of Anglo- Saxon parentage, his father and mother having been exiled from England on account of their religious belief. Rosier Levering married Elizabeth Van- dewall, of Westphalia, Germany, and their son Gerhard was born in Camen, Germany, in 1660. In 1685, accompanied by his brother, Wigard, he crossed the Atlantic to America. Gerhard Levering married, and among his chil- dren was Daniel, who was born on December 2, 1704, and on May 12, 1735, Daniel was married, in Christ church, Philadelphia, to Margaret Beane, and they lived on a farm of one hundred acres in Whiteplain township, Mont- gomery county, New Jersey. To them was born a son, Henry, on June 10, 1738, who was the great-great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. For many years Henry Levering lived at the Durham iron works in New Jersey, but in 1785 he removed to a farm in Bedford county, Pennsylvania. He married Ann Wynn, and to them was born Daniel Levering, the subject's great-grandfather, in New Jersey, on February 3, 1764. In 1785 he ac- companied his parents to Bedford county, Pennsylvania, where he married Mary Kerney. In 1811 he visited Knox county, Ohio, and purchased a large tract of land from the government, in Owl creek valley, where he later located with his family and there spent his remaining years, starting as pi- oneer in the forest. His death occurred in 1820, his widow surviving until October 24, 1846, dying at the advanced age of eighty-four years. They were devout Presbyterians and leading citizens in the community.
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Noah Levering, the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch. was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, on November 7, 1802, and in 1813 he came with his parents to Knox county, Ohio, and here he was mar- ried on March 25, 1828, to Armanella Cook, daughter of John and Ann Cook, who came to Ohio from Washington county, Pennsylvania, about 1805. Noah Levering was a farmer and his death occurred on March 4, 1881, his wife having preceded him to the grave on June 13, 1879.
John Cook Levering, father of the immediate subject of this review, was born on the old family homestead in Middlebury township. September II, 1829, being the eldest of a family of ten children. He assisted his father with the general work on the farm and when twenty-one years old he pur- chased a farm of eighty acres and began farming for himself. In the year 1860 he was united in marriage with Carrie Richardson, daughter of Daniel and Thankful ( Camp) Richardson, the father being a well known lumber merchant in New York for many years. Mr. Levering continued farming and adding to his holdings until he became one of the extensive landowners and substantial farmers of the county, actively interested in everything that made for the general progress of the community. He had an extensive repu- tation as a stockman, handling the best grades in the county, winning many first premiums, and he did as much if not more to improve the grade of do- mestic animals here in his day as any one. In 1866 he became a member of the Knox County Agricultural Society, of which he was a member for many years and for a number of years the president of the same. In 1881 he was elected a member of the Ohio state board of agriculture, and he assisted in . the purchase and improvement of the present beautiful state fair grounds at Columbus, Ohio. For six years he was a member of the board, and was its first treasurer in 1885 and its president in 1886. In 1883 he represented Ohio in the national convention. In 1887 Governor Foraker appointed him a member of the Ohio centennial board. In 1890 he read a paper at the re- quest of the secretary of the State Society of Agriculture before the Ohio agricultural convention on " Farmers' Horses and Horse Breeding." This led to the formation of the Ohio State Draft and Coach Horse Association in 1891, of which Mr. Levering was the president for three years. In 1871 he was elected commissioner of Knox county and re-elected in 1874, and many of the substantial improvements of the county were made during these years He was a life-long Democrat in politics, and in 1886 his party nomi- nated him for Congress in the nineteenth Ohio district. He was always painstaking and conscientious in the performance of all public duties and he became known throughout the state, especially as an agriculturist and stock
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man, and his influence was very potent and far-reaching in promoting mod- ern phases in both. He was a man of keen business discernment, sound judgment and wise foresight, public-spirited and always ready with time and means to further any laudable undertaking for the general good of his lo- cality. Early in life he became a member of the Presbyterian church and was a devout church member. He was a good and useful man and enjoyed the confidence, admiration and universal esteem of all who knew him. His death occurred September 13, 1903, and his widow is still living.
Frank O. Levering spent his youth on the farm and obtained his early education in the district schools, which he attended in the winter time, as- sisting with the general farm work during crop seasons. He later attended and graduated with honors from Eastman's Commercial College at Pough- keepsie, New York. In 1885 he entered the mercantile business at the vil- lage of Levering, Knox county, but not finding this line of endeavor entirely to his liking he abandoned the same in 1890 and took up the study of law in Mt. Vernon in the office of Hon Frank V. Owen and was admitted to the bar in 1892. He immediately began practicing in Mt. Vernon and he has built up a large and growing clientage, taking a place in the front rank of the legal profession in a locality long noted for the high order of its legal talent. He has kept fully abreast of the times in every- thing pertaining to his profession, winning a reputation for persistency, cau- tion and a safe and prudent advocate, with few equals and no superiors. In 1883 he was appointed a member of the county board of elections and he performed his duties so faithfully that he was twice re-appointed. In 1896 he was elected probate judge of Knox county, which office he filled to the entire satisfaction of all concerned, irrespective of party alignment and giv- ing evidence of attributes of a superior order and a fidelity to right that knew no bias. Retiring from office, he resumed the practice of the law, which he has continued with his usual success.
In connection with his professional duties, Judge Levering has been actively associated with the gas and oil development of this section of the state, and through his efforts much of the success of the field is attributable, and he has met with much success in a business way.
Politically, the Judge is an uncompromising Democrat, as was his hon- ored father before him, and he has been active and prominent in party coun- cils. He was a delegate to the Democratic national convention of 1900, and his work in committees has been effectual and has resulted in much good to the party. He has been a very influential delegate to county, district and state conventions. Fraternally, he belongs to the Masonic order, the chapter,
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council and commandery, and is a past officer in all of the bodies; he is also a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and has filled the presiding offices in these lodges, being prom- inent in fraternal circles of the county.
Mr. Levering was married in 1886 to Byrdess E. Leiter, daughter of Capt. C. P. Leiter, a prominent citizen of Shelby, Ohio, of which city he was mayor for a number of years and otherwise an influential citizen there. To Mr. and Mrs. Levering have been born six children, namely: Howard A., Russell Edgar, John Collin, Nina May, Carlos and Ada.
GEORGE D. ARNDT, M. D.
Good intellectual training, thorough professional knowledge and the possession and utilization of the qualities and attributes essential to suc- cess, have made Dr. George D. Arndt, of Mt. Vernon, eminent in his chosen calling, and he stands today among the enterprising and popular physicians in a community noted for the high order of its medical talent, having, by his own persistent and praiseworthy efforts, won for himself a name whose luster the future years shall only augment, for at the same time he has won the confidence and esteem of the people of Knox county as a result of his exemplary life and obliging, genial nature.
Doctor Arndt was born in Amherst, Ohio, March 5, 1865, and is the son of John L. and Catherine (Graw) Arndt. The father was born in Germany, and there grew to manhood and was educated. He was one of the revolutionists of his country in 1849 and was imprisoned until 1853, in which year he was banished from the country, having been one of the early organizers of the revolution. He came direct to America and lo- cated in Hartford, Connecticut. He was educated as a minister in the German State church, but he had abandoned this for the study of medicine, and upon coming to America became qualified to practice and he opened an office in Hartford, later going to New York City and while engaged in prac- tice there he was married to Catherine Graw, of Newark, New Jersey. In 1858 he came to Cleveland, Ohio, where he became connected with the Cleveland Homeopathic College. In 1863 he moved to Amherst, Ohio, and here he was commissioned to recruit a company for service in the Civil war, and at a meeting for securing recruits he had occasion to make some
GEORGE D. ARNDT, M. D.
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caustic remarks regarding the attitude of some anti-war Democrats and for his utterances he was attacked by some of the men present and was left for dead, but he finally recovered and lived two years afterwards, but eventually died from the injuries received upon that occasion. His widow then entered the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College, from which she was gradu- ated in the year 1869, in the class with her oldest son, Hugo R., who is now field secretary of the American Institute of Homeopathy and an author of text books on homeopathy. The mother then practiced at Amherst, with much success until her death, in August, 1887, her death having been due to a sun-stroke, sustained on the streets of Cleveland.
Five children were born to John L. Arndt and wife, three of whom are living : Henry F., in addition to those mentioned above, is a successful business man, active in the development of the famous Amherst quarries, and is also prominent in public affairs; he is now one of the county com- missioners of Lorain county. These children were reared and educated by the mother, who was a woman of unusual tact, intelligence and praiseworthy qualities. She was highly skilled in her chosen profession and enjoyed a large patronage and the friendship of a wide acquaintance.
George D. Arndt was educated in the public schools of Amherst until he was thirteen years of age, when he went to work on a farm and at the age of nineteen he returned to the public schools in Amherst where he completed the high school course in four months: He had previously learned the car- penters' trade. Upon leaving the home schools he was an attendant at the Kalamazoo State Asylum for the Insane, preparatory to taking up the study of medicine, for which he had a natural bent, in view of the fact that both his parents had been medical people. In October, 1885, the subject entered Michigan University at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in which institution his brother, Dr. Hugo Arndt, was a professor of materia medica. George D. was graduated from this department in June, 1888, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, having made an excellent record there for scholarship. He then went to St. Joseph's Retreat, at Dearborn, Michigan, as physician and here he was meeting with encouraging success when he was injured by an inmate. While he was recovering he was induced to locate at Berlin Heights, Erie county, Ohio, and there he was engaged in practice for a year and a half, and while there he was married, on March 5, 1890, to Ada M. Pearl, daughter of Capt. A. H. and Thursa M. (Hyde) Pearl, a well known family of that place The union of the Doctor and wife was graced by the birth of three daughters, namely: Louise E., Loma P. and Mary C., all living at home at this writing.
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In 1889 Dr. Arndt moved to Granville, Licking county, Ohio, where he continued practicing with his usual success for one and one-half years. He then moved to San Diego, California, where he spent three years. Return- ing to Ohio in 1894, he located in Mt. Vernon and has practiced here ever since, having built up a large and ever-growing practice with the city and county and taking first rank among the leading medical men of this section of the Buckeye state. He maintains a well-equipped office at No. 7 South Gay street. He has been very successful as a general practitioner and, ever a profound student of medical science, he has kept well abreast of the times in all that pertains to his chosen calling. He belongs to the Knox County Medical Society, the Ohio State Medical Society; Homeopathic State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association; American Institute of Homeopathy, the American Roentgenological Society, the American Electro-Therapeutic Society, before all of which he has read papers which have always been well received and carried weight; he also belongs to the Southeastern Ohio Medical Society, and he has been a research student, al- ways upon special subjects.
Politically, the Doctor is independent. He is a member of the city board of education, and he and his family are members of the Congregational church.
While Doctor Arndt does a general practice, he has made a specialty of the eye, ear, nose and throat and he has won a wide reputation in this line, having few peers among his colleagues in this locality. The family is prominent in medical, literary and social circles of Mt. Vernon and their friends are limited only by the bounds of their acquaintance.
SHERIDAN G. DOWDS.
In the constant and laborious struggle for an honorable competence and a creditable name on the part of business or professional men, there is little to attract the reader in search of a sensational chapter, but to a mind thor- oughly awake to the true meaning of life and its responsibilities there are noble and imperishable lessons in the career of an individual who, with little other means than a sound mind, fertile perceptive faculty, a true heart and willing hands, conquers adversity and not only wins a prominent position in the industrial world, but what is equally as great, the deserved esteem and confidence of his fellow men. Such a man is Sheridan G. Dowds, for many
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