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Source:
A Centennial
Biographical History
of
Crawford
County, Ohio
- ILLUSTRATED -
"A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote
ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride
by remote generations."
- MACAULAY
Publ. Chicago:
The Lewis Publishing Company
1902
H. E. VALENTINE |
HORACE
EUGENE VALENTINE. In the affairs of state, as taken
aside from the extraordinary conditions of warfare, there are
demanded men whose mental ken is as wide and whose generalship
is as effective as those which ensure successful maneuvering of
armed forces by the skilled commanders on the field of battle.
The nation's welfare and prosperity may be said to hang as
heavily upon individual discrimination and executive ability in
the one case as the other. It requires maser minds to
marshal and organize the forces for political purposes and
produce the best results by concerted effort. One of the
honored Democratic political leaders of Crawford county is
Hon. Horace Eugene Valentine, who served for
two terms as state senator from the thirty-first senatorial
district, and his public record reflects credit upon his
constituents and district which he represented. He is also
an active man-of-affairs in business circles, being the cashier
of the First National Bank of Bucyrus, which position he has
occupied since 1898.
Mr.
Valentine is one of the native sons of Crawford county,
his birth having occurred in the village of Benton in Texas
township, April 8, 1859. He represents an old New York
family, his ancestors having come from the Empire state.
His father, James Valentine, removed to
Crawford county from the city of Syracuse, New York, about 1830,
his wife and his parents coming with him. He secured a
tract of land in Texas township and there devoted his energies
to agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in the
year 1861. His wife bore the maiden name of
Angeline Clark. She was born near Syracuse, New
York, and was a daughter of Edward Clark, who
served in the New York Militia in the war of 1812. Mrs.
Valentine was called to her final rest in 1866.
They had four sons, the eldest being Edward,
who enlisted for service in the Civil war and died in Libby
prison; Jabez Clark, deceased; George
B., deceased, and Horace Eugene.
There was one daughter, Emily, now deceased.
Throughout his entire life Horace Eugene Valentine
has been a resident of Crawford county. His
preliminary education, acquired in the common schools, was
supplemented by study in the Ohio Normal University, at Ada,
Ohio, where he was graduated in the class of 1888. The
following year he was elected county surveyor of Crawford county
and was re-elected in 1892, serving continuously until 1895,
covering a period of nearly seven consecutive years.
Before his retirement from that office he was elected, as a
Democrat, to the position of state senator to represent
Crawford, Seneca and Wyandot counties, or the thirty-first
district. He served for four years and filled the position
so creditably that in 1897 he was re-elected. He was one
of the active working members of the senate and gave to each
question which came up for consideration earnest thought and
study and left the impress of his individuality upon the
legislation of the two terms served by him. He was the
author of the anti-trust law of Ohio, known as the Valentine
Anti-Trust Law. It was declared constitutional by the
state supreme court and if enforced would effectually do away
with injurious and unlawful trusts. His labors were
untiring in behalf of the people and his record is creditable to
the district which honored him.
In
1889 Mr. Valentine was united in marriage to
Miss Josephine Nedry, of Texas township, a
daughter of Joseph Nedry, one of the pioneer
settlers and native sons of Crawford county, who is now
seventy-five years of age. His father came to Ohio from
Pennsylvania at a very early period in the development of the
state. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Valentine have
been born two children, Allen Gladstone, and
Florence Emily.
Mr. Valentine is a member of the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks, and on the political stage such is his
popularity and such his personal magnetism that his appearance
to address the people is the signal of due enthusiasm. He
is a sturdy American character and a stalwart patriot, and has
ever had the strongest admiration for our free institutions,
being ever ready to make any personal sacrifice for their
preservation.
Source: A Centennial Biographical History of Crawford County,
Ohio - Chicago: 1902 - Page 26 |
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F. M. VIRTUE |
FRANK McVAY VIRTUE.
No history of Crawford county would be complete without the
mention in conneciton with professional interests, of Dr. F.
M. Virtue, who has gained a very creditable standing as a
representative of the medical fraternity. He engages in
practice in Sulphur Springs and the surrounding country, and his
marked ability and the confidence reposed in his skill are
indicated by the liberal and constantly increasing patronage
which is accorded him.
The Doctor was born in Morrow county, Ohio, Sept. 5,
1863, and comes from sturdy Irish ancestry. His paternal
great-grandfather, Robert Virtue, was a weaver by trade,
learning that pursuit on the Emerald Isle, where his birth
occurred. On coming to America he located near Wheeling,
Virginia, where he took up his abode upon a farm and remained
there for several years. He then removed to Guernsey
county, Ohio, where he spent his last days. His son,
Robert Virtue, Jr., the grandfather, was also born in
Ireland, and was a little lad when with his parents he came to
the new world. He was largely reared in Guernsey county,
Ohio, and after his marriage he removed to Morrow county, where
he carried on agricultural pursuits until his life's labors were
ended in death. His son, Samuel Virtue, the
Doctor's father, was reared on the old homestead in Morrow
county, but was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, Oct. 3, 1841.
The work of the farm became familiar to him in his youth, and
the occupation to which he was reared he followed for a period
of several years. After he had arrived at years of
maturity he married Miss Jane McVay, who was born in
Morrow county, in 1844, and was of Scotch descent, her
grandparents on both sides of the family having come to the new
world from Scotland. After his marriage Samuel Virtue
purchased a farm near Chesterville. Particularly
successful in curing diseases of horses, his neighbors
frequently seeking his services in that regard, he determined to
buy a library and inform himself thoroughly concerning
veterinary surgery and enter that profession, which he practiced
for many years, while still on the farm. His business,
however, became so extensive that he removed to Iberia, where he
practiced his profession for ten years and then went to Mt.
Gilead, where he has engaged in the practice of veterinary
surgery during the past twelve years, and for four years his
son, Charles E., has been in partnership with him.
Samuel and Jane Virtue became the parents
of four children, namely: Frank M.; Charles E., a
veterinary surgeon of Mt. Gilead; Delphus B., a medical
practitioner of Iberia; and Maggie, the wife of David
Douglas, of Iberia.
Dr. Virtue, whose name introduces this
record, spent the first thirteen years of his life at home on a
farm and then began earning his own living as a farm hand,
working for six consecutive summers on three adjoining farms.
In the winter he attended school, and at the age of eighteen,
having acquired a broad general knowledge, he began teaching.
Desiring to still further perfect his education, he afterward
entered the Ohio Central College, at Iberia. He followed
teaching through four school years, and in the spring of 1883 he
began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. W. C.
Bennett, of Iberia. In the fall of 1884 he entered the
Western Reserve University, of Cleveland, Ohio, where he was
graduated on the 9th of March, 1887. On the 18th of April,
following, he located in Sulphur Springs, in the office vacated
by Dr. M. M. Carrothers, and in the fourteen years which
have come and gone he has built up a remunerative and greatly
increasing practice. His time is occupied by his
professional duties almost day and night, showing the wide-felt
confidence which the public has in his ability.
On the 20th of October, 1887, the Doctor was united in
marriage to Miss Lue Hall, a native of Iberia,
Morrow county, and a daughter of Isaac and Eliza
Hall. Five children have been born of this union,
all sons, namely: Vance McVay, Cecil R., Ivan
V., Samuel F. and Robert M.
The Doctor is unfaltering in his support of Republican
principles and does all in his power to promote the growth and
insure the success of his party. For the past nine years
he has been a member of the school board, and has also been
treasurer of his district. The cause of education finds in
him a warm friend, true in his allegiance to its best interests.
He and his wife are members of the Hope Reformed church, with
which they united in 1888, and for four years he held the office
of elder. He likewise belongs to Liberty Lodge, No. 845,
Knights of Honor, in which he is past dictator, and is also a
member of Sulphur Springs Tent, No 298, K O. T. M. Of both
societies he is examining physician. He belongs to the
Northwestern Ohio Medical Society, and through his connection
therewith, as well as by constant reading and study, he keeps
himself in touch with the progress that is constantly being made
in the medical fraternity.
Source: A Centennial Biographical History of Crawford County,
Ohio - Chicago: 1902 - Page 516 |
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CHARLES
VOLLRATH - The subject of this sketch is a native of
Saxony, Germany, born May 16, 1835, a son of Gottlieb and
Fredericke (Meissner) Vollrath. He attended the
schools of his native land seven years, and came to this country
with his father's family, which lived the first year in
Rochester, New York, and in May of 1849 came to Bucyrus.
Here Charles Vollrath learned the carpenter's trade and
followed it till 1855, when he became interested in a planing-mill,
a business in which he prospered for years.
March 23, 1858, he married Elizabeth Hocker, a
native of Baden, Germany, born in June of 1831.
Source: A Centennial Biographical History of Crawford County,
Ohio - Chicago: 1902 - Page 84 |
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COLONEL
EDWARD VOLLRATH. Prominent among the lawyers of
Crawford county, and well known in public affairs is Colonel
Edward Vollrath, of Bucyrus, in which city his birth
occurred forty-three years ago. His parents, Charles
and Elizabeth Vollrath, were natives of Germany. HE
attended the Bucyrus public schools, graduating at the high
school in 1878. After attending Wittenberg College,
Springfield, Ohio, he graduated in 1883. In youth he
worked at the carpenter's bench, but predilection led him to the
study of law. In 1885 he was admitted to practice as an
attorney at law by the supreme court of Ohio, and has since
practiced with success as a member of the Crawford county bar.
In 1884 Colonel Vollrath entered the Ohio
National Guard as a private. He rose to the rank of major,
in which capacity he volunteered with his regiment- the Eighth
Ohio Volunteer Infantry - in the Spanish-American war, and
participated with Shafter's corps in the siege of
Santiago, Cuba. He was mustered out of the United States
service as major of volunteers, and was chosen colonel of his
regiment - the Eighth Ohio - upon its reorganization into the
Ohio National Guard. Colonel Vollrath has a large
and lucrative practice, and is also largely interested in
manufacturing and real estate.
In 1888 he married Miss Millie C. Wise, and his
home is celebrated for its generous hospitality.
Fraternally Colonel Vollrath is a member of the Knights
of Pythias fraternity. He is a member of the St. Paul's
English Lutheran church at Bucyrus; has been a deacon in the
church for more than fifteen years, and for several years he has
superintended the Sunday-school.
Unassuming and genial in manner, and always fair and
jsut in all dealings, Colonel Vollrath is highly esteemed
by his fellow citizens, and enjoys the confidence of a wide
circle of friends."
Source: A Centennial Biographical History of Crawford County,
Ohio - Chicago: 1902 - Page 61 |
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