ULYSSES S. MARTIN, [page 663] one of the young members of the Dayton bar, was born in Randolph township, Montgomery county, Ohio, March 4, 1866. He is a son of Christian Martin, who was born at Lewisburg, Preble county, Ohio, in 1830, and who removed to Montgomery county about 1856. By occupation he was a farmer; politically he was a republican, took an active interest in public affairs, and such was his popularity that he served for three terms as trustee of Randolph township, although the township was normally democratic. The people then, as now, believed that in local affairs fitness for the position was a better qualification, in an official, than mere party affiliation. Mr. Martin died in 1892, honored by all who knew him. His wife was Maria Frantz, born about ten miles northwest of Trotwood, Montgomery county, and is still living.
Ulysses S. Martin was reared on the farm until he was eighteen years of age. He received his education in the public schools of his native county until he was sixteen years of age, and then for some two years he attended the high school of Randolph township, at Harrisburg. At this time he began teaching school in the winter time and attending the Western normal university at Ada, Ohio, in the summer season. This course he pursued for three years, and then began a course of study at Otterbein university, graduating from this institution as a bachelor, of arts, in June, 1892. He taught school for another year, and then began reading law, in the spring of 1893, in the office of Carr, Allaman & Kennedy, of Dayton. As he had already begun to read law while engaged in teaching school, having had that profession in view, it was not necessary for him to spend as much time in preparation for practice as would otherwise have been the case, and he was admitted to the bar in June, 1894. In July following, he opened an office in the Callahan Bank building, where he is now engaged in the active practice of his profession.
Mr. Martin is a member of the order of Odd Fellows, of the Knights of Pythias, and of the Knights of the Ancient Essenic Order. He was married November 27, 1894, to Laura G. Denlinger, of Dayton, Ohio. Mr. Martin is a thoroughly educated man, well equipped for the successful prosecution of his profession, and, though but recently established, there is every reason to expect him to take a creditable place in the ranks of the leading members of the Montgomery county bar.
DAVID M. MARTIN, [pages 663-664] superintendent and secretary of the Dayton workhouse, was born in Clarke county, Ohio, September 20, 1848. He is a son of Henry Martin, who when a boy removed from Pennsylvania to Ohio, and lived in Clarke county until 1880, when he removed to Dayton, where he is now living. Henry Martin was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion, being a member of the One Hundred and Fifty-third regiment 0. V. I., and in the same company there were also one of his brothers and three brothers-in-law.
David M. Martin was reared in Clarke county, six miles west of Springfield, receiving his elementary education in the common schools, and completing his education in the Miami Commercial college at Dayton, When he was eighteen years of age the family removed to Osborn, Greene county, Ohio, and there he clerked for some time in a general store. In 1873 he removed to Dayton, where, after attending commercial college, he filled a position as bookkeeper for fifteen years. In 1888 he was elected to the city council, and in 1889 he was elected to his present position, to which he has been annually re-appointed ever since.
Mr. Martin is a member of the order of Knights of Pythias, lodge No. 83, American Legion of Honor, and a director of the Garfield club, a republican organization. He was married February 20, 1873, to Miss Lucy J. Judson, of Osborn, Ohio, by whom he has two sons and one daughter. The eldest son, George M., is at the present time physical director of the Young Men's Christian association, of Youngstown, Ohio, and the other son, Harry J., is a law student in this city. Mr. Martin is one of the highly esteemed citizens of Dayton, and is deservedly popular with all classes of people.
JOHN MATHIAS, [pages 664-665] manager of the Mathias Planing Mill company, of Dayton, Ohio, is a native of Germantown, Montgomery county, and was born October 5, 1861, of sterling German parentage. His father, John Frederick Mathias, was born in Breslau, Prussia, in 1810, and his mother, Rosanna (Voiz) Mathias, is a native of Hessen Darmstadt, born in 1818. They were married in Germantown, Ohio, where the father passed the greater part of his life as a farmer and butcher, and died April 29, 1890; the mother is still living and is passing her declining years with her children in Dayton. John Frederick and Rosanna were parents of two children only—Jacob C., and John.
John Mathias, when about five years of age, was taken to Sunbury, Montgomery county, Ohio, by his parents, where for a number of years they made their home. There he received his early education, and later became a student in architecture in his native town, and there engaged in business; later, he came to Dayton and for several years worked as a contractor and builder. He then returned to Germantown, but finally, in 1890, permanently settled in Dayton, established the Globe Paper Mill & Lumber company and operated it until September 15, 1892. At that date the Mathias Planing Mill company was organized and incorporated, with an authorized capital of $75,000, the incorporators being N. T. Bish, D. W. Allaman, Elmer E. Ganster, Benjamin E. Hocker, W. S. Zehring and Mr. Mathias. For the first year and a half after incorporation Mr. Mathias served as president of the company, after which S. W. Hoover was elected and served until his death in 1895, although Mr. Mathias was always the efficient manager of the concern. January 27, 1897, Mr. Mathias retired from the company, though still holding his interest in the same, and organized a new company, which assumed the same name—i.e.: The Mathias Planing Mill company. The company does a general contracting business, furnishing lumber and mill work, and for the past three years the average output has been at the rate of $145,000 per annum.
January 29, 1888, Mr. Mathias married Miss Sarah Main, a native of Liberty, Montgomery county, but of Maryland parentage. Four children have blessed this union and were born in the following order: Joseph G., Florence I., Edgar H., and Wilson. Mr. and Mrs. Mathias' are consistent members of the United Brethren church and in politics Mr. Mathias is an active Republican. He is a thorough master of his business, attentive and obliging to his patrons, and has won the respect of a large circle of acquaintances throughout Montgomery county.
WARREN G. MATTHEWS, [page 665] proprietor of the Dayton Floral company, was born in Chicago, Ill., January 14, 1861, and is a son of Aaron G. and Nancy A. (Youngblood) Matthews.
Aaron G. Matthews was born near Booneville, Warrick county, Ind., was a farmer by calling, and died in 1863; Mrs. Nancy A. Matthews is now a resident of Dayton, Ohio. There were but two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Matthews, viz: .Warren G., and Eva, wife of John G. Weaton, of Chicago. Warren G. Matthews was educated in the public schools of his native city, and at the age of ten years began working in a floral establishment, completing a thorough course of training in both the retail and wholesale departments of the mercantile branch of floriculture, and also learned landscape gardening, having ample practice in this branch through working in Lincoln park for a number of years. In 1883 he came to Dayton, and was employed by George R. Mumma for one year, but while so employed opened a store on Fifth street for the sale of cut flowers, and since his first year here has devoted his entire attention to this particular line of business. In 1887 he opened his present establishment, which is inclosed with 15,000 square feet of glass, and here he propagates an immense assortment of exotic and domestic plants of the choicest varieties, selling cut flowers for decorating purposes, and also dealing largely, both at retail and wholesale, in bedding plants. His establishment is admirably constructed for the purpose to which it is devoted, being supplied with all the apparatus necessary for the successful culture of plants. Mr. Matthews has made a marked success of this industry, and this has been brought about through his own skill and practical knowledge of the science of floriculture.
Mr. Matthews is not a politician, but is a strong and active republican. He is a member of lola lodge, No, 83, Knights of Pythias, and of lola division, No. 26, uniform rank of the same order; is a member of the Ancient Order of American Knights, of the Patriotic Sons of America, and of the dramatic order of Knights of Khorassan. He was married, October r, 1884, to Miss Flora B., daughter of George R. Mumma, but has had the misfortune to lose his wife, who died March 21, 1893, the mother of three children, Walter G., Ruth M. and Florence M. Mr. Matthews is a member of the Second Evangelical Lutheran church, and enjoys the attachment of many warm friends and acquaintances.
ALVIN LAWRENCE MENDENHALL, [pages 665-666] member of the Dayton bar, was born at Woodington, Darke county, Ohio, August 21, 1866. He is a son of Samuel T. and Catherine (Teeter) Mendenhall, the former of whom was born in Preble county, Ohio, and the latter in Bedford county, Pa. Early in life Samuel T. Mendenhall removed from Pennsylvania to Darke county, Ohio, and was there engaged in merchandizing for many years. He was a justice of the peace for fifteen or twenty years and died in 1875, a man of influence and standing in the community. His widow died in 1882.
Alvin Lawrence Mendenhall lived at home until the death of his mother, he being at that time a little more than fifteen years of age. From that time until 1895 he lived in Preble county. At the age of nineteen years he began teaching school and followed that profession for nine years in Preble county. In 1892 he began reading law and in 1894 was in attendance at the Cincinnati Law school, being graduated there in May of that year. In July, 1895, he located in Dayton and engaged in the practice of law, which profession he has followed here since that time.
Mr. Mendenhall was married March 16, 1887, to Miss Anna C. Foos, of West Manchester, Preble county, Ohio, and to this marriage there has been born one child, Irene, aged four years.
FREDERICK C. MERKLE, [pages 666-669] president of the Staniland, Merkle & Staniland company of Dayton, was born in Wapakoneta, Auglaize county, Ohio, April 24, 1851, a son of Charles and Anna Eve (Kitzenberger) Merkle, the former of whom is deceased and the latter a resident of Findlay, Ohio. Both parents were born in Germany, the mother in Bayern, whence she was brought to America when but two years of age. The father, who was born in Wittenberg, was twenty-two years old when he came to the United States. For some years he followed his trade of wagonmaking, but for the twenty years immediately preceding his death was the proprietor of the Union house in Wapakoneta. Their children were eight in number, as follows: William, now deceased; John, a police officer of Dayton; Frederick C.; Charles, a contractor of Dayton; Mary, deceased; Joseph C., chief engineer of water works at Dayton; Rosa and Adam, deceased.
Frederick C. Merkle attended the public schools of Wapakoneta until sixteen years of age, and then entered the employ of J. H. Weller, assistant superintendent of the Dayton & Michigan railroad, with whom he remained three years, taking in the meantime a course of study in the Wilts Commercial college. He then began railroad work proper, commencing as brakeman on a freight train and reaching the position of freight conductor, remaining on the road for four years. In 1873 he went to Tippecanoe, Ohio, and opened a harness store, which he conducted for four years, and while in that city he married, March 24, 1874, Miss Elizabeth Pohlkotte. In 1880 Mr. Merkle came to Dayton and engaged as traveling salesman for the marble firm, which, through his indefatigable devotion to his duties, has reached its present large proportions. The plant was established in 1863 and is the oldest of its kind in Ohio, and when Mr. Merkle became connected with it occupied a small lot, 40x200 feet. In 1890 he became a member of the firm, which then assumed the style of Staniland, Merkle & Staniland, and in 1892 the concern was incorporated, when he became its secretary and treasurer. It manufactures granite and marble monuments, mausoleums, etc., and all kinds of marble furniture and plumbers' accessories. The plant is on Washington street near the railroad, covers two acres of land, and employs from thirty to seventy-five men. It is the best equipped plant in the west, being fitted with complete steam apparatus, traveling derricks and cranes, and all other modern improvements. The output of the company is disposed of throughout Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and parts of Illinois and Pennsylvania, and nine salesmen are kept constantly on the road. The capital stock of the company is $35,000, and its present officers are Frederick C. Merkle, president; C. A. Bonner, vice-president; J. Henry Merkle, secretary and treasurer.
To Mr. Merkle too much praise cannot be given for the skill and energy with which he has managed the affairs of his present firm, and indeed, for the successful manner in which he has conducted all his undertakings. He was but sixteen years of age when lie started at the bottom of the ladder, and he now stands among the solid business men of Dayton. In politics he is a republican. Fraternally, he is a member of Tippecanoe lodge, No. 257, F. & A. M, Buckeye lodge, No. 47, I. 0. 0. F., and he is also a Royal Arch Mason. Mr. and Mrs. Merkle have had four children, viz: J. Henry, who is secretary and treasurer of the Staniland, Merkle & Staniland company; George R., deceased; Anna and Edith. The family have their pleasant home at No. 26 High street, and are consistent members of the German Lutheran church.
LOUIS MEHLBERTH, [669-670] the efficient and popular deputy sheriff of Montgomery county, Ohio, traces his lineage through a long line of German ancestors. His father, Bernard Mehlberth, was born in Germany and emigrated to America in. 1848, landing at Baltimore, Md., and proceeding thence to Pittsburg, Pa., where he remained but a short time, and then made his way to Cincinnati, Ohio, from which city he came to Dayton. Here he established himself in business, becoming one of the prominent and honored citizens and business men of the city, and here remained until his death, which occurred April 30, 1894, at the age of seventy-five years. He was successfully engaged in the manufacture of brushes for many years, and was well known and highly esteemed in the community. In his religious affiliations he was a prominent member of the German Methodist Episcopal church. His wife, whose maiden name was Pauline Fraas, was born in Germany, where she came to America about the year 1855, her marriage to Mr. Mehlberth being solemnized in Dayton. She is still living, at the age of sixty-four years. The children of this union were five in number: Emma is the wife of Charles Schlemmer, of Dayton; Edward is also a resident of this city; Louis is the immediate subject of this review; Matilda is the wife of William H. Smith, of Dayton; and Minnie is the wife of E. R. Lines, also of this city.
Louis Mehlberth received his educational training in the public schools of Dayton, completing the intermediate school course and graduating as a member of the class of 1880.
He then entered the office of the Dayton Journal and served an apprenticeship of three years at the printer's trade. For a short time only he devoted his attention to work at the trade, and in 1883 he engaged in the grocery business in Dayton, continuing for a period of nine years, being associated with his brother on East Fifth street. He then disposed of his interest in this business, and entered Wilt's Commercial college, where he completed a course of study, after which he became a member of the firm of Wells & Mehlberth, dealers in hats and caps. He withdrew from this enterprise at the end of two years, and on the 7th of January, 1895, was appointed office deputy by Sheriff Anderton, and has since rendered most effective service to the county in this capacity. In his political adherency Mr. Mehlberth renders allegiance to the republican party, and his personal popularity was such as to secure his election as a member of the board of education, in which he represented a democratic ward from 1892 to 1894. He has always taken a particular interest in education matters; and his services on the board were of much value, while he has been progressive and public-spirited in all matters bearing upon the welfare and prosperity of the city of his birth. In his fraternal relations Mr. Mehlberth is identified with Gem City lodge, No. 795, I. 0. 0.F.; Linden lodge, No. 412, Knights of Pythias; and Gem City council, No. 1, Fraternal Censer, while he is also a member of the well-known Garfield club, a republican organization.
On the 8th of November, 1886, Mr. Mehlberth married Miss Clara B. Vintree, daughter of Benjamin F. Vintree, of Dayton. They enjoy a pleasant popularity in the social circles of the city, and their home is the center of a large circle of friends.
JOSEPH C. MERKLE, [page 670] chief engineer of the Dayton water works, was born in Wapakoneta, Auglaize county, Ohio, February 8, 1858, and is a son of Charles Merkle, one of the oldest settlers of Auglaize county. In 1867 Mr. Merkle removed his family to Dayton, Ohio, and there Joseph C. attended the public schools until he was fifteen years of age. He began the practical work of life by learning the trade of machinist, continuing at work in establishments until 1881, when he became foreman of the Stilwell & Bierce Manufacturing company, which manufactures heaters, roller mills, and turbine water wheels. This position he held for six years, and in the spring of 1887 he became assistant engineer of the Dayton city waterworks. This position Mr. Merkle held until 1894, when he was promoted to the position of engineer in chief, upon the death of M. L. Weaver, who had been engineer in chief from 1873 to 1882, and again from 1887 until 1894, the year of his death. Mr. Merkle has two assistant engineers and four other employees under him. The water works have a capacity of 29,000,000 gallons per day, and it is probable that no city in the United States has a more constant or a purer supply of water than has the city of Dayton. The plant runs continually twenty-four hours per day the year round, and the position of chief engineer is one of trust and responsibility. Since holding his present position, Mr. Merkle has made many improvements, and reconstructed the plant materially. He has made connection with the whole system of wells, by which he can pump by direct suction in case of necessity.
Mr. Merkle was married November 27, 1879 to Miss Mary C. Weglage, of Dayton, a daughter of Henry Weglage, deceased. To this marriage there have been born four sons and one daughter, as follows: William H., Charles E., Walter E., Blanche M. and Frederick C. Mr. Merkle is a member of Dayton lodge, No. 273, I. 0. 0. F.; Riverdale lodge, K. of P.; Dayton court of Foresters, and of the Jackson democratic club. He is a man of great force of character and of sterling integrity, enjoying the esteem and confidence of all who know him.
PETER MEYER, [pages 670-671] funeral director and undertaker, No. 716 South Wayne street, Dayton, is a native of Germany, born on the 8th day of September, 1850, in the kingdom of Prussia. His parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Meyer, were natives of the same country, and their bodies lie side by side in the old cemetery, where mingle the ashes of many generations of their ancestors. Of a family of four children born to Jacob and Elizabeth Meyer, but two survive - Jacob, a resident of Dayton, and Peter. John, the eldest brother, died in 1871, and the only sister, Mrs. Aktie Breit, died and was laid to rest in the fatehrland.
Peter Meyer was educated in the schools of his native country, and there served an apprenticeship at the trade of blacksmithing, at which he worked four years in Prussia. Thinking to better his condition in a country which afforded better inducements and larger opportunities, Mr. Meyer, when nineteen years of age, bade farewell to the land of his birth and came to the United States, locating in. Dayton city, Ohio, where for a period of six years he worked at his trade with much success. During the last three years of that time he operated a shop upon his own responsibility, and then engaged in the livery business, which he carried on until 1885, when he added undertaking as a branch of the enterprise. In the spring of 1891; Mr. Meyer disposed of the livery business, and since that time has devoted his entire attention to undertaking, which, conducted with a wisely-directed energy, has borne results of a most satisfactory character.
Mr. Meyer is a typical German-American, a man of the highest business and social standing, and his reputation has been gained by a long course of honest and straightforward conduct. He is a democrat in politics, and in religion is a Roman Catholic, belonging with his family to Saint Mary's church of Dayton. He is charitably inclined, having always been noted for his liberality in behalf of the needy.
In November, 1873, Mr. Meyer and Miss Rosa Steffen, of Dayton, daughter of Martin and Mary Steffen, natives of Germany, were united in the bonds of wedlock, a union blessed with the birth of three children--Charlie, Katie and Marie—all residing at this time under the parental roof.
HENRY W. MEYER, [pages 671-672] foreman of the works of S. N. Brown & Co., manufacturers of wheels and carriage materials, was born in the kingdom of Hanover, February 13, 1837. His parents, Henry W. and Elizabeth (Osterhaus) Meyer, were natives of Germany, and were the parents of four children, three sons and a daughter. Three of these are still living, as follows: Henry W.; John, of Dayton; and August, of Springfield. There were two children born to the senior Meyer by a former marriage, only one of whom is now living, viz: James R., now engineer for 0. L. Bouck, of Dayton. Henry W. Meyer, the father of our subject, came to the United States in 1837, located in Dayton, and there lived all his life, dying in 1880 at the age of eighty-one. From 1846 to 1854 he was sexton of the cemetery in Dayton. He assisted to build the old Sears street Lutheran church and was a member of the church and one of its deacons for many years. His wife was also a member of this church, and died in 1846, when forty-six years of age.
The paternal grandfather of the present Henry W. Meyer died in Germany, when his son Henry W. was fifteen years of age. The maternal grandfather, Henry Harmon Osterhaus, came to the United States, lived in Dayton, and died in this city at an advanced age.
Henry W. Meyer, whose name opens this sketch, was reared in Dayton, and was educated in the public schools of that city. He began learning the trade of wood-turning at the age of fifteen, and entered the service of the firm for which he is still working, in June, 1852, so that he has been in the constant employment of this one firm for forty-five years, and has been foreman of the works for thirty years. Mr. Meyer was married October 28, 1858, to Miss Elizabeth Kuhlman, daughter of Herman B. and Margaret E. Kuhlman. By this marriage he has had six children, four of whom are now living, as follows: William, Charles H., Mary and Emma. William H. married Miss Tillie Timmer, and has six children. Mary. who married G. A. Lange, principal of the Fourth district school, has two children. Florence and Herbert. Charles H. is secretary of the Germania Building association; and Emma is a successful teacher of instrumental music.
Mr. and Mrs. Meyer and all of their family are members of the Wayne street Lutheran church. Politically, he is an independent democrat, and as such served as a member of the city council for several years, representing the Fifth and Sixth wards. He lives in a comfortable home on the corner of Chestnut and Brown streets, among the highly esteemed and well-known citizens of Dayton.
DAVID W. MILLER, [pages 672-675] superintendent of construction at the national military home, at Dayton, is a native of Montgomery county, Ohio, born August 25, 1841, a son of Jacob and Susannah (Stoner) Miller, and was reared to manhood and learned the carpenter's trade in his native county.
Jacob Miller, his father, was born in Dauphin county, Pa., February 13, 1809, and descended from a German family, who spelled the name Mueller, and who settled in Pennsylvania prior to the war of the Revolution. Jacob Miller was a carpenter by trade, and in his early manhood came to Montgomery county, Ohio, and here married, in 1835, Miss. Susannah Stoner, a native of Maryland, born in 1817. To this marriage were born six sons and six daughters, of whom four died in infancy; William died at the age of fourteen years, and Jacob when eighteen years old. Of the five living, beside David W., Elizabeth is the wife of Noah Kinsey, a farmer residing seven miles north of Dayton; Michael B., a carpenter and contractor, lives in Riverdale, Dayton; Mary Ann is married to Adam Greenewalt, of Mansfield, Ill.; Susannah is the wife of George Leattor, of Elgin, Ill., and. Henrietta Williamson lives near Dayton, Ohio. The mother of these children died on the Montgomery county farm, in 1863. and the father took for his second wife Miss Hannah Stoner, a sister of his first wife, with whom he lived until his death in Montgomery county, in 1875; his widow now makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Williamson. David. W. Miller enlisted, February 7, 1864, in company K, Sixty-third Ohio volunteer infantry, and served until the close of the Civil war—his brother, Michael B., being a member of the same company. The scope of this memoir cannot be expanded sufficiently to permit mention of the numerous battles in which Mr. Miller took part; suffice it to say that he served in the army of the Tennessee, and participated in all the marches, skirmishes, and battles in which his regiment was engaged, including the march of Sherman to the sea , and through the Carolinas to Washington, where he participated in the grand review in May, 1865, and received an honorable discharge in Louisville, Ky., in July of the same year, when he returned to his native county and resumed active work at his trade.
January 10, 1867, David W. Miller was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Ann Landis, a native of Montgomery county, and a daughter of David and Rachel (Welbaum) Landis. David Landis was born in Lancaster county, Pa., in 1816; his wife is a native of Montgomery county, Ohio, born in 1821, and both are now living in Salem, in the latter county. They have had born to them a family of ten children, viz: John W . Jacob H., Josiah, Rachel, William W., Lucinda, Mary Catherine, Harvey, Dora Ellen and Theodore. Of these, John W. lives in the old homestead, near Salem; Jacob H. is a bookkeeper in a law office in Dayton; Josiah was a soldier in the Civil war, was married, and died in 1869. leaving one child; William W., a teacher, died in 1868 in his twenty-first year; Lucinda died in young womanhood and Mary Catherine is also deceased; Dora Ellen is the wife. of H. C. Boyer, a farmer near West Milton, Ohio.
To the marriage of David W. Miller and wife, seven children have been born, in the following order: Carrie May, who is the wife of H. H. Prugh, an attorney of Dayton; Lillie Ada, married to Rev. Freeley Rohrer, a Presbyterian minister, of Paulding, Ohio; Wilbert Alfred, a notary public, bookkeeper and stenographer, and in the insurance business in Dayton; Chester Earl, employed in Dayton; Daisy Ann, who died at the age of three years and six months; Mabel Maud, and Charles Howard; the youngest four living of these are still under the parental roof.
Mr. Miller followed his vocation of carpenter and contractor, and that of superintending the business of Beaver & Butt, contractors, until 1888, when he was appointed to his present responsible position as superintendent of construction at the national military home. He has charge of twenty-six regular carpenters, beside a force of forty auxiliaries, and also of all the material used in the various departments of construction and repair.
Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also of the Old Guard post, Grand Army of the Republic. Mrs. Miller is a member of the Ladies of the G. A. R., and also of the Woman's Christian Temperance union, and, with her husband, of Paper Methodist Episcopal church, being very active in both church and Sunday-school work. Socially, the family stands very high, and no one enjoys a fuller measure of esteem in the community than David W. Miller.
JAMES R. MEYERS, [pages 675-676] engineer for 0. L. M Bouck's planing mill, of Dayton, Ohio, was born in the kingdom of Hanover, Germany, December 22, 1825, He is a son of Henry W. and Eliza (Dorman) Meyers, who were natives of Germany. Henry W. and Eliza Meyers had two children, James R. and Christian R., the latter of whom died May 27, 1851. James R. Meyers is a half-brother of Henry W. Meyers, whose biographical sketch appears elsewhere in this volume.
James R. Meyers was eleven years of age when his parents came to Montgomery county and located in Dayton, in August, 1837. Reared in Dayton, he was educated in the public schools of that city. When he was in his fifteenth year he began working for the state of Ohio, on the repairs of the canal between Dayton and Troy, and continued thus to work until he was married, which event occurred August 21, 1851. The maiden name of his wife was Martha Ann Baman, a daughter of Charles and Martha (Hill) Baman, who came from Virginia to Dayton in 1811.
To the marriage of James R. and Martha Ann Meyers there were born nine children, as follows: William, Henry, Albert, Frank, Ellen, Miranda, Annie, Callie and Lillie. William married Minnie Staffin, and by her has two children, Clara and Louisa. William Meyers is a blacksmith by trade and occupation. Henry married Rose Miles. He is at the present time foreman of the 0. L. Bouck planing mill. Albert married Ida Taylor. Frank married Clara Stowe. Ellen married 0. L. Bouck, and has two children, Clifford and Margaret, Miranda married Frank Judson, who has been a clerk, in the post-office at Dayton for more than twenty years. Mr. and Mrs. Judson have two sons, Arthur and Walter. Annie married Charles P. Foulkuth, and has one child. Ivy Callie died at the age of twenty-four, and Lillie is keeping house for her father, her mother having died December 2, 1880, at the age of forty-nine. Mrs. Meyers was one of the good Christian women of Dayton, a member of the First United Brethren church of Dayton, to which Mr. Meyers himself belongs. Politically Mr. Meyers is a republican, but has never sought official position. He has been engineer for the 0. L. Bouck planing mill ever since it was established, a period of twelve years, and has earned a reputation for faithful and excellent performance of his responsible duties. For the past sixty years he has been a resident of Dayton, and has been an eye-witness of this city's great and rapid growth and development as a manufacturing center.
CAPT. HERMAN C. MEYER, [pages 676-677] a resident of the Dayton National Military Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, holds the responsible position of captain of company Eight. He is a native of Germany, having been born in Osnabruck, Hanover, September 17, 1840, and there he remained until he had reached the age of seventeen, when he joined the great throng of the hardy and adventurous that were coming to America for those larger opportunities of living that the old world did not afford. He was educated with German thoroughness at the gymnasium in Osnabruck, and at the university at Gottingen, Hanover. On reaching this country he made his way to Allentown, Pa., where he secured a good position in a rolling mill, through the influence of Senator S. S. Cox, whose acquaintance he had made while on the ocean. His stay in the rolling mill was measured by half a year, when he left it to go into the office of the Ohio & Northwestern Lumber company as bookkeeper and clerk. He was still in the employ of this firm when the fall of Fort Sumter startled the north. The rapidity with which the people rallied to the support of the government is evident from the fact, that though Mr. Meyer's enlistment came as early as May 17; 1861, he was enrolled in company A, Twenty-eighth Ohio volunteer infantry. He was mustered into the service at Cincinnati, and was at once attached to the army of West Virginia, under command of Gen. Rosecrans. In a skirmish at Princeton, in that state, he received a disabling wound, being shot through both arms. He was in the hospital for long and dreary weeks, and when he left it was pronounced unfit for active service. But he was determined to be still at the front, and at his own request was transferred to the United States signal corps, and served with that organization until the close of the war. He joined Sherman's army at Rocky Face ridge, and went with it to Atlanta, Savannah, and "the sea." He was with it on the memorable march through the Carolinas and to Washington, participating in the grand review of the victorious armies. From Washington he was sent to Louisville, and from. there to Brownsville, Tex., remaining in the service until August 6, 1866.
Mr. Meyer immediately sought his old position with the Ohio & Northwestern Lumber company at Columbus, upon his retirement from the signal service, and with that firm he continued until failing health compelled him to cease active labor April 4, 1885, and to seek medical relief. He was in the hospital at Buffalo under treatment for several months, and finding himself permanently unfit for active employment, he came to the Dayton home November 13, 1886. He was at once put in command of company Twenty-seven, and administered the duties of that position for nine years. But his health became so much impaired that he could no longer act in that capacity. Accordingly he resigned in February, 1896, and took a prolonged trip through northern Michigan. This so improved his health, that, on his return, he was appointed to the command of company Eight.
Capt. Meyer is a member of Mystic lodge, F. & A. M., of the Germania society of Philadelphia, and of the Signal Corps organization at Detroit, of which there are known to be but fifty-seven members living. He is a Protestant, confirmed in the German Reformed church while still a youth. He is a strong republican, and a man of intelligence and broad culture. He has had many thrilling experiences, and the story of his life would read like a romance, with the added charm of being true. He comes of a family of soldiers well known in his native country. His father, H. V. Meyer, was colonel of the Second dragoons of Hanover, Germany, and spent his entire life in the army, dying of a wound received in the Schleswig-Holstein war of 1866. His mother, whose maiden name was May Viola Von Hess, was the daughter of Gen. Von Hess, well known in the military history of Austria, and is also deceased. She and her husband were the parents of nine children, five sons and four daughters, and of these but four are now living, Capt. Meyer being the youngest. His eldest brother, Laurens V. Meyer, resides near Berlin, Germany, and is on the retired list of the imperial army. He was in active service as brigadier-general of the First German cavalry corps. The two sisters also married soldiers, and are widows residing in their native country.
GEORGE W. MILLER, M. D., [page 677] a successful physician and surgeon of Dayton, Ohio, was born in Cincinnati, March 18, 1866. He is a son of Charles H. and Hannah C. (Combs) Miller, both of Cincinnati, of which city the family have been residents for many years.
George C. Miller, the grandfather of Dr. Miller, was one of the early settlers of Cincinnati, when it was but a small place, containing then only about 3,000 inhabitants. He came from New Jersey, was of Revolutionary stock, and started the first carriage factory on this side of the Alleghany mountains. He turned out the first iron-tired buggy ever made in the west, forging the tires by hand from scraps of iron. He retired from business at an advanced age and was succeeded by his two sons. He was one of the founders of the Commercial bank of Cincinnati, and was also one of the founders of the Seventh Presbyterian church of that city. He lived to a green old age, and died leaving a family of six children. Charles H. Miller, the father of the doctor, was for some time engaged in the manufacture of plows and carriages.
George W. Miller is one of a family of five children. He was educated in the high school of Cincinnati, and afterward took a commercial coarse, in 1887 entering Pulte Medical college, from which he graduated in 1890. After practicing in Cincinnati for one year he was called to the chair of anatomy in Pulte Medical college, which, chair he filled for two years. In 1893 he removed to Dayton and formed a partnership with Dr. Joseph E. Lowes, with whom he has since been associated. Dr. Miller is a thorough physician and is rapidly advancing in the ranks of the profession. He is a member of the Montgomery county Homeopathic Medical society, and of the state Homeopathic Medical association, of the Knights of Pythias, and of the B. P. 0. E.; is physician of the Dayton work house, and is medical examiner for the Knights of Pythias. He is a member of the Reformed Presbyterian church, is devoted to church work, and is in every way a worthy, public-spirited citizen.
JOHN CHARLES MILLER, [pages 677-678] the well known and popular pharmacist at No. 504 East Xenia street, Dayton, Ohio, is a native of Clay county, Ind., was born October 3, 1869, and is a son of Rev. Jacob and Huldah (Pickhart) Miller, both natives of Germany.
Rev. Jacob Miller was born in Martsheim, Germany, February 1, 1833, and his wife, Huldah Pickhart, is a native of Hueckswagen, Germany, born November 29, 1834. They were married in Cannelton, Ind., August 12, 1854, the mother having come to America in 1848, and of their family of five sons and five daughters, two of each are still living. The father died October 9, 1891, at No. 119 Boltin street, Dayton, where his widow still resides. Rev. Jacob Miller received his education in his native land, and there also learned the coopering trade. He embarked for America January 31, 1853, landed at New Orleans, came up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and reached Evansville, Ind., April 5 of the same year. There he established a cooper shop and followed his trade until 1866, when he abandoned it to enter the ministry of the Evangelical church. Though his services in this work were but poorly recompensed in that then frontier country, his heart was in the cause of the Master, and he continued to labor in his vineyard, in various sections of the country, until within three years of his death, when ill health compelled him to retire.
John C. Miller, his son, was educated in the common schools and within the family circle, in the latter receiving a thorough training in the German language, which has been of great value to him from a business point of view. July 5, 1886, he became a clerk in a drug store in Fort Wayne, Ind., where he remained two years, and then entered the Illinois college of Pharmacy at Chicago, passed through a one-year course of lectures, and then, for about two years, clerked in a drug store in that city. In 1890 he came to Dayton, and here, for a short time, was employed by a leading drug firm. From January, 1891, until January, 1892, he resided in Cincinnati, and while there passed an examination before the Ohio board of pharmacy, receiving his license as a pharmacist in the last named year —this license being reissued in 1895. September 5, 1892, he opened business on his own account at his present location in Dayton, and now carries a well selected stock of drugs, patent medicines, toilet articles, etc. He compounds some of the standard proprietary remedies, and bears an excellent reputation, personally and as a careful, painstaking prescription druggist. He is doing an altogether prosperous trade, and well deserves the success attending him.
May 11, 1892, Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Kuebler, daughter of Frederick and Elizabeth Kuebler, old settlers of Dayton. To this union have been born two children—Frederick John, who died when seven weeks old, and one that died in early infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Miller are strict members of the Evangelical church, and Mr. Miller is a Forester. In politics he is independent, but is possessed of strong silver-republican proclivities. In social life, he and wife hold a high position and are greatly respected by all who know them.
HARRY F. NOLAN, [pages 678-682] one of the best known of the younger members of the Dayton bar, was born in this city on June 22, 1864, and is the son of the late Col. Michael P. and Anna Schenck (Clark) Nolan.
Col. M. P. Nolan was born in Dublin, Ireland, on June 28, 1823, and in the following year his parents emigrated to the United States, settling in Lancaster county, Pa., and in 1837 removed to Dayton. He was given but a limited education during his youth. He learned carriagemaking, at which trade he worked for some time, during which he did all in his power to educate himself. He entered a debating society, where he found a good library, the books of which he read at every opportunity. When a young man he commanded a canal boat for a time. On December 30, 1847, he married Anna Schenck Clark, of Miamisburg. He continued working at his trade, and at night read law from borrowed books, as he had made up his mind to become a lawyer. In 1851 he was admitted to the bar.
In April, 1861, at the breaking out of the late war, he raised company G, of the Eleventh regiment of Ohio volunteer infantry. He became lieutenant-colonel of the Fiftieth regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, and subsequently colonel of the One Hundred and Ninth regiment, Ohio infantry. During the war Col. Nolan was an active member of the Union League, and was president of that body for the Third congressional district of Ohio, and delegate from that district to the national convention at Baltimore that nominated Mr. Lincoln for president in 1864. During the summer of 1863 he assisted in organizing the "war democracy" in Ohio, and took the stump for Gov. Brough. After the war he served for several years as United States commissioner at Dayton. In 1878 he was the congressional candidate of the greenback-labor party, which nomination he accepted with the full knowledge that he was to lead a forlorn hope. His death occurred in Dayton on Monday, November 30, 1891, of heart failure.
December 1, 1891, the day following the death of Col. Nolan, the sad event was announced in court, and, on motion, Judge Dwyer ordered a recess to be taken and a bar meeting was at once convened. At this meeting a committee of six was appointed to draft resolutions, and the bar then adjourned until the next day, when, on reassembling, resolutions of condolence and respect were adopted, and several speeches were made by the more prominent members of the bar, eulogizing the many noble qualities of the deceased.
Later, December 12 and 31, similar resolutions were passed by Dister post, G. A. R., and by the members of the Hibernian Rifles. The press throughout the state was profuse in its commendation of the merits and the active life of the departed soldier and lawyer, several journals giving a more or less extended record of his virtues and work.
Col. Nolan was a man of superior intellect, was kind, courteous and obliging, and; extremely affectionate in his domestic relations. He was indeed a man of strong likes and dislikes, a sterling friend who never forgot a favor, and seldom, if ever, forgot an injury,. In point of wit, humor or sarcasm he was. without a peer at the bar or in society. His. industry was unceasing, his discrimination quick and his judgment sound. His oratory was brilliant and his logic convincing. His reading had been deep and exhaustive, notwithstanding his lack of opportunity for an education in his early days, and the words of Shakespeare, his favorite author, were ever at his command. As a lawyer, his counsel was safe; he was strong as an advocate before a jury, in which body he had great faith, and could hardly realize that a judge had any right to set aside a verdict that had once been rendered in his favor. He was a born soldier, and as far back as 1850 organized a company of state militia, and at one time was a captain of the old Montgomery guards. His Civil war record is given in a previous paragraph. In politics he was at first a democrat, as he followed the footsteps of his father in this particular; but he had an inborn dislike of slavery, and, when old enough to think for himself, modified his views, and in 1848 voted for Martin Van Buren as the free soil candidate for the presidency, at a time when it required a great deal of moral courage to take such a step in Miami township, of which he was then a resident. Fraternally, he was a member of the G. A. R., and was also a Free Mason. He left behind him, to deplore his loss, his widow and five of his ten children, viz: Mary E., Sallie E. (wife of Samuel M. Kehoe), Dr. Charles N., of Greenville, Ohio; Louise B. and Harry F. Col. Nolan was strictly a temperance man, and in 1877 was elected president of the first Murphy organization in Dayton.
Harry F. Nolan was educated in the Dayton public schools, leaving the high school in 1879 to begin an apprenticeship at the trade of bookbinding at the United Brethren Publishing house. On January 12, 1882, he entered his father's office and began reading law. He was admitted to the bar May 6, 1886, when twenty-one years of age, and on January 1, 1887, a co-partnership was formed between his father and himself under the firm name of Nolan & Nolan. On April 8, 1890, Mr. Nolan was elected city attorney of Dayton, serving in that capacity for over two years, when he returned to his practice. After his father's death he succeeded to the law business of the firm and has since continued in practice.
Mr. Nolan is a member of the Masonic fraternity, having received the Knights Templar degree, and is a member of the Elks.
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