USA > Ohio > Knox County > Past and present of Knox County, Ohio, Vol. II > Part 50
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dollars. He set to work with all his might to pay this sum, immediately mov- ing to the place and there he met with continued success. Adding to his original holdings from time to time, he finally became the owner of six hundred and thirteen acres. He farmied on a large scale and was also an extensive stock (lealer, buyer and shipper, and he became one of the substantial and well- known men of his township, influential in the affairs of the same. His death occurred in 1906. His widow still survives. To these parents nine children were born, one of whom died in infancy. Those who survived were named as follows: Robert, of this review ; Samuel J. is deceased ; Caroline married J. D. Crill, of Brinkhaven; Lovey, deceased, was the wife of William F. Sapp, of Brinkhaven : Edward F. lives on the old home farm; Cora A. mar- ried George Smith, of Dillonvale, Ohio; William lives at Brinkhaven; Avis has remained single.
The father of these children was a Democrat, but he never sought public office, though he took considerable interest in public matters. He was a member of the Evangelical Reformed Lutheran church. He was highly re- garded by all who knew him, a man of exemplary habits and generous im- pulses.
Robert Neiderhauser, of this review, was reared on the home farm and when old enough he was put to work in the fields, attending the country district schools in the winter time, and he remained at home until he was married, in October, 1888, to Edith McMillin, daughter of Ephraim and Elizabeth (Cline) McMillin, of Union township. To the subject and wife one child has been born, Elizabeth, who lives at home.
Mr. Neiderhauser has always lived on a part of the home place which he has kept well improved and well cultivated and has made a success as a general farmer and stock raiser, having one hundred and twenty acres of good land which he has been at work on since his marriage It lies in the rich valley of the Mohican river. While he raises stock of all grades, only the best find a place on his farm, and in view of this fact they are eagerly sought after by the purchaser.
Politically, the subject is a Democrat and he has always been active in political matters. He has served as a member of the township board of edu- cation for a period of fourteen years, during which time he has been of great aid in advancing the schools of this district. For several years he was presi- dent of the board, and he has always been a friend of education. In 1903 he was nominated by the party for county commissioner, but he was de- feated with the rest of the ticket in the Republican landslide of that year. He has served on local committees and as a frequent delegate to party con-
KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
ventions, in all of which he has made his influence felt for the good of the community and the party. In religious matters he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church at Brinkhaven. He is a public-spirited man and is highly regarded by all who know him.
AVERY WHEATON.
In this country of ours it is necessary that some people should follow the occupation of farming, some store-keeping, some lumbering, milling, medicine, etc. All are necessary to each other and form parts and parcels of the great body of society. There was a time when each family was almost wholly self-sustaining, when the mother made the garments and the father produced the food, grinding his own corn and hewing out the timbers for his home, but this old order of things has been done away with by advanced methods more in accord with our progress and institutions. The farmer can not get along without the merchant in his town, under the new order of things, and each has to have the products of the mills. The store-keeper can not get along without the farmer, the miller and the lumberman to buy his goods. We are all mutually dependent and each is required to fill his po- sition. One of the best known farmers, saw-mill and lumbermen in Knox county is Avery Wheaton, of Danville, a man who believes in performing his part well in this complex civilization of ours, creating as little inharmony as possible, "live and let live" being one of the aphorisms which he advo- cates.
Mr. Wheaton was born on November 14, 1851, in Millersburg, Holmes county, Ohio, the son of Charles M. and Rosanna (Uhl) Wheaton, both natives of Ohio, where they grew up, were educated and married and here, after getting a good foothold in the business world, the father was called to his reward, young in years, dying at the age of thirty-five. The mother of the subject, a woman of strong personality, still lives, now being advanced in old age. The father was a carpenter by profession and said to have been a very skilled workman. The Wheatons are of English origin, while the Uhls are of German extraction.
Avery Wheaton, of this sketch, was reared on the farm of his grand- father, William Uhl, and when but a small boy was put to work in the fields during the crop season, attending the district schools in Holmes county in the winter time. When eighteen years of age he came to Knox county and
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found employment as a farm hand with Jacob Ross, a prominent and pros- perous citizen, and Mr. Wheaton remained in his employ, farming and handling stock for a period of five and one-half years, before his marriage, which occurred on December 14, 1872, to Laura Miller, daughter of Vincent and Margaret (Stillinger) Miller, an influential and highly respected pioneer family of Union township.
Two daughters and three sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wheaton, the daughters being deceased ; the sons are George W., Jacob and Ira, all liv- ing in Union township, this county, all married and prosperous farmers and highly respected citizens.
For several years after the subject's marriage he continued to reside with Mr. Ross and also engaged in the saw-mill and timber business, hav- ing continued in the portable saw-mill business ever since, and he is one of the most extensive timber operators in Knox county, and is still engaged in this line of business. He has been very successful in this line of endeavor, also farming, and he has acquired a fine farm of two hundred acres three miles southeast of Danville, which he has kept well improved and well culti- vated, which has been managed by his sons as they grew to manhood. Here stock raising has been carried on with general farming.
Politically. Mr. Wheaton is a Democrat and he has long taken an active part in the affairs of his party and in public matters in general, but he has never been an office seeker. He and his family are members of the Dunkard church.
JOHN A. REED. M. D.
Among the young professional men of sterling attributes of character who have impressed their personality upon the community of their residence and have shown themselves to be worthy of the trust and confidence that has been reposed in them, mention must not be omitted of Dr. John A. Reed, of Jelloway. Brown township, Knox county. He would win his way in any locality where fate might place him, for he has sound judgment, coupled with great energy and profound education along his chosen line of endeavor, to- gether with professional tact and upright principles, all of which make for success wherever and whenever they are rightly and persistently applied. He is fast winning success and friends by the exercise of these principles.
Doctor Reed was born on July 3, 1880, in Holmes county, near Brink- haven, Ohio. He is the son of John and Sarah (Orbison) Reed, the father
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born in Pennsylvania and the mother in Virginia. They came to Ohio as young people and here established their home. The father served during the Civil war as a member of Company C, Fifty-second Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and both of the Doctor's grandfathers were also in the Civil war: the paternal grandfather, William Reed, was in a Pennsylvania regiment and was killed in the first day's fight at Gettysburg. Grandfather Orbison was a member of Company I, One Hundred and Eighty-fifth Ohio Volunteer- Infantry, and he gave his life for his country in the battle of Corinth, Mis- sissippi. The father, John Reed, served four years in the Army of the Po- tomac, saw much hard service, took part in many of the greatest battles of the the greatest war of history and proved to be a most faithful soldier. He was never wounded, but he was taken prisoner and confined at Libby prison for a time. He was with Grant at Lee's surrender and later was in the Grand Review at Washington after peace had been declared. After he was hon- orably discharged from the service he returned to Ohio and was connected with the construction of the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus railroad. He set- tled in Holmes county and there was married. In 1886 the family moved to Brinkhaven, where the father followed his trade of carpenter until his death, on December 21, 1891. His widow still lives. John Reed was a Republican and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. His family consisted of five sons and three daughters, namely : William F. is farming in Jefferson township; Ella married Henry H. P. Parks, of Massillon; Clara married Harry Laflin, of Coshocton; John A., of this sketch; George is a dental student; Dallas is farming in Jefferson township; Celia is the widow of Ogden Barrett, of Cleveland; Harry W. is a physician at St. Luke's hospital, Cleveland.
Dr. John A. Reed was educated in the public schools of Brinkhaven. Later was a student at the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home at Xenia, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1896. He was graduated with the class of 1898 from the high school of Brinkhaven, and in the fall of 1899, having long contemplated entering the medical profession, he . entered Starling Medical College at Columbus, where he made an excellent record and from which institution he was graduated in 1903. Thus well equipped for his life's work, he located at Jelloway, Knox county, on Sep- tember 15th of that year and here he has remained to the present day, hav- ing built up a large and growing practice with the surrounding country. He keeps well abreast of the times in all matters pertaining to his pro- fession and he has been very successful as a general practitioner.
Doctor Reed was married on September 19, 1907, to Hallie Gladys
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Zimmerman, daughter of Luzine P. and Ella (Applegate) Zimmerman, of Columbus, Ohio. One son has graced this union, born September 15, 1909.
Fraternally, Doctor Reed is a member of Masonic Lodge No. 546 of Danville. Politically, he is a Republican and he has always been active in public affairs. He has served as a member of the Republican county executive committee and has been a frequent delegate to party conventions, in which he has ever made his influence felt for the good of his community and the party. He has been health officer in both Brown and Jefferson townships, eight years in the former and three years in the latter. In the fall of 1910 he was elected coroner of Knox county and is now serving his first term. In all these positions of public trust he has performed his duties in a most able and conscientious manner. In addition to his pro- fessional duties, he oversees a farm of one hundred acres which he owns in this vicinity, which he keeps well improved and in a high state of cultiva- tion. He also owns valuable property in Brinkhaven and Jelloway. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They are prominent in the social life of the community.
ALVERDO A. GEITGEY.
The gentleman to whom the biographer now calls the reader's attention was not favored by inherited wealth or the assistance of influential friends, but in spite of this, by perseverance, industry and a wise economy, he has attained a comfortable station in life and is well and favorably known throughout this section of the Buckeye state as a result of the industrious life he has lived here, being a sterling product of the old log cabin days which has produced so many of the leading Americans of today, in all walks of life. He has won the confidence and esteem of all with whom he has come into contact and has been a most potent factor in the development of Union town- ship, Knox county, and vicinity during the past decade. Mr. Geitgey has ever been loyal to his convictions of right and has discharged his duties as neighbor and citizen with the object in view of making the country better and his friends happier. Blessed with an abundance of worldly wealth, all of which has been acquired by his own unaided efforts, he has not been selfish : on the contrary, his-benefactions have been many, while his liberality and philanthropy have been felt not only in his own locality but in other places where he has prosecuted worthy enterprises.
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Alverdo A. Geitgey, a leading and well-known citizen of Buckeye City, this county, was born on Ju'y 24, 1864, on a farm in Wayne county, Ohio, in the log cabin home of his parents, John and Ann (Smith) Geitgey, both natives of Wayne county, where they grew up, were educated and married, in fact, spent their entire lives in that county. The father was a farmer, stock buyer and shipper, and was an industrious and fairly successful busi- ness man and a highly respected citizen. He is now deceased, but his widow, a woman of gracious personality, still lives, being now advanced in years.
Alverdo A. Geitgey was reared on the farm where he began working in the fields when but a small lad, and he was educated in the district schools of his home, later in life supplementing the rudments of learning he there re- ceived by actual contact with the business world and by miscellaneous home reading, being now a well-informed man on all topics, public, business or social. He was fourteen years of age when his father died, and he then began hustling for himself, after spending two years at home with his moth- er. These early experiences, though hard, were good in the way of discipline and doubtless contributed largely to his success in subsequent years. At the age of sixteen he went to Huntington, Indiana, with an uncle who was en- gaged in the hotel business, filling, for a time, the position of clerk. He then went to Harper county, Kansas, with a view of locating, growing up in a new country of the West and there establishing himself in business, but not liking the country as well as he had anticipated, he returned to his home in Wayne county, Ohio, and started a huckster wagon, which he conducted for two and one-half years, during which he got a good start in life. He started in this business with one hundred and twenty-seven dollars, which he had received from his father's estate. With this sum he purchased a team and small stock of goods with which to equip his wagon. He had to go in debt, the amount he had not being sufficient to pay for the outfit. By good management he had cleared the sum of two thousand and two hundred dollars at the end of two and one-half years. He then went to Findlay, Ohio, and there engaged in business, among other things as a railroad ticket broker, being a member of the American Ticket Brokers Association for some time. After trying a number of other lines of endeavor, he finally turned his attention to the oil and gas business, operating in the Wayne county fields. His first ventures were not successful and he lost nearly all of his former earnings, about all he had left being a second-hand drilling outfit, for which he had traded the odds and ends of what he had left from his former business ventures. But not being made of the material which bends easily, and nothing daunted, he went after business, continuing to operate in Wayne county and various parts
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of the country, and while thus engaged he located the oil pool near Lodi, Ohio, making considerable money from this field. Soon afterwards he came to Knox county,-about 1901,-being the first operator in the gas fields of the eastern part of the county, drilling the first wells there, and from them supplied Danville, Buckeye City and Brinkhaven with natural gas and thus started a boom in this section of the state, which has resulted in continued progress. Later disposing of his holdings in the eastern part of Knox coun- ty, he has since been operating in various parts of the country. However. he has invested the major portion of his capital in Florida lands. owning twelve thousand and seven hundred acres in a fertile section of the "Land of Flow- ers," which investment has proved very successful, resulting in large profits, and his energies are now centered in developing his lands there. He con- templates an extensive pecan farm, which will doubtless be productive of very. large profits. His permanent home, however, is in Buckeye City, Ohio, where he has a commodious, attractive, modern and, indeed, mansion-like home, the finest private residence in Knox county. It is modern in all its appointments and elegantly furnished, and here old-time hospitality and good cheer ever prevails, so that this beautiful home and its superb surroundings is the mecca for the many friends of the family, which is prominent in the social life of the county. Mr. Geitgey is also interested in other large real estate holdings, and he is a pushing, progressive, prosperous man of affairs, a credit to the locality honored by his citizenship.
Mr. Geitgey has been twice married, first to Ella Fluhart, daughter of Robert and Margaret (Thomas) Fluhart, of Fredericksburg, Wayne county, Ohio, this union having resulted in the birth of three children, namely : Chaun- cey, deceased ; Nellie is now a student at Wooster University, Wooster, Ohio; Grace is attending the high school at Danville. The wife and mother pass- ing to her rest early in life, Mr. Geitgey was subsequently married on No- vember 27, 1902, to Lucy M. Shrimplin, daughter of Osborne and Adelia (Greer) Shrimplin, of Buckeye City, Ohio, and this union has been graced by the birth of two children, John O. and Kathryn.
Politically, Mr. Geitgey is a Democrat ; however, is not a biased partisan, believing in good men for all public positions, irrespective of political align- ment, and while he has ever taken an abiding interest in the affairs of his township and county, gladly supporting such measures as made for the gen- eral good of the same, he has never sought public preference or office of any kind, being content with the management of his individual affairs. Frater- nally, he is a member of the Masonic order at Danville and the Wooster lodge of the Knights of Pythias, and he and his family are members and liberal
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supporters of the Church of Christ at Danville, he being an elder in the same, and active in church and Sunday school work.
Personally, Mr. Geitgey is a man of pleasing presence, genial in deport- ment, charitable and a cultured, broad-minded gentleman-in short, a typical representative of the enterprising, successful, virile, self-made men who have done so much to develop the resources of the great middle West and advance all its interests, and, being a man of exemplary habits, his career might be profitably emulated by the youth of the land whose destinies are yet matters for future years to determine.
MILTON P. MARTIN.
One of the remaining links in the chain that connects the present age to a period long buried in the mists of the past in this history of the city of Mt. Vernon is Milton P. Martin, now living in honorable retirement after a long and successful life in his native locality, spent principally in farming and sawmilling. He has been a witness of wonderful transformations in his home country, has seen the virgin forests felled by the woodsmen and the raw prairie sod upturned by the plowman, log cabins give way to pretentious homes, and villages spring up on every hand. He has kept untarnished the honored name of the family, well-known in Knox county for a century, his sterling grandfather having braved the wilderness here in the early period of the nineteenth century, when Indians were numerous and hostile and fero- cious wild beasts roamed where now are waving fields of grain and the happy homes of men. The members of the Martin family have not been merely spectators to this change in the face of nature, but they have been active in the work of development, each playing well his role in the drama of civiliza- tion as staged in local arena, and no family within the borders of this county is more deserving of representation in a volume of the province of the one at hand.
Mr. Martin was born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, on November 9, 1844, and is the son of George R. and Agnes P. (Shipley) Martin. George Martin, the great-grandfather of the subject, moved with his family to Knox county in the year 1811, from Pennsylvania. He located at the foot of Main street, Mt. Vernon, and for some time followed the carpenter's trade. He lived only a few years after coming to his county. His oldest son and child, Jacob, the grandfather of the subject, then became the head of the family.
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He, too, was a carpenter by trade, to which he added cabinet-making. He also following undertaking. His family lived on what is now the corner of Main and Front streets, his shop being located on Front street. Jacob Mar- tin married Ann Adams, daughter of John Adams, who came from Virginia in 1817 and settled in Morrow township, Knox county, where he engaged in farming. The brothers and sisters of Jacob Martin were: Joseph, George. Elizabeth, Mary and Nellie, all of whom are now deceased. The following children were born to Jacob Martin and wife: George, Samuel, John, Frank. Joseph. Albert, Ellen. Martha and Clara. AAlbert, the youngest son, and Clara and Ellen are still living.
George R. Martin, the oldest son in his father's family, was one of the pioneer sawmill and lumber men of Knox county, having been engaged in this business here from 1854 to 1890, during which period he became widely known as a progressive and successful business man. His mill, which was the first steam sawmill in the locality, was located at the junction of the Mar- tinsburg and Granville road in South Vernon. It was originally built by C. P. Buckingham and bought by Mr. Martin, and during all the years from 1854 to 1890 he operated a mill upon this same site. His death occurred in June, 1899. his widow surviving until in February, 1905. The father of the subject was a Republican. His father was an original abolitionist, and being of Scotch-Irish descent. both the Martin and Adams families having come from northern Ireland, were Presbyterians. George R. Martin was much interested in public affairs and while he always supported whatever measures that had as their object the general good, he was not an office holder or seeker of public favors. He was a man of intelligence and progressive ideas and stalwart integrity.
Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. George R. Martin, namely : Milton P., of this sketch : Ida is deceased; Frank A. lives in Richwood, Ohio : Alice is the widow of John Higbie; Jessie V. married Jesse B. Lafever, of Mt. Vernon: Harry lives in New Castle, Indiana: Luella married Hugh Green and lives in Harrison township, this county: George P. ,is deceased ; one child died in infancy.
Milton P. Martin, of this review, grew up in Mt. Vernon and when old enough worked in his father's mill. He was educated in the Mt. Vernon public schools. He has been twice married, first, on February 20, 1869, to Susanna Johnson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William O. Johnson, of Mt. Vernon. To this union two children were born, Mary E., now the wife of Dr. H. W. Pyle, and Fred J., of Clinton township, this county. The wife and mother was called to her rest on April 1, 1875. In October. 1887, Mr.
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Martin was married to Alice Page, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Page, of Delaware county, Ohio. To this union one daughter was born, Marguerite P., who is living at home. The death of the second wife occurred on Octo- ber 1, 1896.
In 1874 Mr. Martin left the sawmill business and moved to his farm in Clinton township and there engaged successfully in farming for a period of twenty-six years, until 1900, when he moved to the old family home near the site of the sawmill, where his father was an important factor for so many years and where some member of the Martin family has resided for a period of one hundred years. The subject is now living a retired life with his daughter, enjoying the fruits of his former years of toil and endeavor. Po- litically, he is a Republican and has always been more or less active in public affairs, but he has never been an office seeker, though he served for years as a member of the township board of education. During the Civil war he en- listed, in January, 1864, in Company M, Third Regiment Ohio Infantry, and was with Sherman's army in General Thomas' division and he saw active service through the Atlanta campaign and other activities, in all of which he acquitted himself as an excellent and faithful soldier, never shrinking from duty, no matter how arduous or dangerous, according to his comrades. He was wounded in the battle of Lovejoy near Atlanta on August 19, 1864. He was mustered out of service on August 4, 1865, at Macon, Georgia. He is a member of Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army of the Republic, in which he has long been active, and in 1911 he represented the post at the state encamp- ment. He is a public-spirited citizen and a worthy descendant of Knox coun- ty pioneers.
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