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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County,
Ohio
An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with Particular Attention
to the Modern Era in the Commercial, Industrial,
Educational, Civic and Social Development
--
Prepared Under the Editorial Supervision of
Dr. Benjamin F. Prince
President Clark County Historical Society
--
Assisted by a Board of Advisory Editors
--
Volumes 2
--
Published by
The American Historical Society
Chicago and New York
1922
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CLARENCE J. FOSTER
is vice president and has had an active part in the
development of the business and industry of the
Buffalo-Springfield Roller Company, one of the larger of the
concerns whose manufactured output, distributed practically
in all civilized countries, makes the name Springfield
famous in commerce and industry.
Three generations of the Foster family
have been residents of Springfield and have contributed to
its growth and prosperity. The grandfather of
Clarence J. Foster was William Foster, who
was born in Yorkshire, England, June 20, 1805. As a
young man he learned metal working in various lines.
In 1837, at the age of thirty-two, he came to the United
States and immediately established his home at Springfield,
Ohio, where he opened a blacksmith shop at what is now
Foster and Main Streets, the former street named in his
honor. He was an expert mechanic and gradually secured
competent men under him and developed a considerable
industry to meet the needs of the time. His shop was
on the National Road and he shod stage horses and re-tired
the wheels of the stage coaches and other wagons that
crossed over that thoroughfare. In later years
William Foster bought a farm near Springfield and
was engaged in its duties. William
Foster married Sarah Gedlin, who was born
Aug. 5, 1812. Her parents came from England to the
United States in 1831, and in that year established their
home at Springfield, Ohio. William Foster
and Sarah Gedlin were married Sept. 5, 1835.
Their four children were: Catherine A., Sarah J.,
Joseph W. and Mary E. Sarah Foster died June 11,
1872, and William Foster on July 10, 1876. He was one of the
honorable, upright men of his day, and in a quiet way he did
his part in laying the foundations of a greater Springfield.
He was a member of the High Street Methodist Episcopal
Church, and at one time held the office of township trustee.
Joseph W. Foster, only son of his parents, was
born on the home farm Jan. 16, 1845, and he spent his active
life on that farm, now within the present limits of the City
of Springfield. As he grew to manhood he adopted
farming as his regular vocation, and he proved himself a man
of steady mold and great intrinsic worth. He worshiped
as a member of the same church as his father, and showed the
same sense of civic duty. Joseph W. Foster, who
died in 1902, married, Oct. 10, 1871, Josephine M.
Smith, daughter of Lewis C. and Anna (Hurd) Smith.
They were the parents of one daughter, Anna C., and
two sons,William L. and Clarence J.
Clarence J. Foster was born in the same house as
his father, on Dec. 19, 1876. He was educated in the
local public schools, in Wittenberg College and in a
business college. For two years he was a clerk with
the Ansted & Burk Company, millers, and then
became an employe of the O. S. Kelly Company.
When that business was reorganized and a new corporation
formed, known as the Kelly-Springfield Road Roller Company,
Mr. Foster remained with the new company, and
also with its successor, the Buffalo-Springfield Roller
Company, of which he is vice president.
The Buffalo-Springfield Roller Company was started as a
department of the O. S. Kelly Company about 1888.
It developed into a big business, justifying separate
organizations, and after about twelve years the Kelly
interests were withdrawn and the reorganization was named
Kelly-Springfield Road Roller Company. At that time
the plant was moved to its present location on Kenton
Street. C. M. Greiner and J. B. Cartmell
were the principal owners at that time, Mr.
Cartmell being president and C. J. Foster
secretary. In 1912 Mr. Cartmell disposed
of his holdings and since then C. M. Greiner has been
president, C. J. Foster and C. F. Greiner vice
presidents, and E. E. Greiner treasurer. This company
manufactures a special line of road making and working
machinery and road rollers, and during the World war the
corporation furnished rollers for road construction work in
France and also for cantonments, aviation fields, forts,
arsenals and other duty at home. It is properly spoken
of as one of the most important of the manufacturing
enterprises of Springfield.
Clarence J. Foster, like his father and
grandfather, is a member of the High Street Methodist
Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with the Alpha Tau Omega
college fraternities, and the Lagonda and Country Clubs.
In 1903 he married Miss Katherine Speed. They
have two sons,
Joseph W. and Philip S.
SOURCE: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark
County, Ohio; Vol. 2; Benjamin F. Prince, 1922 - Page 301 |
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FRED FOSTER.
Past the age of fourscore, Fred Foster is
still a man of vigor, and though retired from business he
keeps up active associations with his old friends in
Springfield. Mr. Foster for a great many
years was on the Springfield police force, and altogether
has had an exceedingly active life.
He was born at Hagerstown, Maryland, Mar. 26, 1839, son
of George and Fredericka (Drexler) Foster. His
maternal grandfather, Frederick Drexler, came from
Germany in 1806 and settled at Baltimore, Maryland. He
was a tailor by trade, and in 1839 moved with wagons
overland to Dayton, Ohio, and in 1854 settled at
Springfield, Ohio. His daughter, Fredericka Drexler,
was born in 1812. George Foster was born in
Germany and came to the United States in 1829, at the age of
twenty-one. He was a damask weaver by trade. For
a time he lived in the mountains, where a hermit took care
of him. He married at Hagerstown, Maryland, about
1832, and in 1839 moved with wagons and teams to Dayton,
Ohio, and in 1840 bought twenty acres of land at North
Dayton. Selling this property in 1855, he bought a
farm of fifty-five acres just northwest of Springfield, and
lived there until his death in 1865. His widow
survived him until 1892. Their children were:
Elizabeth and Edward, both deceased; Fred;
Louisa, Mrs. David White, of Bloomington, Illinois;
Mary, Mrs. Wesley Van Shoick, of Bloomington; Cynthia,
deceased; William, of Bloomington; and Frank,
of St. Louis, Missouri.
Fred Foster had only the advantages given
in a log cabin district school, and attended school only
until he was twelve years of age. In the spring of
1857, a young man of eighteen, he moved to Amboy, Lee
County, Illinois, and for two years worked in the Illinois
Central shop there. In 1859 he and four old shopmen provided
themselves with ox teams and started for the gold field of
Pikes Peak, Colorado. They left home in March, and while on
the plains they met a great number of gold seekers returning
after a futile quest, and they decided to give up the
adventure without proceeding further. Consequently they
returned to Omaha, sold their oxen and outfit, and each of
them paid $1.50 for passage to St. Louis on a Missouri River
boat. From St. Louis Mr. Foster went on to
Bloomington, Illinois, where his parents were located, and
in the fall of the same year he came to Ohio to join his
uncle, Fred Drexler, a tavern keeper.
In October, 1861, Mr. Foster married Lucinda
Eveline Barringer, a native of Clark County and daughter
of Jacklin H. and Harriett (Stiles) Barringer, her
father a native of Virginia and her mother of Greene County,
Ohio. After his marriage Mr. Foster farmed four
years, and then joined the D. & M. Railroad at Lima as a
fireman. Two years later he went to Weyauwega, Waupaca
County, Illinois, was there about a year spent a few months
in Clark County, and for two years was on the police force
of Bloomington, Illinois. Soon after returning to
Springfield this experience as a policeman brought him
appointment to the Springfield force, and he served
continuously for twenty years, from 1872 until 1892, when he
resigned. For three years following he was watchman in
the Bushnell Building, and since then has lived
retired. His wife died Jan. 2, 1904, after more than
forty years of married companionship. Since the death
of his wife Mr. Foster has lived with his son
Fred at 218 North Lowry Avenue.* He is a
democrat in politics.
Mr. Foster’s son George I., born in
August, 1862, is a horse trainer at the Springfield Fair
Grounds. The son Fred K., born in June, 1872,
is a commercial traveler and married Cora Bargdill,
daughter of Harve and Elizabeth (Tressler) Bargdill,
and has one son. George Leroy, of Springfield,
married Mabel Sherbandy, and has a son, Frank.
SOURCE: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark
County, Ohio; Vol. 2; Benjamin F. Prince, 1922 - Page 350
* 218 N. Lowry Ave., Springfield, OH is no longer there. |
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REV. GEORGE W. FRASER. The older generation
remember the late Rev. George Wilson Fraser as a
gifted man, a learned educator and eloquent minister of the
Lutheran denomination, whose life was a well-spent one and a
fine example of Christian humility and moral uplift. Mr.
Fraser was born at Lincoln, Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, September 8, 1841, a son of William J. and
Catherine Fraser, natives of Pennsylvania. Deciding upon
a ministerial career, George Wilson Fraser early began to
prepare for it, and studied at the Millersville Normal
School, from which he was graduated in 1869. He enlisted
from Millersville in the Union Army August 2, 1862, as a
member of Company E, One Hundred and Twenty-second
Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged May 3,
1863, at the expiration of his period of enlistment.
Immediately thereafter he re-enlisted in Company G, One
Hundred and Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry,
and received his second discharge January 31, 1866, with the
rank of first lieutenant, which commission was bestowed upon
him by Governor Andrew G. Curtin of Pennsylvania.
Following his last discharge he resumed his studies and
completed his course. He was a student in the seminary of
the Lutheran denomination at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and
was ordained a minister of the Lutheran Church in 1872. In
the meanwhile he had taught school in Pennsylvania, and was
principal of the schools of Lena, Illinois. It is
interesting to note that the commanding officer of Company E
and its organizer, Captain Bierly, was
principal of the Millersville Normal School, of which Mr.
Fraser had been a student.
In December, 1876, Mr. Fraser married
Fannie Breneisen, born in Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, in October, 1852, a daughter of Israel and
Amelia (Bruebaker) Breneisen, natives of Pennsylvania.
Following his marriage Mr. Fraser took a charge at
Loogootee, Illinois, and remained there for two years, when
he went to Grand View, Indiana, on the Ohio River, for a
time. He then returned to Pennsylvania and taught school for
two years. It was then that he was sent on a mission to the
Quapaw Indians of Indian Territory, and was very successful
there. For a year he was stationed at Bloomington, Nebraska,
and was then placed in charge of an academy at Wayne,
Nebraska, where he had remained for one year. For two years
thereafter he had charge of the church at Dongola, Illinois,
and then for live years was at Shipman, and for four years
was at Olney, both in Illinois. This last terminated his
ministerial life, and he went to Springfield, Ohio, and
lived retired for four years. He was, however, still too
active a man to be satisfied to remain idle, and so went to
Omaha, where he became file clerk in the general offices of
the Union Pacific Railroad, and held that position until
1911, when he returned to Springfield, and here he died in
December, 1912. His widow survives him and lives with their
daughter in the fine residence they own at 227 Stanton
Avenue.
Mr. and Mrs. Fraser had the following children:
John Howard, who lives at Centralia, Illinois;
Emma B., who lives with her mother; Willard G.,
who lives at Columbus, Ohio; Martin Luther, who is a
scientific teacher at Cedarville College. Ohio; and Alice
Ruth, who is Mrs. Wendell Dysinger, of Los
Angeles, California. Mr. Fraser was a
republican, but was not active in politics. Until his death
he remained an earnest member of the Grand Army of the
Republic. Mr. Fraser’s work is completed, but
its influence remains and lives on in the hearts and lives
of those whom he helped, and the world is better and saner
for his passage through it.
SOURCE: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark
County, Ohio; Vol. 2; Benjamin F. Prince, 1922 - Page 383 -
Transcribed for Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
Dr. J. E. Furry |
JOHN
EDDY FURRY, M. D. After fifteen years of
successful practice as a physician and surgeon at
Springfield, Doctor Furry responded to the urgings of
his fellow citizens to become a candidate for the office
like and satisfactory administration of its municipal
affairs.
Doctor Furry was born on a farm in Fayette,
County, Ohio, Apr. 18, 1869, son of Miller and Margaret
Jane (Row) Furry, who were natives of the same county.
His grandfather, Joseph Furry, came to Ohio from
Pennsylvania, settled in Fayette County, when it was almost
an unbroken wilderness, and he started on a good work in
that and neighboring counties, for many years being a
pioneer minister of the Methodist Church. The maternal
Grandfather of Doctor Furry was Andrew Row,
also an early settler in Fayette County, locating there
about 1812. Both the Furry and Row families
came from England originally, the Rows being of North
English stock.
Doctor Furry's early recollections center around
the old farm in Fayette County. He attended public
schools there, and completed his literary education by
graduation with the Doctor of Science degree from the Ohio
Northern University of Ada in 1891. Following his
college career he spent several years on the farm, and then
began his professional education in the Medical College of
Ohio, now the Medical Department of the University of
Cincinnati. He graduated M. D. in 1899, and in the
same year began practice at Washington Court House. In
1906 he moved to Springfield, and is one of the men of
highest standing in the medical profession of this city.
He belongs to the Association of Military and Normal
Surgeons, U. S. A.
Doctor Furry was elected a member of the City
Council and to the office of mayor in 1921. He is a
member of the City Council and to the office of mayor in
1921. He is a member of Confidence Lodge No. 265,
Knights of Pythias, at Washington Court House, has served as
chancellor commander of the Lodge, took his Grand Lodge
degrees in 1899, and is also a member of the Elks Club.
Doctor Furry married Frances Malinda
Jamison, and they were born and reared in the same
locality of Fayette County. Her father, William
Jamison, was a native of Ohio, of Scotch Irish ancestry,
and her great-grandfather was the first judge of Fayette
County. Doctor and Mrs. Furry have two
children, Reppa Leah and Eddy Francis, the
latter at home. Reppa is the wife of
Harry Crosly, now a resident of Kansas City, Missouri.
Mr. and Mrs. Crosly have three children, Harrison
Thomas, Mary Frances and Martha Leah.
Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark
County, Ohio - Vol. 2 - Publ.: The American Historical
Society - Chicago & New York - 1922 - Page 226 |
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