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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
The History of the City of Dayton
and
The Montgomery County, Ohio.
by Rev. A. W. Drury
1909
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CHARLES E.
HALLER, superintendent of the Department of Infirmary
of Dayton, was born in this city, Jan. 24, 1860, and was
here reared, the public schools affording him his
opportunities in an educational way. He passed through
consecutive grades and at length was graduated from the
Miami Commercial College with the class of 1880. Thus
trained for business life, he secured a clerkship in a
Dayton store and for four years acted in that capacity, but
all the time he was imbued with the ambition to one day
became the owner of a business that his labors might more
directly benefit himself. to this end he carefully
saved his earnings until his capital was sufficient to
enable him to start upon an independent venture. He
then established a wholesale confectionery house and for
fourteen years conducted the business with growing and
gratifying success. He was afterward identified with
various other lines, including five years spent in the
insurance business, and on the 10th of July, 1908, he was
appointed to his present office by the board of public
service. His faithfulness and capability in the
discharge of his duties thus far have won for him high
commendation and the merited confidence and good will of
those who are familiar with his public service.
On the 2d of October 1883, in Dayton Mr. Haller
was united in marriage to Miss Anna L. Focht, and
they have one daughter, Myrtle M., who is now the
wife of Clarence Crewe and they have one child,
Anna May. Mr. and Mrs. Haller have a
pleasant home in which they extend cordial hospitality to
their many friends. Mr. Haller belongs to the
Odd Fellows Society in both the subordinate lodge and the
encampment and is a member of the First Reformed church.
He gives his political allegiance to the democracy and while
the honors and emoluments of office are not
sufficiently attractive to him to cause him to seek
political preferment, he is nevertheless awake to the duties
and obligations as well as the privileges of citizenship and
seeks the city's welfare through his cooperation in many
measures for the public good.
Source: The History of the City of
Dayton and Montgomery Co., Ohio by Rev. A. W. Drury - Publ.
1909 - Vol. II - Page 420 |
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MARTIN L.
HALLER, SR., is a retired gardener of Harrison
township, Montgomery County, Ohio, and the owner of some
fine truck land on Germantown street, just on the edge of
the city of Dayton. He was born in Frederick county,
Maryland, Oct. 19, 1842, the son of Henry and Elizabeth
(Barger) Haller. His paternal grandfather,
Daniel Haller, was the first of the family to come to
this county. He had retired from active life at the
time of his arrival here and was accounted a man of means,
as the holder of considerable land in the state of his
birth. Henry Haller came to Ohio from Maryland
in 1848 and located in Harrison township, where he was among
the early settlers and did his share toward making the land
ready for the great improvements and growth that the last
half century witnessed. Six children were born to
Henry Haller, of whom Richard, Mary Jane and
Catherine, have died, but William, Susan and
Martin are still living useful lives.
Martin L. Haller was but a very small boy when
he came with his parents to this county and might be said to
have grown up with the region which has been his hoe for
sixty years. He has taken part of this change and has
witnessed it from many points of view, for he attended the
country schools, the only schools he ever knew, before they
even aspired to anything like their present proficiency, and
during his youth and early manhood worked on the
Patterson farm, which was absorbed by the growing city
of Dayton, incorporated within its boundaries and made a
part of its civic life. Many others are the
transformations that Mr. Haller has witnessed during
the years of his active life and many are the stories he
could relate of that life now passed. He can also tell
of the many acts of bravery that came under his own eyes
during the course of the Civil war, for he was among that
vast army that answered to the call of the nation when it
was threatened with dissolution, having enlisted in the One
Hundred and Thirty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry under
Colonel Lowe. Upon his discharge from the army
Mr. Haller devoted all his energies to that phase of
life which had already engrossed the greater part of his
time - farming. He worked diligently and saved
carefully and soon had enough money to make the first
payment upon his present farm. Truck gardening
appealed to him as more profitable on his land than general
farming, and of this he has made a very decided success.
On the 29th of September, 1864, Mr. Haller was
married to Miss Amanda Miller, who died in 1905,
after having borne and reared eight children and seeing her
later years gladdened by several grandchildren.
Eva, who was the eldest of the family, married Joseph
Bitner and became the mother of four children,
Lottie, Estella, Clifford and Eugene. Harry,
the first son, married Miss Emma Puterbaugh and is
the father of two children, Elizabeth and Robert.
Daisy is the wife of Luther Fraver, who has
taken active charge of things on the truck farm, and by whom
she has one son, Harold. Luther Haller married
Miss Amanda West and is now the father of Lelah,
Ralph, Grace and Jeannette. Katie is the
wife of John Dunkle, a preacher of the gospel, and
they have four children, Sharon, Ruth, Catherine and
Agnes. Hattie is the wife of A. Schopalla
and the mother of one daughter, Irene. Russell,
the youngest son, lives at home. Elizabeth is
deceased.
Mr. Haller is a member of the United Brethren
church and is a Christian in every sense of the word as
exemplified by his daily acts. During all the years of
his long life he has been dependent upon himself alone for
his advancement. He early learned the secret of
success and justly deserves the rest from active cares and
the comforts he now enjoys on the farm, which has the scene
of his arduous labors.
Source: The History of the City of Dayton and
Montgomery Co., Ohio by Rev. A. W. Drury - Publ. 1909 - Vol.
II - Page 11. |
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JONATHAN
HARSHMAN, JR., was born in Harshmanville, Montgomery
county, Ohio, Feb. 15, 1812, and died in Dayton, Ohio, Dec.
25, 1876. His grandfather, Christian Harshman,
(sometimes spelled Herschman) was born in Germany,
Apr. 22, 1744, and died Oct. 26, 1816, in Frederick county,
Maryland.
His father, Jonathan Harshman, Sr., was born in
Frederick county, Maryland, Dec. 21, 1781, and died in
Harshmanville, Mar. 31, 1850. He was a miller, farmer,
shipper, merchant and banker, a very successful man and left
a comfortable fortune to each of his eight children.
The subject of this sketch was married Oct. 4, 1836, to
Abigail, daughter of John Hivling, a prominent
citizen of Xenia. Their children were Martha,
who married Thomas O. Lowe; George, who
married Julia Deuel; Susan, who married Oswald
Cammann, of New York. Two others, Charles
and Mary, died before their parents.
Jonathan Harshman, Jr., went to Miami
University, Oxford, Ohio, when thirteen or fourteen years
old and after leaving their followed his father in milling,
farming and banking and added largely to his inherited
wealth, but lot it all on Black Friday, 1873.
In 1852 he formed a co-partnership with Valentine
Winters, James R. Young and Robert R. Dickey for
the purpose of carrying on a general banking business in the
city of Dayton under the firm name of Harshman, Winters
& Company. Robert R. Dickey and James R. Young
soon retired from the firm and the name was then changed to
Harsman & Winters and afterward called the
Exchange Bank. In 1857 he sold his interest in the
firm to his partner and in 1860 the banking house of
Harshman & Company was formed, which in1863 was merged
into the Second National Bank, of which he was president.
Shortly after he and his brother Joseph Harshman
formed the banking house of Harshman & Company and
also owned mills at Osborn, Ohio, and did a large business
in chipping grain and flour.
During the first years of the late Civil war he always
honored certificates of deposit regardless of the strict
letter of legal obligation. For instance if there had
been placed upon the certificate a memorandum merely which
indicated gold or silver or both as was often the case
although the body of the draft contained no signed of coin
and the premium on gold at that time was fifty to one
hundred per cent, he honored the draft. He was
interested with Valentine Winters and E. H. Drake
in building and equipping the first railroad in Minnesota in
1862.
He was elected county commissioners in the First
Presbyterian church and was a great friend of some of the
well known pastors of that church, particularly the Rev.
P. D. Gurley, who after leaving Dayton went to
Washington and was pastor of the church which Abraham
Lincoln attended and was with Lincoln when he
died. He was a man of irreproachable morals, great
kindliness of disposition, of broad views and generous
impulses, a kind and loyal friend and was highly esteemed by
his fellow citizens.
Source: The History of the City of Dayton and
Montgomery Co., Ohio by Rev. A. W. Drury - Publ. 1909 - Vol.
II - Page 937 |
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JONATHAN
HARSHMAN, SR., pioneer citizen of Montgomery County,
Ohio, and founder of the Harshman family, which in
direct descent and by intermarriage is one of the most
influential and representative families of the county, was
born in Frederick county, Maryland, on the 21st day of
December, 1781. His ancestral record shows that his
grandfather, Andrew Herschman, (as the name was then
spelled) was born in Germany, lived there all his life and
died at the remarkable age of one hundred and twenty years.
The exact place of his birth and residence in Germany we are
unable to give. A son Christian, the father of
the subject of this sketch, also born in Germany, came to
the United States when a lad and settled in Frederick
county, Maryland, and in course of time married the daughter
of a neighboring farmer, which marriage we are informed was
a most happy one. From this marriage nine children
were born as follows: John, Anna Maria, Esther,
Philip, Christian, Jonathan, Susanna, Catherine and
Christina.
Jonathan Harshman, the sixth child of this
marriage, in the year 1805 with some others from the same
section of Maryland, emigrated to the state of Kentucky,
settling near Lexington, but after remaining there about a
year, he again returned to his former home in Maryland,
when, after a short residence, he again became possessed of
the desire to return to Kentucky, which he did, but not
liking the institution of slavery then existing there and
seeing no present hope for its abolishment he then came to
Ohio and settled in Mad River township, Montgomery county,
on a farm now owned by his grandchildren, George Harshman
and Susan Harshman Cammann, and later on purchased
the property which became the site of Harshmanville, where
he resided until his death, Mar. 31, 1850.
On the 18th day of February, 1808, Mr. Harshman
was united in marriage with Susanna Rench, who was
born Nov. 11, 1786, in Washington county, Maryland, and was
a sister of John Rench, also a pioneer settler of
this county, who came from Maryland soon after Mr.
Harshman did. The first year Mr. Harshman
settled on his farm, he built a cabin late in the fall,
hanging the door and putting in a one four light window
himself. He set to work with a will and soon became
actively engaged in farming, milling, merchandising and
distilling. Everything he touched seemed to bring him
success. In connection with his brother-in-law,
John Rench, Mr. Harshman opened a store, corner of Main
and Third streets, Dayton, under the firm name of
Harshman & Rench, in 1829. They also opened a
warehouse at the head of the canal basin and started a
number of boats on the canal just opened between Dayton and
Cincinnati, doing an extensive business in shipping and
merchandising, their business in these lines extending all
the way from Dayton to New Orleans. During his
business career, Mr. Harshman had the entire
confidence of the business community and by his industry and
judgment accumulated the largest fortune possessed by any
citizen of Montgomery county in his day.
In the year 1825, Mr. Harshman was elected on
the whig ticket from this county a member of the general
assembly of the state of Ohio, serving one term, and on
May1st 1845, he was elected president of the Dayton Bank,
which position he held until his death. When the
National road, was authorized by congress from Cumberland,
Maryland, to St. Louis, Missouri, Mr. Harshman in
connection with other influential citizens of Dayton sought
to have it laid out through this city, but on objection
being urged that it would not be a straight line, by
citizens of Springfield, the request of the citizens of
Dayton was refused. Thereupon a number of Dayton men
in connection with Mr. Harshman, organized the Dayton
& Springfield Turnpike Company, of which Mr. Harshman
was made president, and they built the turnpike from
Springfield to Dayton, Ohio.
During the Mexican war, Mr. Harshman acted on a
committee to raise means for the support of families of the
men who had volunteered in the army and was very active in
that regard. In everything tending to the growth of
Dayton and of his home county, he also took an active part.
Susanna Harshman, wife of Jonathan Harshman,
died Dec. 5, 1829. Their marriage was blessed with a
family of eight children: Elizabeth, born Nov. 17,
1808, married Israel Huston, Catherine, born Jan. 4,
1810, married Valentine Winters. Jonathan, born
Feb. 15, 1812, died Dec. 25, 1876. He was named after
his father and married Abigail Hivling who was born
Jan. 27, 1813, and died Jun. 6, 1879. Mary,
born Jan. 17, 1816, married George Gorman.
John Rench, born Nov. 6, 1818, died Aug. 31, 1819.
Joseph, born Oct. 24, 1820, married Caroline
Protzman, daughter of Colonel Protzman.
George W., born Feb. 22, 1822, married Ann Virginia
Rohrer. Susanna, born May 22, 1823, married
Daniel Beckel, Reuben D., born Jan. 16, 1827, married
Mary Protzman.
Source: The History of the City of Dayton and
Montgomery Co., Ohio by Rev. A. W. Drury - Publ. 1909 - Vol.
II - Page 848 |
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ABEL HOOVER.
The name of Abel Hoover has long been associated with
manufacturing interests in Miamisburg and has ever stood as
a synonym for commercial enterprise, integrity and
reliability. For a considerable period Abel Hoover
has been a factor in connection with the productive
industries of the city and is still financial interested
therein although he is largely retired in that he leaves the
management of his manufacturing interests to others save for
the general supervision which he gives his business.
He was born in Miamisburg, Sept. 5, 1832, and is descended
in the paternal line from German ancestry. His
grandfather, Frederick Hoover, was a native of
Pennsylvania and a farmer by occupation. Removing to
Ohio he became one of the very early settlers of Montgomery
county where he engaged in farming until old age
incapacitated him for further labor of that character.
He then retired and removed to Miamisburg, where his last
days were spent. He married a Miss Herman who
also died when well advanced in years. They were the
parents of six sons and two daughters: David, Martin,
Isaac, John, Simon, William, Catharine and Mrs. Isaac
Treon.
Of this family David H. Hoover, father of
Abel Hoover, was born in Pennsylvania but was reared to
farm life in Montgomery county, Ohio, and when he became a
man turned his attention to the manufacture of threshing
machines in Miamisburg. He took up that work in the
'40s and continued in the implement business for many years,
becoming one of the well known and prominent representatives
of that line of trade and manufacture in this part of the
state. He married Miss Catharine Houtz, also a
native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of John Houtz.
Her father lived in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he
conducted a distillery, a flour mill, a cooper shop and a
store. He was one of the most prominent business men
of that part of the state and in addition to his commercial
and industrial interests he was a very extensive landowner,
his possessions aggregating about nineteen thousand acres.
He was a pioneer of Montgomery county, Ohio, where he
engaged in farming and here he also established a
distillery, sending his products down the Ohio and
Mississippi rivers on flat boats to New Orleans. He
afterward removed to Miami county, discontinued
manufacturing because of a belief that the course was wrong
and became a strict Presbyterian. He died at an old
age. He and his wife reared a large family of children
including: Nancy, Catharine, Eliza, Barbara, Mary,
Christina, John, Samuel and Jeremiah. Among
this number was Catharine who became Mrs. David H.
Hoover. The death of Mr. Hoover occurred at
Miamisburg when he was seventy years of age while his wife
survived him for a number of years and passed away at the
very venerable age of eighty-seven years. They were
both consistent members of the Methodist church, their
Christian faith being the guiding principle in their life.
Unto them were born three children: Elizabeth, who is
the widow of Charles Allen, and is now residing in
Miamisburg; Abel of this review; and
Samantha, the wife of William Gamble of
Miamisburg.
Abel Hoover has spent his entire life in the
city of his nativity. In his boyhood days he pursued
his education in the old-time subscription schools, in
select schools and in the Ohio Wesleyan University, where he
was a student for a short time. He afterward went to
work in his father's shop and later became interested in the
business as a partner. Following his father's death he
continued the business and is still connected with
manufacturing interests, the output of the factory at the
present time being machinery for making twine. The
business has long been a profitable venture, capably
conducted along modern business lines and its manufactured
product finds a ready and profitable sale on the market.
On the 7th of April, 1858, Mr. Hoover was united
in marriage to Miss Clara E. Hoff, a daughter of
William and Eliza (Leis) Hoff. Mrs. Hoover was
born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, in the town of
Wammelsdorf and her parents were also natives of the
Keystone state. they arrived in Miamisburg in the '40s
and the father here engaged in the dry-goods business.
Unto them were born eight children, five sons and three
daughters, of whom three are now living: Mrs. Clara
Hoover; Mary C., who is the widow of George A. Black
of Dayton; and H. C. Hoff, of Miamisburg. The
father lived in Miamisburg for many years and engaged in the
dry-goods trade here, becoming recognized as one of the
leading and representative merchants of the city. He
died in 1876 at the age of sixty-seven years, while his wife
survived him for eight years and was seventy-two years of
age at the time of her demise. The paternal
grandfather of Mrs. Hoover was George Hoff, a
native of Pennsylvania, who served as a soldier in the War
of 1812. His wife bore the maiden name of Margaret
Nice. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Hoover
was George Neis.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Abel Hoover has
been blessed with six children, but Harry and
Herbert died in early childhood. William D.,
who is now living in Denver, Colorado, married Miss
Elizabeth Hunt and they have two children, Edward
and Donald. Charles F., an eminent physician
practicing in Cleveland, Ohio married Miss Catharine
Frazier and they had one daughter, Catharine.
George Albert, who married a Miss Taylor, is
living in Detroit, Michigan. Esther Belle is
the wife of Oscar E. Linderholm and they reside in
Chester, Texas, with their one daughter, Clara Christine.
Such in brief is the life history of Abel Hoover, a
man whose record reflects credit upon Miamisburg, his native
city, and throughout his life the place of his residence.
Some years since he passed the Psalmist's allotted span of
three score years and ten, and he remains a most respected
resident here, honored by reason of what he has accomplished
and the straightforward business methods which he has ever
pursued. In all relations he has measured up to the
full standard of manhood.
Source: The
History of the City of Dayton and Montgomery Co., Ohio by
Rev. A. W. Drury - Publ. 1909 - Vol. II - Page 802 |
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JOHN J. HOOVER,
practicing at the Dayton bar as a successful attorney, was
born in Grafton, Pennsylvania, Dec. 3, 1869. His
youthful days were there passed to the age of about nineteen
years, during which time he attended the public schools,
continuing his studies in Juniata College, at Huntingdon,
Pennsylvania, from which institution he was graduated with
the B. E. degree in the class of 1889. He
afterward engaged in teaching school for three years in
Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, and also spent three years
as a representative of the teacher's profession in Butler
county, Ohio. On the expiration of that period he
removed to Dayton and was upon the road for two years,
representing the firm of McClung Brothers, cigar
dealers of this city. Thinking, however, to find the
profession of law a more congenial pursuit, he entered the
Cincinnati Law School, and following his graduation in 1894,
he opened an office in Dayton, where he has practiced
continuously since. His knowledge of the law and his
ability in correctly applying its principles have brought
him a good clientage, his success being demonstrated in the
extent and importance of the legal interests entrusted to
his care.
Mr. Hoover is also recognized as a leader in
democratic circles in Dayton, and while the party is in the
minority here he has been honored with its nominations,
having been a candidate for the school board at one time and
again for the legislature. He now holds membership in
Gravel Hall Club, a democratic organization. In his
fraternal relations he is a Knight of Pythias and belongs to
the Modern Woodmen of America. His religious faith is
indicated in his membership in Grace Reformed church.
In 1895 Mr. Hoover was united in marriage to
Miss Maud Brosier, and they have four children,
Miriam Lucille, John Ruskin, Earl Reese and Rodney
Robert. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hoover have many
warm friends in Dayton, where they have always resided.
Mr. Hoover is a gentleman of genial manner and
unfailing courtesy, whose interests are not narrowed down to
those things which affect only himself and his success but
reach out along broader lines, finding manifestation in his
genial interest in and laudable spirit toward municipal
affairs that affect the growth, progress and improvement of
his city.
Source: The
History of the City of Dayton and Montgomery Co., Ohio by
Rev. A. W. Drury - Publ. 1909 - Vol. II - Page 382 |
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WILLIAM H. HOSKOT,
assistant postmaster of Dayton, was born in this city Nov.
21, 1852. When the days of his early boyhood had
passed his time during that period being largely given to
the acquirement of a public-school education, he secured
employment in a brickyard, being at that time a little lad
of ten years. He worked there through the summer and
then secured a position in the employ of T. A. Phillips,
manufacturer of cotton batting remaining in that service for
sixteen months. He next worked for Henry Dornbusch,
driving a cart, after which he went into the Journal office,
where he served for a year as office boy. His next
employment was as cash boy in the Beehive Dry Goods store,
where he remained for seven years, his willingness to work,
his faithfulness and ready adaptability bringing him through
successive promotions to the position of bookkeeper.
He then entered the Second National Bank as messenger and
for seven years was connected with the financial affairs of
that institution. Resigning his position to engage in
business on his own account he established a steam laundry
in 1877. This he conducted until 1893 when his plant
was destroyed by fire. About that time he received the
appointment of deputy criminal court clerk, serving for two
years, after which he was made chief deputy and occupied the
position for ten years. In 1906 he was appointed
assistant postmaster of Dayton, in which connection he is
capably administering the affairs of the office in a most
businesslike manner, the work being thoroughly systematized
while promptness and accuracy characterize every department.
On the 24th of June, 1874, Mr. Hoskot was
married in Dayton to Miss Fannie C. Schaeffer and
they had four children: Minnie R., the wife of
J. H. Merkle; Tom S.; Catharine I., the
wife of Albert King and Florence. Mrs.
Hoskot died May 2, 1909. Mr. Hoskot is well
known in several fraternities, holding membership with the
Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the Foresters, the
Woodmen and the Elks and in his life exemplifies the
beneficent spirit which underlies these orders. He
belongs also to the Bicycle and Garfield Clubs and his
religious faith is indicated in his membership in the First
Reformed church. In his different business
associations Mr. Hoskot has ever commanded the
respect and confidence of those with whom he has been
connected while his official record has at all times been
characterized by an unfaltering and faithful performance of
duty.
Source: The History of the City of Dayton and
Montgomery Co., Ohio by Rev. A. W. Drury - Publ. 1909 - Vol.
II - Page 646 |
NOTES: |
