USA > Ohio > Knox County > The Biographical record of Knox County, Ohio : to which is added an elaborate compendium of national biography > Part 17
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Mr. Workman has always carried on general farming and in the home place he owns and operates one hundred and forty- six acres of rich land. He also raises fine stock, including hogs, sheep, cattle and horses, and has a large number of fine chick- ens, which enabled him to sell sixteen hun- dred dozen eggs in the year 1900. His busi- ness is managed with excellent skill and ability, and its various departments re- turns to him a good income. In addition to his other interests he is agent for the Eureka Fertilizer Company, of Sandusky, Ohio. He carries on his work in accord with progressive spirit and methods of the twen- tieth century, and his labors are bringing to him a creditable prosperity. He has been a life-long Democrat in national affairs, but at local elections votes for the candidate re- gardless of party affiliations. With the Ger-
man Baptist church he holds membership, taking an active part in its work, and his life has ever been in consistent harmony with his professions.
FRANK O. LEVERING. 1
The Levering family is so well known in Knox county that its representatives need no introduction to the readers of this vol- ume. When the Buckeye state was almost an unbroken wilderness and the greater part of the land was still in possession of the government the family was founded here, and those who have borne the name since that time have faithfully carried forward the work of upbuilding and improvement be- gun by their ancestors. It was in the latter part of the seventeenth century that the fam- ily was first planted on American soil by Gerhard Levering and his brother Wigard. They were sons of Rosier Levering, who was born in Holland of English or Anglo- Saxon parentage, his father and mother hav- ing been exiled from England on account of their religious belief. Rosier Levering mar- ried Elizabeth Vandewalle, of Westphalia, Germany, and their son, Gerhard Levering, was born in Gamen, Germany, in 1660. In 1685, accompanied by his brother Wigard, he braved the dangers incident to an ocean voyage at that day and crossed the Atlantic to America. He married, and among his children was Daniel Levering, who was born December 2, 1704, and on the 12th of May, 1735, was married, in Christ church, in Philadelphia to Margaret Beane. They re- sided upon a farm of one hundred acres in Whiteplain township, Montgomery county, New Jersey.
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OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
Upon that farm, on the Ioth of June, 1738, there was born unto them a son, to whom they gave the name of Henry Lever- ing and who was the great-great-grandfa- ther of our subject. For many years he re- sided at the Durham Iron Works in New Jersey, but in 1785 removed from there to a large farm in Belfast township, Bedford county, Pennsylvania. He wedded Ann Wynn, and their son, Daniel Levering, the great-grandfather of our subject, was born in New Jersey, February 3, 1764. In 1785 he accompanied his parents on their re- moval to Bedford county, Pennsylvania, where he married Mary Karney. In 18II he visited Knox county, Ohio, and pur- chased a large tract of land from the gov- ernment in Owl Creek valley, whereon he located with his family, and there spent his remaining days, his death occurring in 1820. His widow died October 24, 1846, at the ad- vanced age of eighty-four. They were prominent members of the Presbyterian church and leading citizens of the com- munity.
Noah Levering, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Bedford county, Penri- sylvania, November 7, 1802, and in 1813 came with his parents to Knox county. He was married here, March 25, 1828, to Armanella Cook, daughter of John and Ann Cook, who came to Ohio from Washington county, Pennsylvania, about 1805. Their daughter was born in 1809 and died June 13, 1879, while Noah Levering passed away March 4, 1881. They were farming people, and the town of Levering was laid out upon their land.
John Cook Levering, their son, and the father of Frank O., was born on the old family homestead, in Middlebury township,
September 11, 1829, and was the eldest son in a family of ten children. His youth was spent in the usual manner of farmer lads of that period, and as the years passed he as- sisted his father in the control and manage- ment of the farm. When twenty-one years of age he purchased eighty acres from his father and began farming on his own ac- count. As a companion and helpmate for the journey of life he chose Miss Carrie Richardson, and they were married in 1860. Her parents were Daniel and Thankful (Camp) Richardson, the former a well known lumber merchant of New York for many years. Mr. Levering and his wife be- gan their domestic life on the land which he had purchased, and as the years passed their financial resources increased so that he was enabled to purchase other land and became one of the wealthy farmers of the county. He has been very prominent in agricultural circles, and his influence has been felt throughout the entire country in behalf of the best interests of the farmer and stock- raiser. His stock has won many first prizes in all parts of the country, and he did much to improve the grade of domestic animals raised in this part of the state. In 1866 he became a member of the Knox County Ag- ricultural Society, of which he has since been a representative, and for a number of years he was honored with the presidency. But other honors of a less local character have been conferred upon him. In 1881 he was elected a member of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture. He assisted in the purchase and improvement of the now beautiful state fair grounds and buildings at Columbus, Ohio. For six years he was a member of the state board, was treasurer in 1885 and president in 1886. In 1883 he represented
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A CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
Ohio in the National Agricultural Conven- tion in Washington. In 1887 the goveror of Ohio appointed him a member of the state centennial board, and he took an active part in managing the Ohio Centennial cele- bration held in Columbus in 1888. In 1890, at the Ohio Annual Agricultural Conven- tion, at the request of the state secretary of agriculture, he read a paper on the Farmers Horse and Horse Breeding. This led to the formation of the Ohio State Draft and Coach Horse Association in 1891, and of this Mr. Levering was elected president and served for three successive years. In 1871 he was elected county commissioner of Knox county, and by re-election in 1874 filled the position for six consecutive years. It was in 1874 that iron bridges were built in the county, an improvement to which he gave his support. He was also instrumental in building the county infirmary at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars. In his po- litical views he has been a life-long Demo- crat, and in 1886 was the nominee of his party for congress in the ninth Ohio con- gressional district. He has ever been most painstaking and conscientious in the dis- charge of all public duties devolving upon him, regarding an office as a public trust which must not be betrayed. Early in life he united with the Presbyterian church, in which he has since been an active and zeal- ous member. When a history of the Lever- ing family was being prepared in 1891 he acted as corresponding secretary. Both Mr. and Mrs. Levering now reside at Levering, Knox county, Ohio. They have the follow- ing children : Noah C., of Richland county, Ohio; Lloyd D., of Knox county ; John Clif- ton, of Toledo; Mrs. Nettie Barnhill, of
Mansfield, Ohio; and Frank O., of this re- view.
Frank O. Levering was born on the old family homestead in Middlebury township, Knox county, September 29, 1862, and pur- sued his early education in the district schools, while through the period of vaca- tions he assisted his father in the work of fields and meadows. He afterward en- gaged in teaching, and later was graduated with honors in Eastman's Commercial Col- lege, in Poughkeepsie, New York. Not de- siring to follow the pursuit to which he had been reared, he determined to enter the mer- cantile field, and in 1885 established a store in the town of Levering, but this did not prove entirely congenial, and in 1890 he took up the study of law in Mount Vernon, in the office of Hon. Frank V. Owen, who di- rected his reading until his admission to the bar in 1892. He has since engaged in prac- tice and has secured a very desirable client- age. In 1883 he was appointed a member of the board of electors of the county and was twice reappointed, while in 1896 he was elected probate judge for a term of three years. Since his retirement from that of- fice he has given his attention to his private practice, which often partakes of a very im- portant character, as he is retained as coun- sel on many of the prominent cases tried in the courts of the district.
The Judge was united in marriage to Miss Byrdess E. Leiter, of Shelby, Ohio, a daughter of Captain C. P. Leiter, who was mayor of that city for a number of years. Their union has been blessed with six chil- dren : Howard A., Russell Edgar, John Collin, Nina May, Carlos and Ada. In his political views Judge Levering is a Demo-
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OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
crat and attended the national convention of his party as a delegate in 1900. He is a valued representative of several fraternal or- ganizations, belongs to the lodge, chapter, council and commandery in the Masonic fra- ternity, and of the last named has served as eminent commander. He also belongs to the Mystic Shrine. He is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias lodge ; past grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has filled many other offices in these organizations. Like his ancestors, he has ever taken a deep interest in everything per- taining to the progress and welfare of the county, and is an honored representative of a worthy pioneer family.
W. B. MERRIMAN, M. D.
For twenty-two years Dr. Merriman has been engaged in practice in Centerburg as a skillful physician and surgeon. He was born in Bloomfield township, Monroe county, Ohio, March 20, 1854, and is the youngest of three children of James and Emily (Carey) Merriman. The father was a na- tive of New York, although his parents were Vermont people. He learned the car- penter's trade in early life and when a young man came to Knox county, Ohio, where he was married and began his do- mestic life. Later, however, he removed to Morrow county, where he died at the age of forty-eight years. His wife, who was a na- tive of Knox county and here spent her girl- hood days, long survived her husband, and passed away when in her eighty-first year.
Dr. Merriman pursued his literary edu- cation in the district and graded schools of Knox county, and having determined to
make the practice of medicine his life work began reading the usual text-books on that subject under the direction of Dr. Russell, of Mount Vernon. Subsequently he entered the Long Island College Hospital, in Brook- lyn, where he was graduated with the class of 1878, and for one year thereafter he practiced in Marengo, Morrow county. The following year, 1879, he came to Center- burg, where he has since remained, his ar- rival antedating that of any other physician now actively connected with the profession here. He has long maintained a position among the leading and capable members of the medical fraternity in the county, for he has always kept in touch with the advanced thought and investigation which is daily car- rying on the work toward perfection.
In 1878 Dr. Merriman married Miss Eva Bird, a daughter of Milton and Melissa (Robertson) Bird, who came to Knox coun- ty from Connecticut about 1823. Here Mrs. Merriman was born, and by her marriage she became the mother of one daughter, Zola B., who is now a graduate nurse of the Grant Hospital in Columbus. In his po- litical views the Doctor is a stanch Repub- lican, believing that the principles of that party are most conducive to the welfare of the nation. He does all he can to secure Republican successes, but has never been an aspirant for political honors. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Centerburg and to the American Medical Society, through which means he keeps abreast with the advancement made in the science of medicine. Close study, earnest investigation and a sympathetic spirit have enabled him to carry on his work most suc- cessfully, both from a financial and profes- sional standpoint.
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A CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
LEVI BUTTLES.
Levi Buttles is descended from an old and highly respected family, the name be- ing formerly spelled Buttolph. His pater- nal great-grandfather, John Buttolph, was born in 1724 and was a captain in the Co- lonial army during the struggle for inde- pendence. In the latter half of the eight- eenth century two of his sons, Jonathan and Levi Buttolph, lived in Granby, Connecticut. The former's eldest son, Elihu, moved to Massachusetts, and while a member of the legislature of that state had the spelling of the name changed from Buttolph to Buttles. This change seems to have been made to conform to a corruption of the pronuncia- tion which had been slowly taking place, transforming Buttolph to Buttol, then to Buttle, and finally, by a very common change in the history of names, adding an "s." The younger son, Levi Buttolph, became the grandfather of our subject. He was born in 1763, at Granby, and his death oc- curred in 1805. He removed to Worthing- ton, Ohio, in 1803, where he became one of the early pioneers, and there he purchased land of the Connecticut Land Company.
Unto Levi and Sarah Buttolphi was born in Granby, September 6, 1791, a son, who was named Roderick. After the removal of the family to Worthington, Ohio, in the autumn of 1803 the son was baptized, and at that time, disliking the name of Roderick, and having always been called by the nick- name "Rory," he prefixed an "A" to the lat- ter and chose Arora as his baptismal name. At the same time he adopted the spelling of the family name which his cousin Elihu had introduced, and thenceforth signed his name Arora Buttles. But the four sons of our
subject have decided, with the full approval of their father and mother, to restore the old spelling of the family name. Their chief reason for the change is that the name Buttolph, in the earlier English records also spelled Botolf, Botolph and Butolph, is the historic surname, and that the modern cor- ruption is greatly regretted by most if not all members of the family. Two or three branches of the family in America have steadily preserved the old spelling of the name. Some of the branches which adopted the corrupted spelling have died out in the male line, and it is hoped that the change now made will materially aid in the effort to discard entirely the spelling Buttles in all branches of the family of Buttolph.
Judge Arora Buttles married Harriet Kilbourne, a daughter of Colonel James Kil- bourne and Lucy, nee Fitch, the daughter of John Fitch, the inventor of the steamboat. He is a representative of Thomas Kilbourne, one of the original settlers at Wethersfield, Connecticut. Colonel James Kilbourne set- tled at Worthington, Ohio, in 1803 ; was one of the most prominent men of early days of Ohio; was a member of congress and identified with all the early public life of this state. He came to Scioto county and was instrumental in settling a colony at JVorth- ington. He also founded Bucyrus, Ohio, and his grandson, Colonel James Kilbourne, was lately a Democratic candidate for gov- ernor.
Judge Arora Buttles, the father of our subject, became a prominent contractor and builder in Columbus, and was also engaged in the pork-packing business in that city, and there served the public as probate judge for a time. In 1847 he removed to Cleve- land, where he was engaged in the wholesale
I35
OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
lumber business until he retired from the active duties of life and removed to Gambier, where he spent his remaining days, passing away on the 2d of April, 1864.
Levi Buttles, whose name introduces this review, was graduated at Kenyon College in the class of 1847, and on putting aside his text-books to engage in the active duties of life he entered upon a business life with his father in Cleveland. In 1858, in com- pany with S. N. Sanford, he assumed con- trol of the Cleveland Female Seminary, be- coming one of its proprietors, and so contin- ning until 1880. Three years later he became identified with the Cleveland Window Glass Company as its vice-president, this concern being one of the largest of its kind in that city. He was a wide-awake, energetic busi- ness man of known reliability, and carried forward to successful completion whatever he undertook; but his life's labors were ended in death on the IIth of June, 1891. For many years prior to his death he made his home in Gambier, and was a prominent figure in the social life of the town. He was chosen by the alumni a trustee of Kenyon College, so serving from 1873 to 1881, and as such superintended the construction of Delano Hall.
On the 18th of August, 1858, occurred the marriage of Mr. Buttles and Miss Jane E. Wright, who was born in Portage coun- ty, Ohio, a daughter of Rev. Aaron K. and Helen M. (Ashmun) Wright. She was a cousin of Senator Ashmun, of Massachu- setts, who nominated Lincoln for the presi- dency in the Chicago convention. His grand- father, Dr. Amos C. Wright, was an early pioneer of Tallmadge, Ohio, his eldest child having been the first white child born in that township. The Doctor was also one of the
first trustees of Western Reserve College, and for many years he was a prominent and well known physician of his locality. The union of our subject and wife was blessed with six children. The eldest, Edwin K. But- tolph, received his education in Hobart Col- lege, and in 1881 he went to China as a missionary, and after his arrival there he became an employe of Tong-Kin-Sin, an electrician in the first coal mine opened in that country. While there Mr. Buttolph built with his own hands a telephone line of about three-quarters of a mile in length, which was the first telephone ever built in China. He returned to accept the chair of Chemistry in Hobart College, resigning to engage in silver mining in Colorado, being an expert assayer there and manager of mines in Equador, South America. The sec- ond child in order of birth, Mary, is the widow of Wolcott E. Newberry and a resi- dent of' New Haven, Connecticut. Helen A. Buttles is at home. Alfred passed away in death in April, 1891, aged twenty-three years. He, too, was educated in Hobart College. Guy H. Buttolph graduated in Kenyon College with the class of 1892, and is now mining in Equador, South America. Henry W., also a graduate of Kenyon Col- lege, in same class and who was valedictor- ian, is now actuary of the Inter State Life Assurance Company, of Indianapolis, In- diana. Mr. Buttles, of this review, was a Knight Templar Mason, and for many years he was a member of the Episcopal church, in which he was a very active worker. He was treasurer of the diocese of Ohio from 1873 till his death. This was one of the most es- sential and responsible offices of the diocese. His widow and family are also identified with the same religious denomination.
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A CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
JOSIAH M. PUMPHREY.
The late Josiah M. Pumphrey, of Clay township, Knox county, Ohio, was one whose life in many ways demonstrated the value of high character and should serve as a guide to young men who would succeed along legitimate lines. Mr. Pumphrey was born in Belmont county, Ohio, June 4, 1821, and died at his home in Clay township De- cember 16, 1894. His parents were John and Martha (Milligan) Pumphrey, and he was their third child in order of nativity. He was reared and educated in his native county and came to Knox county in 1846. He was married, February 24, 1849, in Clay township and removed to Hartford, Licking county, where he remained seven years. Re- turning thence to Clay township, he fol- lowed farming there until his death. He was a member and for many years an elder of the Christian church, of which he was an active supporter and to whose Sunday- school work he was much devoted. In pol- itics he was a Republican from the organiza- tion of that party. He served a short time during the Civil war as a soldier in the Union army, and was an honored member of Emerson Updyke Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of Martinsburg. In many direc- tions he was prominent in local affairs, and he was well known throughout the county.
Mr. Pumphrey married Miss Celia Ross, who was born in Clay township, Knox coun- ty, Ohio, July 4, 1830, a daughter of Sam- uel and Charity (Montgomery) Ross, he a native of Greene county, Pennsylvania. Mr. Ross was married in his native county, and was a pioneer settler in Knox county, Ohio, coming here about 1820, and locating in the woods in Clay township, where he built a
log cabin. This was afterward replaced by a better residence, and he cleared land and improved a fine farm, on which he lived un- til his death, which occurred when he was in his seventy-sixth year. The old homestead is still owned by Mrs. Pumphrey. He was a devoted member of the Christian church, and in politics was first a Whig and later a Republican. His father, Timothy Ross, was a native of Pennsylvania. Charity Mont- gomery, who became the wife of Samuel Ross, was born and reared in Maryland and lived to the age of fifty-four years. She bore her husband three sons and three daughters, five of whom grew to manhood and womanhood and of whom Mrs. Pumph- rey, the eldest daughter, was the second in order of birth.
Mrs. Pumphrey was reared in Clay town- ship, Knox county, Ohio, and though she attended other schools in the township of a later date she has a vivid recollection of the old log school houses in which the prim- itive subscription schools were taught. She was married to Mr. Pumphrey September 24, 1849, and has a son, Ross Pumphrey, a farmer in Clay township. He married Emma Caldwell, and their children are Leigh, Merton, Fay and Celia A. Mrs. Pumphrey has three great-grandsons, Fran- cis Burdette and Horace Pumphrey and an infant. One of her sisters, Mrs. Nancy In- gersoll, lives in Bates county, Missouri. Mrs. Pumphrey is the only representative of the family in Knox county.
WILSON S. KERR.
One of the leading representatives of ag- ricultural and commercial interests in Frederickstown and Knox county is Wilson
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OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
S. Kerr. "Through struggles to success" is the epitome of his business record. He is possessed of marked determination and un- faltering purpose and has steadily advanced, brooking no obstacles that could be over- come by unfaltering industry and capable management. He has spent his entire life in this county, his birth occurring in Pleas- ant township on the IIth of May, 1839.
His father, Benjamin Kerr, who was a farmer of Pleasant township, was born on the west bank of the Scioto river in what is now Franklin county, Ohio, April 14, 1800. In 1803 he was brought by his parents to Knox county, Ohio, a location being made in Fredericktown, where he remained with his parents until 1827, when he assisted in the erection of a mill, now gone to decay, known as the Kerr or Miller mill. In about 1826 he sank the first well in Gambier, on the public square, for Bishop Chase. On the 30th of October, 1827, Mr. Kerr mar- ried Rosa Elliott, a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Eaton) Elliott, who came to Knox county in 1806. This union resulted in the birth of seven children: Sarah A., John B., William E., Eliza J., Chambers, Wilson S. and Rose E. After his marriage Mr. Kerr settled on a homestead farm in Pleasant township and remained there until 1838, when he sold the mill property and bought a farm in the same township, and for four score years milling and farming was his principal vocation. He was truly a remark- able man, upright and honest, and in all his dealings he proved to the world he was in all respects a true man.
In the district schools Mr. Kerr, of this review, pursued his education until twenty years of age, and in the meantime had be- come familiar with all departments of farm
work, being employed in the fields on his father's farm through the periods of vaca- tion. The occupation to which he was reared he has made his life work, and to-day he is the owner of one hundred and eighty- five acres of valuable land, which is rich and arable and under a high state of cultivation. He carries on general farming and in return for his care and cultivation the well tilled fields yield to him rich harvests. His meth- ods are modern and progressive and every- thing about his place indicates his careful supervision. In addition to farming he is interested in the business of the exportation of hard wood lumber and logs, to which much of his attention has been devoted for twenty years. His trade has reached credit- able proportions and thereby materially in- creases his general income.
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