Wayne County OH

Biography of William Elliott Barnhart

William Elliott Barnhart, who has lived in Kansas City, Kansas, since 1887, has held many large responsibilities in connection with transportation lines, both urban and general railway companies, and has also regulated his private affairs so as to give time for much public service to his home city. His personal career has been one of many interesting experiences and achievements and his ancestry is also an appropriate matter of record. Mr. Barnhart was born at Cedar Valley in Wayne County, Ohio, December 8, 1857, a son of Frederick William and Clarisas (Gooding) Barnhart. The paternal ancestry goes back to his … Read more

Biography of Joseph Shoemaker

JOSEPH SHOEMAKER, Deceased. – To the substantial and industrious citizen whose name initiates this paragraph we are pleased to grant this review of his life’s career as a memoir to his faithfulness and integrity, while he was employed in the upbuilding and advancement of the interests of his chosen county. He was a man of good ability and possessed of a moral worth which made him one of the highly respected members of society. He was born in Wayne county, Ohio, on March 31, 1834, being the son of John and Susan Shoemaker. The father was a Dunkard preacher and … Read more

Biography of Arthur C. Trumbo

The development and success of the Muskogee National Bank is attributable in no small measure to Arthur C. Trumbo, an alert, energetic and farsighted business man, who in financial circles has made a most creditable name and place for himself. He was born on a farm in Allen county, Ohio, on the 6th of August, 1866, and attended the country schools until he reached the age of seventeen, when he began teaching and soon afterward was made principal of the Columbus Grove high school at Columbus Grove, Ohio. Desirous of enjoying still further educational advantages himself, he later became a … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Willis W. Norris

Norris, Willis W.; secretary of police; born, Dec. 19, 1877; Smithville, O.; educated, public school and Normal Academy, Smithville, 0., graduating in 1898; married; served as a volunteer in the Spanish-American War, 8th O. V. I.; taught school for five years, 1900-1905, and during this time, attended summer school at Wooster University and Law School, Ada, O.; came to Cleveland in 1905, and worked as a lather; was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of Ohio in 1908; and as such gave particular attention to legislation in the interests of labor; most important of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Benjamin F. Altman

Altman, Benjamin F.; steel business; born, Fredericksburg, O., Dee. 24, 1871; public school education; Manager Crucible Steel Co. of America, Cleveland Branch; started Park Steel Co.; in 1894 in the humble position of warehouseman, have been here ever since; member Masonic Bodies, Lake Shore Lodge Knights of Pythias; member German Club.

Biography of John Wasson

John Wasson, of Chino, is most widely known as an editor, but this accomplishment has been rather an incident than a design in his career. He was born in Wayne County, Ohio, August 20, 1833, on a farm. He received such education as the very common country schools afforded. Attendance on school was secondary to farm work in summer, and to some extent in winter. He was dissatisfied with farm life, but was notably a good worker with all farming implements. At the age of nineteen he went to California; spent 1852-’53 in the mines of El Dorado County. Sickness … Read more

Biographical Sketch of George E. Bishop

Bishop, George E.; dentist; born, Smithville, O., March 24, 1870; parents, A. B. Bishop and Mandilla E. Hartman; educated, public and high schools, Medina, Homeopathic College of Physicians and Surgeons, Cleveland; married, Cleveland, Oct. 21, 1906, Byrdie May King; issue, George King Bishop, Hudson Charles Bishop, Virginia Bishop; practicing dentist in Cleveland since 1893; member Woodward Lodge, F. & A. M., Colonial Club.

Biography of Gillis Q. Lake

Gillis Q. Lake has been in the drug business at Kansas City, Kansas, for the past eighteen years. Most of the people of that city know how he had built up the two finest drug stores in Kansas City, Kansas. The druggist is both a professional and business man, and Mr. Lake had apparently been equally strong in the professional and practical side of his business career. He was born at Wooster in Wayne County, Ohio, August 14, 1863. His parents were Constant and Ann (McDonald) Lake, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Charleston, South Carolina. … Read more

Biography of David O. Orr

Though for a number of years a resident of Topeka, David O. Orr is most widely known in Kansas as a successful stock farmer. He first came to the West more than forty years ago, and his early experiences were largely those of the stock ranch when by far the greater part of the western country was an unlimited and unfenced range. He was born in Wayne County, Ohio, March 26, 1853. His parents were Smith and Elizabeth (Anderson) Orr. Reared in Ohio, his early environment was a farm, and his education came from district schools. He started out on … Read more

Biography of William Frank Flack, M. D.

William Frank Flack, M. D. While the medical profession for centuries had enlisted some of the most profound minds of all times, modern discoveries and developments have opened up new fields for the brilliant physician and surgeon, and many of this profession have turned their attention to particular branches, specializing along certain lines. This development had been necessary, for the problems presented in the calling today are so serious and difficult of solution that the average physician had not the expert knowledge to handle all satisfactorily. For some years past William Frank Flack, the pioneer physician of Elk County, had … Read more

Biography of John Calvin Christy

John Calvin Christy, one of the leading members of the San Bernardino Bar, and Court Commissioner of the County, was born in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1839. He was educated in his native State, attending college from 1855 to 1859. Coming west to Illinois, in 1859, he located in the southern part of the State, known as Egypt, read law during 1859-’60th and in the spring of 1861 was admitted to the bar. He soon afterward entered the army as a member of Company B, Eighteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served nearly four years, two years of the time … Read more

Biography of Simon P. Kramer

Simon P. Kramer. During the greater part of the years since 1880, Simon P. Kramer had been a resident of Kansas and had been identified with the milling industry. He is one of the oldest flour millers in the state and had operated in many different towns. In 1915 he removed to Topeka, where he bought and reorganized the Topeka Flour Mills Company, of which he is now president. He had now one of the finest mills in equipment and service in this section of the state. It is equipped throughout with Allis-Chalmers machinery and only recently he gave an … Read more

Biography of Daniel M. Sechler

Daniel M. Sechler, founder of the D. M. Sechler Carriage Company, of Moline, Illinois, was born March 4, 1818, at Danville, Pennsylvania, and died at his home in Cincinnati, Ohio, May 27, 1903. Mr. Sechler’s forefathers, in the days of the persecution of John Huss, were obliged to flee for refuge from Austria, taking up their abode in Holland, from which country, in 1685, Mr. Sechler’s great great grandfather emigrated to America, locating near William Penn’s town of Philadelphia. His grandson, John Sechler, a revolutionary soldier, founded the town of Danville, the birthplace not only of the subject of this … Read more

Biography of Emery M. Cockrell

Emery M. Cockrell is one of the oldest settlers in the Kaw River Valley of Shawnee County. He located in Mission Township of that county in 1873. For forty years or more his business interests have been chiefly farming, and he had developed and improved some of the best land found in that township. Mr. Cockrell is also widely known in Shawnee County as a public spirited citizen, had filled several offices of trust and responsibility, and for a number of years had made his home in the City of Topeka. He was born in Wayne County, Ohio, August 21, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of J. J. Beall

J. J. Beall, student at law, Mattoon; was born in Wayne Co., Ohio, Nov. 26, 1843; his father came with his family to Illinois in the fall of 1852, and settled in Wayne Co. Here he engaged in farming. The subject of this sketch passed his life upon the farm and obtained his education at the common schools. In February, 1862, he left home, and began the trade of saddle and harness maker; he worked under instruction three years; he then worked as journeyman at his trade till 1870; in December, 1870, he was appointed Deputy Sheriff of Coles Co., … Read more