W. T. COPELAND is a successful lawyer of Northwestern Ohio with a special genius for business and finance, and is now vice -resident and was one of the organizers of the Auglaize National Bank, one of the strongest institutions in that part of the state.
     When it is recalled that Mr. Copeland began the practice of law a little more than twenty years ago $1,000 in debt his career seems almost remarkable in its achievements.  His business associates say that his success is due partly to native endowments and talents out of the ordinary and also to hard concentrated effort and a conscientious handling of every interest entrusted to his charge.
     His early life was spent in the environment of the rural districts of Auglaize County.  He was born on a farm six miles east of Wapakoneta, May 5, 1871, a son of William and Helen E. (Robinson) Copeland.  His paternal grandparents, Amos and Mary (Layton) Copeland, were both natives of Clark County, Ohio, and were early settlers in Auglaize County, where they lived out their lives, the former dying at the age of eighty-two and the latter at eighty-sx.  The maternal grandparents were George and Eliza (Gray) Robinson, who were born in Champaign County, Ohio, and lived in Auglaize County after 1856.
     William Copeland, father of the Wapakoneta banker, was born in Auglaize County n 1848 and for many years has been a farmer.  HE is now practically retired and enjoying the comforts of a modern home and a highly improved farm of sixty acres.  HE is a well educated man, having attended Antioch College during his youth, and for a number of years was a teacher.  He is a republican, a member of the Tribe of Ben Hur, and belongs to the Christian Church.  His wife, who was born in Champaign County, Ohio, Dec. 25, 1850, is still living and they were married in Auglaize County.  Of their three children W. T. Copeland is the older of the two now living, and his sister is Mrs. Louis Coffin, wife of a merchant at New Hampshire, Ohio.
     W. T. Copeland attended the public schools at St. Johns and the Normal School at Jackson Center in Shelby County.  He was teaching at the age of eighteen, and in teh following year was being paid teh highest wages given to any teacher of the county.  His work as a teacher covered altogether twenty-four months.  Taking up the study of law with Layton & Sueve, he was admitted to the bar in 1893.
     For seventeen years, Mr. Copeland practiced law at Lima.  As already mentioned he with him when he opened his office, but in the course of a few years he was recognized as one of the leading attorneys of the Allen County bar and his fortune has been steadily growing ever since.  For a number of years he was associated in practice with W. L. Rogers at Lima, under the firm name of Copeland & Rogers.
     His financial ability came into evidence while in Lima.  He was organized at Central Loan Association, there, and that institution is still in a flourishing condition with assets of more than a million dollars.  Mr. Copeland  is a life member of the Allen County Law Library and Bar Association.
     Finally giving up his law practice, he returned to Wapakoneta and accepted the post of vice president in the newly organized Auglaize National Bank in 1911.  That bank has a capital stock of $100,000, a surplus of $30,000 and its total assets are $650,000.  The average deposits are $400,000.  Mr. Copeland now gives all his time to the business of banking.
     In 1895 he married Miss Lizzie M. Herbst, now deceased, was for many years a prominent German farmer in Auglaize County.  Mr. and Mrs. Copeland have reason to be very proud of their son Don Herbst Copeland.  He is a youth of great talent, is already a pipe organist of recognized vituosity, and is planning a musical career where he will undoubtedly be heard from.  He was born Jan. 11, 1898, and recently graduated from the Wapakoneta High School, having led his class every year.  He has now entered upon his university work.
     Mr. and Mrs. Copeland are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  He is active in fraternal affairs, being affiliated with the Lodge, Chapter, Council of Masonry, has held all the offices in his camp of the Modern Woodman of America and was head of the order in the state in 1911, and belongs to the Brotherhood of American Yeomen and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.  Mr. Copeland is now a member of the Board of Education of Wapakoneta, and was very active in democratic politics while living in Allen County.
Source:  History of Northwest Ohio  Vol. II - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago & New York - 1917 - Page 786