BIOGRAPHIES

Source:  
A Standard History of Allen County, Ohio
Vol. II
by Wm. Rusler - Publ.
1921

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	JAMES M. WALLACE - See William O. Wallace Source:  A Standard History of Allen County, Ohio - Vol. II - Publ. Chicago: Warner i.e. Warner, Beers & Co., 1921 - Page 292
	WILLIAM O. WALLACE.  In every community of Allen County there are found men who have risen above their fellows in business and agricultural life, not because of superior advantages, but because their natural abilities and mental endowments created opportunities of which they have taken advantage.  It is section like this, where good and reliable men are easily found, he is indeed worthy of consideration who has been given preferment over his fellows.  In this connection mention is made of William O. Wallace, a veteran of the Civil war and a highly respected farmer living three and one-half miles southeast of Columbus Grove, in Monroe Township.      Mr. Wallace was born in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Sept. 9, 1838, a son of John and Rebecca (Poyer) Wallace, natives of Pennsylvania.  He is descended from ancestors who were natives of France, from which country, because of religious persecution, they came to America and settled on the Hudson River in New York.  The branch of the family to which he belongs later went to North Carolina, whence members moved on to Pennsylvania.  John and Rebecca Wallace resided in the Keystone State until 1846, in which year they came to Allen County and settled in Bath Township, subsequently moving to Monroe Township, where they passed the remainder of long, useful and honorable lives in the pursuits of agriculture.  They were faithful and stalwart members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which Mr. Wallace was an exhorter for many years.  In politics he was a democrat.  He and his wife had four children, of whom two are living: William O. and Harriet, the widow of Jacob Hall of Monroe Township.      William O. Wallace was eight years of age when he was brought to Allen County, and his education was acquired in the district schools of Monroe Township, where he assisted his father in the clearing and cultivation of his farms.  In 1861 he was united in Company C, One Hundred and Ninety-Second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, an organization with which he fought bravely until the close of the Civil war.  Returning to Monroe Township, he resumed farming as a renter and that continued to be his status until 1874, when he purchased land where he now resides.  He has been successful in his farming operations and is the owner of a valuable property on which there are to be found improvements of the most modern character.  Throughout his career he has borne the reputation of being a man of the soundest integrity and a citizen of public spirit and constructive ideas.  He is a member of Ogilvie Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of Columbus Grove, and a republican in politics.  He has several important business connections, and is a stockholder in the Columbus Grove Mutual Telephone Company.      Mrs. Wallace died in 1911, leaving four children: Clara T., the wife of J. L. Turner of Columbus Grove; Mary, the wife of J. H. Hooper, of Lima; James M. and W. H. Wallace.  JAMES M. WALLACE was educated in the public schools of Monroe Township and has passed his entire career in farming on the home property.  He is accounted one of the progressive agriculturists of this region, and has been active in politics, having been a member of the Monroe Township Republican Executive Committee, and for five years a member of the Board of Elections, affiliated with Columbus Grove Lodge No. 376, Knights of Pythias, in which he has numerous war and appreciative friends. Source:  A Standard History of Allen County, Ohio - Vol. II - Publ. Chicago: Warner i.e. Warner, Beers & Co., 1921 - Page 291
Residence of Dr. Jacob R. Welch.	JACOB R. WELCH.   For nearly forty years Dr. Welch has borne the burdens and responsibilities of the medical profession in the community of Spencerville.  He is one of the oldest practicing physicians and surgeons in Allen county, and his life has been dignified and made highly useful by his long continued devotion to one of the greatest professions in which men can engage.      Dr. Welch was born near old Fort Jennings in Putnam county, Ohio, Mar. 16, 1859, son of Jacob and Mary (Allen) Welch.  The father was also a physician and was born in Allen county, Ohio, in 1826.  He graduated from the Eclectic School of Medicine and in 1856 established his home at Cuba, Ohio, where he practiced until his death at a comparatively early age.      Jacob R. Welch was the only child of his father, and when the latter died he was taken by his mother to his maternal grandparents, and at the age of nine years she removed to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he grew up and finished his literary education.  He at tended the grammar and high schools of Fort Wayne, also the Methodist College of that city, and after graduating entered the Fort Wayne Medical College, receiving his M. D. degree from that institution.  On Mar. 16, 1882, Dr. Welch began the work for which he is best known and esteemed at Spencerville, and has been the capable and kindly doctor to nearly two generations of people in this community.  He is a member of the County, State and American Medical Associations.      Dr. Welch married Mary Miller, a graduate of the musical department of the Methodist College at Fort Wayne.  She was a student there when she met Dr. Welch.  Her father was Harvey Miller, of Warsaw, Indiana, and she was born near the county seat of Kosciusko county and had graduated from the War saw High School before going to college at Fort Wayne.  Dr. Welch is a Republican, is affiliated with Spencerville Lodge No. 251, A. F. and A. M., and has served as a member of the Spencerville School Board.  Along with his professional work he carries the responsibilities of vice president of the Citizens Bank of Spencerville, of which Ira B. Post is president and cashier.  He is also interested in the Lima Trust Company. Source:  A Standard History of Allen County, Ohio - Vol. II - Publ. Chicago: Warner i.e. Warner, Beers & Co., 1921 - Page 110
	WILLIAM WELCH was born in eastern Indiana, but for a number of years has lived in Allen County, and since directing his energies to the field of agriculture has been steadily prosperous and owns one of the well situated farms in Shawnee Township, on rural route No. 1 out of Lima.      He was born in Randolph County, Indiana, May, 1862, son of Thomas and Rebecca (Shelly) Welch. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania but for a long period of years lived on their farm in eastern Indiana.  His father died in 1913, at the age of seventy-two.  Rebecca Welch died in 1874, the mother of six children: William; Jacob, of Randolph County, Indiana; Luther, deceased; Alice, Mrs. Elsworth Conklin of Randolph County; Ida, Mrs. Charles Bothast of Randolph County; and James, also of Randolph County.  Thomas Welch married for his second wife Margaret Coddington, who died in March, 1920, being survived by one daughter, Maggie, Mrs. Normand Shockney of Harrisburg, Illinois.      William Welch acquired his early education in the district schools of his native county, and as a young man learned the trade of butcher.  He married forty years ago, and after his marriage lived for two years on a farm in Randolph County and for the next two years followed any employment that offered a means of living.  On coming to Ohio he spent a few months at Wapakoneta, and thence to Lima, where he did work as a day laborer and at his trade as a butcher.  Mr. Welch was a resident of Lima until 1905.  For eight years he had charge of the Shawnee Country Club.  He then put all his capital into a farm of ninety-four acres in section 25 of Shawnee Township.  This farm had some improvements, including house and barn, and all the land was cleared except eight acres of timber.  Since then he has been working steadily toward a better arrangement of facilities, has constructed all new inside fences, put up new buildings, has laid a great deal of tile, and has brought his farm to a point of high production and value.  Mr. Welch is a democrat in politics.      He married in 1881 Matilda Rinehart, a native of Randolph County, Indiana, and a daughter of George Rinehart.  They have two daughters: Minnie, Mrs. Perry Heller, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Ida, Mrs. Burr Nose of Gas City, Indiana. Source:  A Standard History of Allen County, Ohio - Vol. II - Publ. Chicago: Warner i.e. Warner, Beers & Co., 1921 - Page 202
	ELMER W. WILKIN.  One of the owners of extensive farming interests in Allen County, the gentleman whose name initiates this sketch, Elmer W. Wilkin is the peer of any of his fellows in the qualities that constitute good citizenship, possessing not only those powers, which render men efficient in the material affairs of life, but also those traits which mark refined social intercourse, and as a large-hearted, whole-souled gentleman no man in his community commands more fully the good will of the people.      Elmer W. Wilkin, whose property, known as Pleasant Hill Farm, is located one and a half miles southeast of Spencerville, was born in Spencer Township on Apr. 15, 1883.  He is the son of Tilmon and Sarah Elizabeth (Biner) Wilkin, the former a native of Licking County and the latter of Tuscarawas County, this state.  Tilmon Wilkin first came to Allen County and was here married to a Miss Clauson, to which union were born two children, one of whom Charles M., of Van Wert Township, is living.  After the death of his first wife Mr. Wilkin was married to Sarah Elizabeth Biner and to this union were born eleven children, eight of whom are now living, as follows: John E., of Lima; Byron of Michigan; Leroy, a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church and now stationed at Osborn, Ohio; Vernon H., of Spencer Township; Elmer W.; Alice, the wife of Elza Shaffer, of Spencer Township; Anna the widow of S. F. Kephart of Spencer Township; Lillian the wife of Robert D. Long of Auglaize County.      Elmer E. Wilkin was reared on the paternal farmstead and secured his education in the public schools, being a graduate of the Spencerville High School, class of 1903.  He taught school for twenty-three months and attended the Northern Ohio University at Ada.  In 1908 Mr. Wilkin rented the home farm, and he operated until 1911 when he bought the forty-acre farm where he now lives.  He also has another forty acres, which he has improved and brought up to a fine state  of cultivation.  He uses sound judgment in his farm work and is considered a man of excellent ideas relating to agriculture, being numbered among the progressive farmers of his community.      On May 10, 1906, Mr. Wilkin was married to Anna L. Beerman, the daughter of William and Julia A. Beerman.  Mr. and Mrs. Wilkin are members of the Reformed Church and Mr. Wilkin is assistant superintendent of the Sunday school connected with that Lodge No. 251, Knights of Pythias, of which he is past chancellor and a member of the grand lodge.  He and his wife are members of the Pythian Sisters, of which Mr. Wilkin is a past chief and member of the grand lodge.  Both are also members of the American Insurance Union.  Politically, he gives his support of the democratic party and has severed two years as a member of the School Board.  He was one of the organizers and is now secretary and a director of the Farmers Union Elevator at Spencerville.  His life history has been distinguished by the most substantial qualities of Character and he stands deservedly high in the esteem of his fellow citizens. Source: A Standard History of Allen County, Ohio - Vol. II - by Wm. Rusler - Publ. 1921 - Page 189

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