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 |
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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 |
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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 |
NOTES:
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