WILLIAM ELMER GUNTRUM, M. D.     While the claims of medicine to the gratitude of mankind have never been fully recognized, yet medical practitioners in every age and every country, have been regarded with the respect and esteem that has set them in a niche a little above their fellow citizens and that they have not been accorded all that is their due, must, in large measure be attributed to ignorance and selfishness.  there is no profession in which such absolute accuracy of knowledge must be possessed, and none in which its practitioners must be so courageous, so persistent and so disinterested as to personality.  Greenville, Ohio, has men of this noble type and in this connection is noted Dr. William Elmer Guntrum.  Dr. Guntrum was born in Greenville township, just north of Greenville, Ohio, his father's fertile farm lying on the Versailles turnpike road, Oct. 13, 1863, and is a son of John and Rebecca (Jamison) Guntrum.
     The paternal grandfather of Dr. Guntrum was born an reared in Pennsylvania and there married Martha Gingrich.  They came to Darke county, Ohio, when this section was emerging from its wilderness days, and made their first home amid the great trees of a forest that stretched for many miles beyond.  Grandfather Guntrum developed a productive farm and was a valuable man in his community.  Both he and wife died on the scene of their labors, about 1865.  The maternal grandfather of Dr. Guntrum was another early settler of Darke county, John Jamison by name.  With his first wife, the grandmother of Dr. Guntrum, he came to Greenville township when Indians still lived on its frontier.
     John Guntrum father of Dr. Guntrum, was born and reared in Darke county, Ohio.  During his earlier years he followed farming and later, in Greenville township, he was engaged in the meat business for a number of years, but continued to reside on his farm near Greenville.  Still later he removed to Piqua, Ohio, where his death occurred Oct. 6, 1903, his age being sixty-three years.   He married Rebecca Jamison, who still survives, and the following children were born to them: William Elmer; Barbara, who is the wife of Luther Skeggs, of Piqua, Ohio; Mary Elizabeth, who is the wife of Levi Rodabaugh, of Piqua; Laura Jane and Flora A., twins, the former of whom is the wife of George A. Wolaver, residing near Piqua, and the latter of whom is the wife of Enos Creakbaum, of Dayton, Ohio; and Hester R., who is the wife of Jesse Carr, of Piqua.  The mother of the above family is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
     William Elmer Guntrum spent his boyhood on his father’s farm, a privilege he now appreciates on account of the healthful activities it called into play, and after attending the district school, became a student in the Greenville high school.  After some preparation he then entered the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati, in 1889, where he completed his first course in medicine, subsequently taking a second course in the Starling Medical College at Columbus, returning to the Medical College of Ohio in 1893 to graduate.  He entered into medical practice in the village of Stelvideo, where there was a favorable opening at the time and remained there for seven years, in 1900 coming to Greenville, finding in this wider field more opportunity to exercise his skill and to add to his professional usefulness.  Dr. Guntrum has accomplished much, but still remains a student, taking an enthusiastic interest in everything pertaining to his science, a subscriber and occasional contributor to all the leading medical publications, and is a member of the county and State medical bodies and of the American Medical Association.
     Dr. Guntrum was married May 1, 1904, to Miss Maud Rupe, who was born near Palestine, in Darke county, Ohio, a daughter of Martin and Susan (Brooks) Rupe, both of whom are deceased.
     In the well-known fraternal body, the Improved Order of Red Men, Dr. Guntrum is prominent, being one of the charter members of the organization at Greenville.  He belongs also to the Knights of Pythias.  He is a man of professional bearing but of genial, courteous manner, and he is pleasant and companionable with all his fellow citizens.  In large measure he is a self-made man and takes justifiable pride in this fact and has often given encouragement to young men desiring an education by telling them of his own struggles in young manhood.  Politically, Doctor Guntrum is a Democrat.
Source: History of Darke County, Ohio - From its earliest Settlement to the Present Time - Vols. I & II - Milford, Ohio - The Hobart Publ. Co. - 1914 - Page 182