M. J. ADAMS, the popular agent of the Panhandle Railroad system at Hamilton, is a native of Preble county, Ohio, born at Hambery, on the 16th of July, 1854, a son of Martin C. and Mary (Shewmon) Adams, who were also natives of Preble county.  Martin Adams spent most of his mature life in mercantile pursuits of Galveston, Indiana, and died in  that town  at the age of fifty-five years.  His widow is now a resident of Kokomo, while her seen sons and daughters are variously distributed, though mostly in the Indiana gas belt.  The eldest of the family in Harriett, who is the wife of Amos French of Bluffton, Indiana; Madison J., of this sketch, was the second in order of birth; Alice married Robert Cox, of Alexandria, Indiana; Florence is the wife of Edmond Leech, of Fairmount, in the Hoosier state; Daniel is a prosperous farmer at Hague, Illinois; Lincoln is train dispatcher of the Northern Pacific Railroad at Spokane, Washington, and Grant has a lucrative clerkship with the Pennsylvania lines at Kokomo, Indiana, his position being designated as that of cash clerk.  All of the family, except Lincoln, are married and the heads of happy families of their own.
     M. J. Adams was reared and educated at Galveston and Kokomo and his life thus far has been devoted to railroading and its contingent employments.  As early as 1878 he was employed as telegraph operator in the office of the Pennsylvania Company, at Frankton, Indiana.  After four years' service there, he was promoted to a more lucrative position as agent at Elwood, remaining there until 1886, when he received another deserved promotion and was placed in charge of the company's business as agent at Kokomo.  He remained there eleven years, and in October, 1897, he took charge of the office in Hamilton.  Mr. Adams has been in the employ of the Pennsylvania company, continuously, for twenty-six years, each of the three changes during that time representing an increase of salary and an increase of responsibilities.  These facts are sufficient evidence of the high standing which Mr. Adams sustains with his employers, as well as of the company's estimate of his business capacity.  There are two assistants employed in the Hamilton ticket office, and five clerks are required in the freight office to handle the large volume of business in this city.
     On the 20th of March, 1880, Mr. Adams was united in marriage with Miss Louise Edson, then a resident of Frankton, Indiana, but a native of Canada.  Mr. and Mrs. Adams have an interesting family of three children, the eldest of whom, Miss Ethel, is a student in the senior class of the Hamilton high school.  Her educational advancement, at the age of sixteen, gives evidence of superior intellectual talents.  Charles is a bright boy of twelve, and little Miss Lena, at eight, takes greater pride in being the family pet than in mastering the intricacies of class-room exercises.
     Mr. Adams is a member of the Masonic order, still continuing his membership in the home lodge at Kokomo, Indiana.  He is also a member of Esther Court.  Tribe of Ben Hur, in Hamilton.  In political views he is a Republican.  Mrs. Adams is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Source: Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio - Publ. B. F. Bowen & Co., Publishers - 1905 - Page 580

DAVID H. AYERS.  From remote antiquity tilling the soil has been considered an eminently honorable and dignified calling and if there is a vocation at the present day that carries with it a patent of nobility it is that which the agriculturist follows.  The farm is a fruitful source from which has sprung the majority of our country's leading statesmen, soldiers, men of letters, and artisans, to say nothing of the great rank and file of the body politic, while nearly all the leaders of thought and captains of industry attribute their rise and success to their early training in the fields.  It is a fact demonstrated by centuries of experience that the success of any nation or people depends very largely upon the agricultural classes, as all wealth comes from the earth, the greater part being derived from the products of the soil.  The farmer is not only independent, but eminently respectable, and now more than at any previous time he is an influential factor in promoting the welfare of the community in which he resides and a great conservative force in formulating political policies, directing public opinion, and giving tone and moral standing to the social element which constitutes the corner-store upon which the real stability of the American republic rests.  While he has always fed all and paid for all, it is only of recent years that he has forged to the front and became a leader in the dominion of thought and action instead of a mere slave of the soil as in former centuries.  The husbandman of the twentieth century, if appreciative of his vocation and successful in its prosecution, is natures true aristocrat and to him more than to the votary of any other calling do we look for the clear brain, the sound judgment and the high aim which enter so largely into our national conscience.  A follower of this vocation is the well-known gentleman whose name appears at the head of this article, a gentleman of practical intelligence and progressive ideas, whose influence has helped to elevate agriculture in his community and make it not only the source of substantial material wealth, but also the means of mounting to a conspicuous position among his fellow men in business circles and in the social world.
     David H. Ayres, of Union township, is a native of Butler county, Ohio, as was also his father, James Ayres, who, with their parents, came to this part of the country in an early day.  James Ayres married, in his early manhood, Miss Loretta E. Hulse, daughter of David and Ernestine (Krouskopf) Hulse, and became the father of three children, Weller, David H. and Bertha J., the last named being the wife of Walter W. Voorhis.
     David H. Ayres was born on the family homestead in Union township Nov. 13, 1867, and there spent the years of his childhood and youth, growing upto habits of industry and while yet young becoming accustomed to the discipline of farm life.  He received a practical education in the public schools and from the death of his father, in 1882, until his marriage, eleven years later, remained at home helping to look after his mother's affairs and cultivate the farm; while thus engaged he laid plans for his future course of action, one of them being the earnest desire to become a prosperous tiller of the soil, which he has since carried into effect.
     In the year 1893 Mr. Ayres contracted a marriage with Miss Anna C. Block, who was also born in Union township, Dec. 21, 1870, being a daughter of John and Stevania (Brown) Block, well-known and highly respected citizens of Union township.  Mrs. Ayres' parents were both natives of Germany, having emigrated to America when young and living in Butler county ever since their marriage, in February, 1859.
     Immediately following his marriage, Mr. Ayres set up his domestic establishment on the paternal homestead, which had come into his possession, and he has cultivated the same ever since, meeting with continued success as an agriculturist and stock raiser.  In addition to his home place, Mr. Ayres owns two hundred and twelve acres in section 18, Union township, all of which is in a fair state of cultivation and otherwise improved.  In 1903 he was elected trustee of Union township, which position he still holds discharging the duties of the same to the satisfaction of the people of the jurisdiction.
     The beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. Ayres is gladdened and made bright by the presence of five children, whose names and dates of birth are as follows:  Howard J., Apr. 15, 1895; Walter E., Jan. 22, 1897; Mildred, May 13, 1900; Alfred C., Feb. 17, 1902, and Alice, Feb. 19, 1904.
     DAVID HULSE, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch and one of the leading and progressive men of the community in which he lived, was born Apr. 2, 1819, and was the youngest son of William and Catherine (Lutes) Hulse, both natives of New Jersey and of Dutch descent, who emigrated to Ohio in 1815 and settled on a farm in Union township.  He reared a family of eight sons and two daughters.  David attended the common schools and obtained a fair education, becoming also thoroughly versed in agricultural pursuits.  In his fourteenth year he went to Indiana with an older brother, remaining there for three years this being the only period of his life in which he was not a resident of Ohio.
     In 1839 David Hulse was united in marriage to Ernestine Krouskopf, who was born in Germany Sept. 20, 1817.  She was the daughter of Louis and Catherine (Mercer) Krouskopf, who came to America with their family in 1821, and settled in Hamilton county, Ohio.  They removed to Butler county in 1829, where he resided until his death, Dec. 31, 1860, his wife surviving him about five years.  Louis Kroskopf was a highly educated German and was a cavalry officer under Napoleon in the French expedition against Russia, his regiment losing all but fifty-five men in that campaign.
     Mr. Hulse, immediately after his marriage, located upon a farm adjoining the one  his father had settled on, which had come into his possession at the death of his father, in 1833.  There were born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hulse seven children, four sons and three daughters, all of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, but all preceded their parents to this great beyond, Lewis, the eldest son, dying from a wound received at the battle of Stone River Dec. 31, 1862.
     Mr. Hulse was a Republican and, although never aspiring to public distinction, he always displayed a commendable interest in whatever concerned the welfare of the community, and his influence and material assistance were given to every laudable enterprise for the public good.  He possessed in a marked degree the sterling characteristics which beget and retain confidence and in every relation of life his integrity was conspicuous and his good name above suspicion or reproach.  He possessed a fund of cultivated experience which made him the sage of reference among those who knew him.  Mrs. Hulse for a long time was a practitioner in obstetrics, in which she was very successful, exhibiting also marked ability in the handling of children's diseases, and she enjoyed the full confidence of the community.  Through her nursing the sick and administering home remedies to the afflicted, her sound advice  to the growing young and her proficiency in the propagation of flowers, she became one of the most interesting of neighbors.  Neither she nor her husband ever showed any selfish greed, but were always willing to share with those in distress or want.  Mr. Hulse was a man among men and Mrs. Hulse a true and tried ministering angel to all with whom she came in contact.  Mr. Hulse died July 7, 1903, at the home he had built in his younger days, on the farm he commenced operations on sixty-four years before.  Mrs. Hulse preceded him to the silent land about seven years.
Source: Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio - Publ. B. F. Bowen & Co., Publishers - 1905 - Page 450