USA > Ohio > Clark County > Portrait and biographical album of Greene and Clark counties, Ohio, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county; together with portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States > Part 90
USA > Ohio > Greene County > Portrait and biographical album of Greene and Clark counties, Ohio, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county; together with portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States > Part 90
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Mr. Kneisly has been in the Town Council four years, and was Village Clerk two years, resigning the latter position to take his present one. He was also for three years a member of the School Board, having manifested a deeper interest in the cause of education, and being more liberal and ac- tive in supporting the school, the church, and other enterprises of an elevating character, than many men of greater means. His wife is a mem- ber of the Lutheran Church, which he attends, and to the support of which he contributes. In polities he is a true blue Republican. Socially, he is an Odd Fellow, and has represented the order in the Grand Lodge five terms, being now Past Noble Grand for the third time, and Secretary of the encampment. He also belongs to the A. F. & A. M., Blue Lodge, of which he is Past Master, and holds membership in the Chapter and Conneil at Carlisle. IIe has represented this order also in
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the Grand Lodge, and is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, being a charter member of the Osborn Lodge.
At the bride's home in Montgomery County, on Christmas day, 1876, the rites of wedlock werc celebrated between John A. Kneisly and Emily J. Beyl. The bride, who was born in Bath Town- ship, this county, is a daughter of Solomon Beyl, formerly of Pennsylvania, and now a prominent farmer in Montgomery County. She is a fine type of intelligent and cultured christian womanhood, and an ornament to the society in which she moves. The happy union has been blessed by the birth of one child, Ora B.
The grandfather, with whom our subject spent his youth, was John Kneisly, a native of Pennsyl- vania, who became a resident of the Buckeye State in the spring of 1828. He had operated an oil mill in his native State, and after coming to Ohio carried on a flourmill and a distillery on the Mad River, doing a large business, and being very suc- cessful. He had settled in Bath Township, this county, upon land which he purchased, also enter- ing some in Montgomery County, owning alto- gethier some one thousand acres. Besides his milling business, he bought grain and other pro- duce extensively and carried on a storc. Kncisly Station was named for him. He did business there until he had a stroke of paralysis, when he re- moved to Dayton, spending the rest of his life in that city enjoying the fruits of honest industry. He was well known and influential, and his fortune was probably not surpassed by that of any other man in the township. He was interested in the improvement of the country, built churches, turn- pikes, and in other ways contributed in developing the land from its primeval wilderness. He was an active member of the Reformed Church. His death took place in 1868.
The father of our subject was born in Lancaster County, Pa., but coming to this section when a child, was reared here and began his business ea- reer in the distillery of his father. Ile worked in that establishment until it closed. During the War he was a Captain in the Ohio State Militia, and in 1866, went South in the Government em- ploy. He was in the Quartermaster's Department
at Galveston, Tex., where he died of yellow fever in 1867, at the age of thirty-nine years. He be- longed to the Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, the Royal Arch Masons, and the Independent Or- der of Odd Fellows. His wife was also a native of Pennsylvania, her father, Christian Kauffman, being a native of and farmer in Lancaster County. He came to this section of Ohio about 1840, and successfully continued his agricultural labors here. Mrs. Kneisly dicd in Dayton, in 1885.
- REDERICK W. WILLISS, proprietor of Williss's College of Short-Hand, has long been recognized as an expert stenographer and sends his representatives to different parts of the State and country to take down the procced- ings of important cases in court in the employ of the leading Attorneys. The college was established in the summer of 1880 as an individual enterprise and since its inception has steadily grown in favor with the people and is now in the enjoyment of a liberal patronage. It is believed by many that the day will come when the tedious method of long- hand writing will be done away with and this im- portant invention be substituted in its stead. As in other trades and professions some will become expert while others never rise above mediocrity. Mr. Williss is unquestionably numbered among the first mentioned. He takes a live interest in the pro- fession and has donc much to increase its popularity among business men and others.
The subject of this notice was born in Madison Township, Clark County, this State, June 18, 1859, and is the only son of Perrin and Anna Williss. The father was born and reared in Indiana and died in 1864, when his son Frederick was only five years old. The mother is still living and a resident of Springfield. She was born in Clark County, and within its limits has spent nearly her entire life.
Mr. Williss of whom we write, pursued his early studies in the country schools and when sufficiently advanced, attended the Normal School at South Charleston from which he was duly graduated. Afterward he entered the law office of Keifer &
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White of Springfield and was admitted to the bar in 1880. He was employed for a time on a salary . with this firm. He had prior to this for several years been a short-hand writer and for the past twelve years has been a law and general reporter in different cities in the State.
Finally, being convinced that he could become a successful instructor of the art, Mr. Williss in 1880, embarked in his present enterprise to which he now gives his entire attention and admits to the school pupils of both sexes. The college is located on the third floor of the Masonic Building, No. 29, West Main Street. Besides a good local patronage, it accommodates pupils from nearly every State in the Union, all the way from one to two hundred. It is the largest institution of the kind in the State of Ohio.
Mr. Williss was married in October, 1881, to Miss Mattie H. Sands, who was born in Clark County, and at the time of their wedding was a resident of South Charleston. Mrs. Williss is a daughter of Israel and Hope Sands who were na- tives of Illinois. IIer mother is deceased, and her father lives in Kansas. Four sons and a daughter have been born of this union-Carl, Frank, Warren K., Grace and Frederick W., Jr. The family resi- dence is at No. 65, West Pleasant Street, and its imnates number among their friends the intelligent and cultured people of the city. Politically he is a Republican.
AIILON KERSHNER. The subject of this notice has long been a familiar figure among the business interests of Springfield, and has been a life-long resident of Ohio, which is his native State. He was born February 20, 1832, three miles west of Yellow Springs, in Greene County, and is the son of Thomas Kersb- ner, who was born in Cincinnati in 1806. His paternal grandfather, Solomon Kershner, a native of Maryland, was born near Hagarstown, and spent his last years in Ohio. The latter was the son of a farmer of modest means, and who is supposed to have spent his entire life in Maryland.
The paternal grandfather of our subject was
reared in his native State, whence he emigrated about 1805, and located at Ft. Washington, now Cincinnati, and which was then a hamlet of a few log liouses. He was a weaver by trade, and fol- lowed this, in addition to various other pursuits, about one year in that vicinity, then removed to Greene County, and located on a tract of land four miles west of Yellow Springs, and which his father- in-law had taken up from the Government. The whole State of Ohio was then a wilderness, peopled mostly by Indians and wild animals. Deer, tur- keys and other wild game were plentiful, while the wolves lowled around the settler's door at night. No railroads were built in this locality for many ycars, all the surplus farm products being trans- ported to Cincinnati overland by teams. Grand- father Kershmer was very prosperous, and became the owner of large tracts of land, and spent the re- mainder of his days at the homestead which he had built up in the wilderness, being called lience in 1850, at the advanced age of seventy-six.
The fatlier of our subject was an infant when his parents settled in Greene County, wherein lie was reared and married. His father gave him one hun- dred and sixty acres of land in Bath Township, and upon this he followed farming many years. In October, 1859, he sold out, and removing to Noble County, Ind., purchased a farm, and resided there until his death, which occurred in September, 1878. His wife bore the maiden name of Magdalene Kersh- ner; she was born in Maryland, and was the dangh- ter of Daniel Kershner; she died at the old farm, October 12, 1877, preceding her husband a lit- tle over one year. They reared three children: Margaret, who married Jeremialı Clark; Mahlon, our subject; and Maria, the wife of Nary Fry.
The subject of this sketch was reared at the home farm in Ohio, and resided there with his par- ents until after his marriage. After the celebration of this event he operated on his father's land two years, and then rented land near Enon for eighteen months. In 1859 he removed to Michigan, and. located on his father-in-law's farm in Kalamazoo County, where he resided three years. At the cx- piration of this time he returned to Greene County, where he farmed about four years. His next re- moval was to Noble County, Ind., where he
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engaged in farming six years. Returning then to Springfield, this State, he engaged in teaming until 1884, and then on account of ill health was obliged to abandon this business; he is now living quietly at his home in the city.
In January, 1854, our subject was wedded to Miss Anna Eppley. Mrs. Kershner was born No- vember 22, 1825, in Rockingham County, Va., and is a daughter of Adam and Rebecca (Durr) Eppley, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. She became the mother of two children -- Mary and William G., and died at her home in Springfield, April 7, 1882. Mr. Kershner's daughter Mary is the wife of A. L. Cutting, an engineer on the Mis- souri Pacific Railroad. William married Miss Ella Taylor, and resides in Cincinnati, being in the em- ploy of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.
ON. JACOB KREIDER MOWER, formerly a member of the Ohio Legislature, is one of the able attorneys of Clark County and one whose sound common sense and ripe judgment have given him a good position among luis brethren of the legal fraternity. A man whose integrity is beyond question, he is one who has the rare faculty of being the same to all, high and low, rich and poor, never prides himself upon his sue- cess in life but is ever ready to lend a helping hand to those less fortunate. He has a thorough knowl- edge of his profession, has achieved an enviable repu tation as a lawyer, is skillful as a eross examiner and successful in presenting his case before a jury. In social and business cireles he is a general favor- ite and no man in the city of Springfield has a eir- ele of warmer or more disinterested friends. He has for the past two years been President of the Clark County Bar Association.
The subject of this notice was born in Franklin County, Pa., April 4, 1833, and is the son of George and Mary (Kreider) Mower. The latter is the daughter of John and Barbara (Schmidt) Kreider and the grand-daughter of the Rev. Martin Kreider of the United Brethren Church. His paternal grand- parents were George and Eve (Leitig) Mower who
spent their last years in Pennsylvania. George Mower was a native of Pennsylvania and a farmer by occupation, an honest and reliable man of de- cided views and opinions who was first a Whig, politieally, later a member of the Free Soil party and finally identified himself with the Republican party. He departed this life at the old homestead in Richland County, in 1855.
The subject of this notice was the youngest in a family of eight children and came to Ohio with his parents in the spring of 1834, they settling on a farm near the village of Ontario, Richland County. 'The education of Jacob K., which had been begun at a schoolhouse ealled the "quail trap" near his home, was continued at the High School at Massil- lon, the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware and the Ohio State University at Athens. He was graduated from the latter in 1856, receiving the degree of A. B. Soon afterward he became Super- intendent of the public schools at Athens, and in the meantime employed his leisure hours in the reading of law to such good advantage that he was admitted to the bar in the autumn of 1858, having studied in the office of Leonidas Jewett. In De- cember, that year, he took up his residence in Springfield where he has since been engaged in the active practice of his profession and for five years operated with a partner under the firm name of Mower & Rawlins. He served as City Solicitor in 1868-69 and was a member of the Board of Edu- cation from 1873 to 1878. In the meantime he beeame prominent in loeal polities and was finally elected to represent Clark County in the Ohio Leg- islature, serving in 1870-71.
Mr. Mower east his first Presidential vote for John C. Fremont in 1856. He was always an ar- dent anti-slavery man and in his youth piloted many a fugitive from his home in Richland to Oberlin, which was then a safe harbor for those who were endeavoring to escape from bondage. Mr. Mower is a firm believer in the equal rights of all without regard to race, color or sex, and believes the greatest evil of this country is the disfranchise- ment of a majority of its citizens-and those of the best elass. It is therefore not surprising that when a member of the Legislature, he was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Woman Suffrage.
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Further, he claims that the tariff should not be a party question, but that each representative in . Congress should be free to aet so as to protect the industries and interests of the citizens of his own locality.
The marriage of the Hon. Jacob K. Mower and Miss Eunice M. Rice occurred December 2, 1858, at the bride's home in Hillsboro, Ohio. Mrs. Mower was born March 2, 1833, at a farmhouse in Ames Township, Athens County. Ohio, and is a daughter of Sabinus and Pamela ( Hibbard) Rice. Her fa- thier was the son of Jason and Sarah ( Hibbard) Rice and the grandson of Jonas and Deboralı (Foree) Rice. Jason Rice was a native of Poultney, N. Y., and drew a pension as a Revolutionary soldier. Pamela Hibbard is the daughter of the Rev. Ithamar and Hannah ( Wool) Hibbard, the former born in Windham, Conn., and the latter born in Norwich, Conn. To Mr. and Mrs. Mower have been born two daughters and a son. Mabel, the eldest, is a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, where she completed her studies in the summer of 1882, and received the degree of A. B. Alice Mary took the same degree at Wittenberg College, Springfield, in the year 1884. Carl Kreider was graduated from the same institution in 1886, and having studied law in his father's office was admitted to the bar in February, 1889; he is now junior member of the firm of Mower & Mower, Attorneys.
P ETER KEPLINGER. The main points in the history of this old-time resident of Fairfield, Greene County, and who is now deceased, are essentially as follows: He was born in Burwick Township, Adams County, Pa., June 28, 1810, where he was reared to man- hood and learned the trade of a tinsmith. He clerked in a hardware store in Baltimore, Md., for a time, and later conducted a tinshop at his old home for a time.
In the spring of 1833 Mr. Keplinger came to Kneisly Station to visit his brother William, who was a miller at that place. He liked the looks of
the country, as did also his wife, he having been married, so they concluded to locate at Fairfield. Mr. Keplinger started a tinshop in connection with a small grocery store and a bakery. He was oceu- pied with this until 1816, then turning his attention to agricultural pursuits, located on a farm of one hundred and eighty aeres on section 28, Bath Township. Mr. Keplinger commenced at first principles in establishing a home, as there were scarcely any improvements on the land, and being more than ordinarily enterprising and industrious, he. in due time, found himself on the highway to success. He brought the land to a good state of cultivation, enclosed the whole with substantial fencing, planted fruit and shade trees, and erected the necessary buildings, including a fine house and a large barn, the latter 40x80 feet in dimensions. This farm under the careful management of the proprietor became one of the model homesteads of Greene County.
In 1861, having accumulated a sufficiency for their declining years, Mr. and Mrs. Keplinger de- cided to retire from active labor, and leaving the farm in care of the boys, removed to the town of Osborn, where Mr. Keplinger had seven acres of ground, and put up a comfortable residence. He thereafter interested himself in the education of his children, and he has also signalized himself as a public-spirited citizen, by laboring to secure the first railroad through the place, and the construet- tion of turnpike roads. He was one of the pillars of the Lutheran Church in which he officiated as Elder for many years. In polities, he supported the Republican party. His useful life terminated February 13, 1875, amid the sorrowing of an af- fectionate family, and the regrets of the whole community.
The marriage of Peter Keplinger and Miss Mary A. Stough was celebrated at the liome of the bride's uncle, in this county, November 17, 1833. Mrs. Kpelinger was born in Stoughstown, Cumberland County, Pa., June 21, 1816, and is the daughter of William and Barbara ( Whitmore) Stough, who were natives of that county, and represented its most substantial families. Mr. Stough was born near the city of Harrisburg, in 1794, and the pa- ternal grandfather of Mrs. Keplinger, who was a
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founder by trade, also engaged in hotel-keeping at Stoughstown, which town was named in his honor. The family is of German descent.
William Stough learned cabinet making when a young man, but later followed agriculture on large tracts of rented land in his native State. In 1832 he emigrated to Ohio and purchased land near Mansfield, Richland County, where he made his home until 1858. Thence he removed to Columbia City, Ind .. and subsquently engaged in farming in Whitley County, that State, until retiring from active labor. He lived four years thereafter, dying June 23, 1878, when eighty-four years old. He was a member in good standing of the Lutheran Church. His wife, Barbara, was the daughter of Bolzar Whitmore, likewise a native of Pennsylva- nia, and a farmer by occupation. She died in Pennsylvania about 1821.
Four children were born of the first marriage: These being Mary A., Samuel and an infant, who have been deceased many years; William, who was a Lieutenant-Colonel during the late war. Of the second marriage of William Stough there were born six children. John, George and Sarah, deceased; Elizabeth, Mrs. H. Snyder, of Columbia City, Ind .; Isabel, Mrs. Bressler, of Crestline, Ohio, and Peter, who died young. George held the rank of Major in an Ohio Calvalry Regiment, and was wounded at the battle of Chickamauga Sunday morning. He fell from his horse, was captured and was taken to Libby prison, where he died six weeks later. He was buried there, but afterward his remains were removed to Columbia City, Ind. The remaining children, who were born of the third marriage, are as follows: James, a resident of Iowa; Catherine, Mrs. Anderson, of Columbia City, Ind .; Letitia, Mrs. Bryson, of Whitley County, Ind .; Josephi, a resident of that State; David, who served in an Indiana regiment during the late war, and was killed in battle, and Samuel, who died in Ohio, in childhood.
Mrs. Keplinger spent her youthful days under the parental roof, acquiring such education as the primitive sehools afforded, pursuing her studies in the old log schoolhouse, and at home learning to spin, and becoming the mistress of all other useful household duties. In 1832 she accompanied her
father to Ohio, making the journey overland with a team. In February, 1833, she went to live with her aunt, Mrs. Kneisly, at Kneisly's Mill, Bath Township, making the journey by canal to Day- ton, and thence on horseback to her destination. She lived with her aunt until her marriage.
To Mr. and Mrs. Keplinger there was born a family of seven children, the eldest of whom a son, William S., died when about sixteen years old; Samuel, at the outbreak of the Civil War, enlisted in 1862 in the Eighth Ohio Cavalry, serving until he was disabled and obliged to return home. Ile was injured at the battle of Vicksburg, where his horses ran away with the cannon, and falling he received serious injuries. Ile now follows the oc- cupation of a painter in Osborn. Edward enlisted at Springfield in 1861, in Company I, Forty-fourth Ohio Infantry, while a student at Wittenberg Col- lege, and served until failing health compelled him to accept his honorable discharge. Subsequently he returned to college and was graduated from both the classical and theological departments, and officiated as a minister of the Lutheran Church un- til ill health compelled him to retire. IIe is now engaged in general merchandising in Pueblo, Col. Catherine became the wife of Englehart Heck, a farmer of Sedgwick County, Kan .; Emily was married to Martin Moudy, and removed to Ne- braska, but subsequently returned home and died, leaving a daughter, Lulu, who made her home with her grandmother until her death, at the age of thirteen years. John K. occupies himself as a me- chanie, in Dayton, this State; George E. was grad- uated from Wilt's Commercial College, at Dayton, and for six months afterward was in the employ of the Mobile Iron Company, as a book-keeper. Later he went West and spent considerable time in travel. Then returning to Ohio, he entered the employ of Day, Field & Lowery, at Dayton, but being un- able to endure the confinement of office work, he returned home, and turned his attention to garden- ing. He is making of this an art and a science, having built a large greenhouse, with water pipes to every part of his garden, and all other conve- niences for doing an extensive and first-class busi- ness in this line, in which he is very successful. He is likewise interested in bee culture, having
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twenty-two stands. Mrs. Keplinger was one of the original members of the Lutheran Church at Os- born, and is active in all good works, especially in connection with the Missionary Society. The fam- ily is held in high respect in the community.
R EV. REUBEN F. DELO is closely con-
nected with the business interests of Springfield, representing the Equitable In- surance Company of New York and other first-class companies, He is a man of high per- sonal character, with a practical, well-trained mind and excellent finaneial ability, and stands among the first citizens in the community. He was for many years a leading minister in the Lutheran denomination, hield successful pastorates in several different places, was instrumental in organizing many churches, and did much to disseminate the Gospel. In the first year of the late war he en- listed as Chaplain, and did faithful service through- out the Rebellion.
The subject of this sketch is a native of Penn- sylvania, born in the town of Edenburg, Clarion County, October 13, 1827. George M. Delo, liis father, was born in Westmoreland County, that State, in March, 1774. His father, bearing the same name, came from France to this country in Colonial times and settled in the Keystone Statc. He had a grant of a tract of land at Beaver City, and of another in Wheeling, Va., where he subse- quently located, being one of the first settlers of that city. At that time the Indians in that region were hostile, and made an attack upon the settle- ment, and he was killed. That was in the month of December, 1773, a few months before the fatlier of our subject was born. His mother liad not accompanied her husband to the new home, but was still living in Westmoreland County, Pa., when she was widowed, she having waited until her husband had prepared the way for her. She married a second time, and continued to reside in Westmoreland County, and there passed the re- mainder of her life.
The father of our subject was reared to man-
hood in his native State, and became a contractor and builder. In 1802 he settled in Clarion County on a tract of timber land, and building a log cabin in the forest for the shelter of his family, devoted himself to clearing and cultivating a farm, on. which he made his home until he was called to a better world. There were no railways or canals for many years after he located there, and Pitts- burg, sixty-five miles distant in an air line, was the nearest market and depot for supplies. He used to take pine tar and other products in a dug-out to Pittsburg to sell, and sometimes in the winter seasons would go on a sled to Ft. Eric, about sev- enty miles distant. Ile died in 1850, and his con- munity was deprived of one of its most worthy and respected citizens. He was a man of large views, of industrious and frugal habits, and of exemplary character. He fought in the War of 1812, and was an officer of his company. The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Elizabeth Hum- mel, and she was born in Pennsylvania, a daugliter of Christopher and Anna (King) Hunanel. She died in Clarion County, Pa., in 1859, leaving the record of a well-spent life. Her father was a na- tive of Pennsylvania, and was a descendant of early German settlers of that State. He served as a teamster during the Revolution for a term of five years, furnishing his own team, but never re- ceived any remuneration for his work, althoughi his widow drew a pension the last few years of hier life.
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