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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
Centennial
Biographical History of Hancock Co., Ohio
Pub: New York & Chicago by The Lewis Publishing Company
1903
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JOHN W.
ZELLER. Twenty-five years continuous
service as superintendent of schools of the city of
Findlay is evidence quite sufficient to mark
Professor Zeller as a prominent figure in
the educational interests of the great state of
Ohio. During
all of that period he has been prominently connected
with every movement that had for its object the
forwarding of educational interests, not only in his
own state, but in the country at large. He is
now and has been, for years in close touch with the
master minds in the educational fields of our
country, and is a man who has done a very large
amount of personal work in securing the excellent
and unsurpassed school system with which the
citizens of Findlay are favored.
We do not desire to present the life history of
Professor Zeller here as presenting any
points which are particularly remarkable. It,
however, will not be without its value, as it may
teach some youth the fact that only persistent
effort is necessary to advance himself in the
educational field. Professor Zeller
was born in Union township, Hancock county, Jan. 22,
1849. The period of boyhood was passed on the
farm, on which he engaged in its activities, there
building the physical frame and laying the
foundation of that health which has always attended
him subsequently. He attended the country
school of his district during the winter time until
he was seventeen years of age. At that period
he felt qualified to enter the active duties of the
school room as a teacher, and for the next six years
he was found in the school room in the winter and
during the summer in the activities of the farm, and
in further enriching his mind for the profession of
teaching. He later entered the Ohio State
Normal University, at Ada, and in 1874 completed the
course, being a member of the first graduating class
of that institution. His first work in the
profession after graduation was undertaken in Grant,
Logan county, Ohio, where he organized the public
schools of the village and was superintendent for
two years. Not satisfied with his equipment,
Professor Zeller, entered Mount Union
College, where he completed the philosophical
course, and was given the degree of Ph. B. In
passing it is worthy of note to remark here that
this college in 1885 conferred on him the degree of
Ph. M.; in 1891 he began a political science course
at Ann Arbor for the degree of Ph. D., but not being
able to complete that course since their rules
required a year's residence at the school,
Professor Zeller finished the course at Findlay
College, and received from this institution in 1892
the degree of Ph. D. After receiving his
degree from Mount Union College in 1876,
Professor Zeller prosecuted his studies
still further at the Ohio Normal University, where
he took up the study of languages, also acting as a
tutor in the university.
It was in the summer of 1877 that the first election of
Professor Zeller as superintendent of the public
schools of Findlay occurred. He entered upon
the work with enthusiasm, and it was but a very
brief period until the public schools of Findlay
began to be noted over the state as being peculiarly
excellent, and this reputation has since clung to
the school. When Professor Zeller
took charge of the Findlay schools, the
population of Findlay was only a little over four
thousand inhabitants, and there was a corps of
sixteen teachers, with fifteen schools, all
contained in three buildings. To-day there are
eighty-two teachers connected with the schools,
fourteen buildings and seventy-four rooms exclusive
of the magnificent high school building, which has a
faculty of eight teachers. All of these
buildings are of the most substantial nature,
being built of brick, and furnished with every kind
of apparatus that is necessary for the conduct of a
modern up-to-date school. The value of the
three buildings when Professor Zeller
took charge was but $45,000. The figures which
cover the valuation to-day are $300,000. All
this advance has been made under the efficient
administration of Professor Zeller.
During these years the city has grown from a village
of four thousand inhabitants to a city of twenty
thousand, and the number of school children has
increased from eight hundred to about four thousand.
The one thing, however, which among others is
probably the greatest monument to the labor and zeal
of Professor Zeller is the superb high
school building finished in 1901, at a cost of about
$65,000. This building is one of the best in
the United States, being equipped with every
convenience and necessity from a sanitary
standpoint, and stands as a monument to the public
spirit of the citizens of Findlay. It contains
besides all the modern conveniences for the health
and comfort of the three hundred and fifty high
school pupils a handsome auditorium with a seating
capacity of one thousand, which is not only used by
the pupils for assembly purposes, but brings an
annual income of $600 a year as a place for the
holding of public entertainments. This money is set
aside for replenishing the high school library and
for the decoration of the rooms. The heating
and the ventilation plant is of the most perfect
construction, maintaining the temperature of the
rooms and halls automatically.
In political belief Professor Zeller
adheres to the party of Lincoln and
Garfield, and has never been backward about
taking part in its public work. He has acted
as a delegate from Hancock county to three of the
state conventions, and was at the last election the
nominee on the Republican ticket as a member of the
state school commission. As stated in the
first part of this review. Professor Zeller is
exceedingly active in matters pertaining to his
profession. He is ever alert to the
organization of associations for the improvement of
teachers. He was instrumental in the
organization years ago of the Ohio Teachers'
Association, of which organization he has several
times
served on the executive committee, and has twice
been elected president. For the past ten years
he has been a member of the legislative committee of
the Ohio State Teachers Association, and has also
served on the executive committee of this
association, and has been president of the section
devoted to superintendency. In institute work
Professor Zeller is well known all over
the state, having conducted institutes in
thirty-four different counties. In 1881 he was
granted a state life certificate to teach in the
schools of Ohio. The fact that our subject
began his school work in the country schools of the
county and at the early age of seventeen, and then
advanced step by step from the rural schools to the
village and town schools, rising to the
superintendency in the schools of one of the best
cities in the state, puts him in touch with every
phase of the school system of the Buckeye state.
This knowledge he has gained by continuous
experience of thirty years, which experience makes
him familiar with the needs and wants of our public
schools.
Not only in the school room and school matters does
Professor Zeller interest himself, but in
any line which is meant for the advancement of the
interests of young people. He has for long
years been prominently identified with the Young
Men's Christian Association movement and is at the
present time a member of the board of directors for
the city of Findlay. He is an active worker of
the Methodist Episcopal church, being at the present
time a member of the board of stewards, upon which
board he has served for twenty years. He was
one of the organizers of the branch of the Methodist
denomination on the north side of the city known as
the Howard Methodist church, and for years was a
member of the board of trustees. He was also
active in the erection of what is known as the Heck
Methodist church in Findlay. In connection
with his duties as superintendent of schools.
Professor Zeller has interested himself
in the public institutions of the city, giving aid
and comfort to every enterprise that meant the
advancement of Findlay. He w^as a member of the
Findlay Natural Gas Company, the pioneer company of
the northern Ohio oil fields, which drilled the
first well for gas not only in Ohio but in the whole
northwest. This well was drilled in 1886 at
Findlay, and the development which has followed that
first enterprise is well known to all.
The family life of Professor Zeller has been a
happy one; he was joined in marriage in 1874, in
Warren county, Ohio, to Julia, daughter of
Thomas M. Abell.
Source: Centennial
Biographical History of Hancock Co., Ohio - Pub: New York &
Chicago by The Lewis Publishing Company - 1903 - Page 583 |
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