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BIOGRAPHIES
 Source #1:
Biographical Record of Fairfield & Perry Counties, Ohio
- Illustrated -
New York and Chicago
The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1902
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LEVI SHRIDER, one of the highly
respected citizens of Perry county, residing on his farm in
Thorn township, was born near Somerset, in Reading township,
on the 16th of October, 1830, his parents being Peter and
Elizabeth (Cofterman) Shrider. The former was also born in
Reading township, and was a son of Frederick Shrider,
who came to Ohio in 1809, from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.
He was either born on the ocean while his parents were en
route to the new worlds or shortly after they took up their
abode in Pennsylvania. His father was also named Frederick
and was born in Germany, coming to the new world just prior to
the Revolutionary war. He was at once pressed into
service here and was killed at the battle of Brandywine.
Frederick Shrider was reared in the Keystone state
and afterward emigrated to Ohio, entering land from the
government near Somerset in Perry county, but was not long
permitted to enjoy his new home, his death occurring shortly
afterward when Peter Shrider, the father of our
subject, was only nine months old. Peter Shrider
was reared in Reading township and continued to live there for
many years. He learned the trade of wagon making, which he
followed for thirty years and then abandoned that vocation,
when he purchased a farm in Hopewell township, Perry county,
where he made a home for himself and family, continuing the
cultivation and improvement of his land throughout the
remainder of his active business career. He died at the old
homestead there when he was more than eighty-four years of
age. He held membership in the Lutheran church and was a
Democrat in his political views. He lived during the period of
the old time state militia, and served as a lieutenant in an
Ohio company. He was a very prosperous and progressive man,
successful in his life work, owing his advancement entirely to
his own efforts, for he was left without means. His life
conduct proved the force of character, of industry and
enterprise as applied to the active affairs of life. Both he
and his wife were laid to rest in the cemetery of Reading
township. In their family were twelve children, the subject of
this review being the eldest. Nine of the number are yet
living, four daughters and five sons, as follows: Levi;
Juliann, the widow of Simon Swinhardt:
Susan, the wife of Samuel Grant, of
Somerset; Solomon, a resident of Reading township,
Perry county; David, who resides in Thornville;
William, a resident of Hopewell township, Perry county;
George, who is living in the same township; Lou, the wife
of John Edmunds. carries on agricultural pursuits in Thorn
township, Perry county; and Jane, who is living in
Hopewell township. Those who have passed away are Lewis,
John, and one who died in infancy.
Levi Shrider spent the days of his
minority under the parental roof and gained his education in
the subscription schools which were common at that time. He
assisted his father upon the home farm, and also in the wagon
making trade in Reading township. He afterward removed to
Hopewell township, remaining on a farm for about a year, after
which he was married. He then followed wagon making in Reading
township, devoting his attention to that business for a number
of years. subsequently he worked at the carpenter's trade and
with the capital he had acquired through his industry and
economy he purchased a small farm in Reading township,
continuing its cultivation for about five years. On the
expiration of that period he sold the property and removed to
his present farm on section 20, Thorn township, comprising one
hundred and forty acres of rich land, all of which is now
under a high state of cultivation. Nearly all of the
improvements upon the property are the visible evidences of
his life of industry and toil. Mr. Shrider
erected a good substantial residence and all the necessary
outbuildings for the shelter of grain and stock. He placed his
land in a condition where it brings forth a good harvest and
now is successfully engaged in general farming and
stock-raising.
On the 24th of April, 1855, Mr. Shrider
was united in marriage to Miss Caroline
Anspauch, a daughter of John and
Catherine Anspauch, both of whom are now .deceased.
Mrs. Shrider died February 7, 1867, leaving five
children: William Hayden, the eldest, is a
resident farmer of Thorn township. He was born March 3, 1857,
and married Miss Alice Crist by whom he
has .two children, Minta and Homer. Samuel
Clinton, born April 3, 1859, is a machinist, residing
in Newark, Ohio. He wedded Mary Stiner, and they
have one child, Beulah. John Peter, born
May 27, 1861, is an employe in the gas works of Newark, Ohio.
He married Ida Crist, and their children are
Guy, George and Jessie. David
Edward, who resides in Columbus, Ohio, where he is engaged
in the wholesale liquor business, was born February 17, 1863,
and married Emma Binckley. Levi
McClellan, born April 28, 1865, is engaged in clerking for
his brother David in Columbus, Ohio, He married
Bernice Haynes.
After the death of his first wife Mr. Shrider
married Sarah Orr a daughter of Joseph
and Harriet Orr. She was born in Licking
county, Ohio, April 23, 1838, and died January 10, 1898. In
the family were six children, all of whom are yet living, and
Mrs. Shrider also had one child by her first
marriage. She was the widow of Nicholas Beck
when she became the wife of our subject. Her son Joseph
Beck, was seven years of age at the time of her second
marriage and was reared by Mr. Shrider. He
resides in Thorn township and is a carpenter by trade. He also
has a small farm there. He married Leah Foster
and they have two children, Benjamin and Ernest.
The children born of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Shrider
are Oswell, born in Reading township, July 3, 1868, now
follows farming in Thorn township. He married Emma
Dunaway, a native of Fairfield county and a daughter of
Newton Dunaway. They have one child, Wilbert.
Estella, born April 28, 1870, is the wife of George
Ruffner, who is engaged in farming and drilling gas
wells, his home being in Fairfield county. They have four
children: Fred, Mabel, Florence and
Paul. Lewis Herman, who was born in Thorn
township, June 27, 1872, married Bernice Garrett
and resides in Franklin county, Ohio. Whitmer Arnold,
born in Thorn township, February 23, 1874, resides upon the
old home farm. Daisy Sedora, born August 9,
1876, is the wife of William Wolff, of Jackson
township. Perry county, and their home is now in Lancaster,
where Mr. Wolff is employed as a railroad man.
They have one child, Ruth. Murray
Frederick, the youngest child of Mr.
Shriders second marriage, was born December 5, 1879, and
was employed in a shoe factory at Lancaster, Ohio. The mother
of these children was a faithful member of the Lutheran church
and lived an earnest Christian life.
For his third wife Mr. Shrider chose
Mary Reaver, the widow of Henry Van Dyke and
a daughter of Joseph Reaver, who became one of
the early settlers of Perry county. He was a plasterer by
trade and followed that business throughout his active life.
Mrs. Shrider was born March 23, 1853, and is a
most estimable lady, holding membership in the Methodist
church. Both our subject and his wife are well known people of
the community. They reside in their pleasant home in Thorn
township, Perry county, surrounded by all the comforts of life
made possible through the earnest and untiring efforts of our
subject and honored and respected by a large circle of
acquaintances.
He is a Democrat in politics and has served as land
appraiser to the township for two terms. For thirteen years he
was a member of the school board and has also filled other
public offices. He belongs to the Lutheran church and in that
organization has served as deacon. Mr. Shrider
has witnessed many wonderful changes as the work of progress
and improvement has been carried on in Perry county. During
the period of his early recollection it was very wild but as
time has passed man has wrought many improvements and this
district of the state is now rich in fine farms and homes,
prosperous towns and thriving business interests. In all the
work of improvement he has borne his part as becomes a good
citizen and the circle of his friends in this portion of the
state is a very extensive one.
Source: A
Biographical Record of Fairfield and Perry
Counties, Ohio - Publ. New York and Chicago: The S. J.
Clarke Publishing Co - 1902 ~ Page 443 |
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ROBERT M. SMALL
is a
practitioner of law in New Lexington, having been admitted
to the bar in 1900. He is therefore in the initial years of
his professional career, but he has by close study well
prepared himself for his chosen vocation, and possessing a
laudable ambition and indefatigable energy, he will
doubtless win a very creditable position as a lawyer; in
fact, he is already well known in this connection and is
likewise an active factor in business circles, being the
secretary of the Junction City Building & Loan Association,
which is one of the leading financial institutions 435 of
Perry county. He has filled the office for three years and
his management of the affairs of the company has brought to
it creditable success.
Mr. Small
is a native of Wood county, Virginia, born in 1871. The
family is of Scotch-Irish descent and was established in
North Carolina prior to the Revolutionary war. Robert
Small, the father of
our subject, was born in that state and after arriving at
years of maturity he wedded Mary
Swink, a native of
Virginia, her people having been pioneer settlers of the
south. After acquiring his preliminary education
Robert M. Small,
of this review, continued his studies in the Ohio State
University, at Columbus. Later he received the degree of M.
Ph. from Mt. Hope College, having completed the three
courses in philosophy, civil engineering and law. Prior to
his admission to the bar he was engaged in teaching school
in Montgomery county, Ohio, for three years. Later he filled
the position of superintendent of the Junction City schools,
Perry county, from 1897 until 1900. In December, 1900, he
opened an office in New Lexington and has gained a good
clientage for one so young. He is determined that success
shall attend his efforts and strong determination is always
an important factor in business. He realizes that
advancement must come through capability and close
application and these qualities have already been manifest
in his career. Mr.
Small
is a member of New Lexington Lodge. No. 509, B. P. O. E. In
politics he is a Democrat, active and earnest in support of
his party and in 1895 he was a candidate for the state
legislature from Montgomery county. He has served on the
county executive committee here and puts forth every effort
in his power to secure the success of the Democracy.
Source:
A Biographical Record
of Fairfield and Perry Counties, Ohio - Publ. New York and
Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co - 1902 ~ Page 435 |
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T. J. SMITH.
Connected with those
names which advance commercial and industrial activity and
promote progress, thus creating the history of the city, state
and nation, Mr. Smith is well known in business
circles. He now owns and conducts and electric light
plant of New Lexington and his business affairs in addition to
this cover a wide and important range. His paternal
grandfather became one of the pioneer settlers of this portion
of Ohio and from that time down to the present representatives
of the family have taken an active part in business interests
of the locality.
T. J. Smith, the father of our subject was born
in New Lexington and for thirty years prior to his death was
an enterprising merchant here, conducting a grocery and
general store, in which business he met with success. At
the time of the Civil war he offered his services to the
government, enlisting in 1861 as a member of Company G,
Sixty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for
three years. He was a brave and loyal soldier, participating
in many important battles and when his term was over he
returned to his home with an honorable military record.
He was engaged in a number of important business enterprises
which helped to upbuild New Lexington. He was the
vice-president of the Perry County Bank, which he aided in
organizing. He was also vice-president of the Standard
Brick Company of this place and built the opera house block
here. He also laid out and built the town of Rendville,
Perry county, and was engaged in real estate dealings there
and in this city. His activity along business lines
proved of widespread benefit and he belonged to that class of
representative American citizens who, while advancing
individual success, also promote the general prosperity.
He died in 1893 at the age of forty-seven years and the
community mourned the loss of one of its most valued citizens.
His wife was Miss Magdalene Fox and their only son is
the subject of this review. Mrs. Smith is
identified with business affairs here as a member of the firm
of Smith & Duffy, carrying on the business which was
established by her husband. She was a native of Hocking
county, Ohio, and possesses excellent executive force and keen
discernment in relation to business enterprises. By here
marriage she became the mother of three children, the
daughters being Mary F., the wife of Marc L. Duffy,
of New Lexington, and Catherine E., at home.
T. J. Smith is one of the
native citizens of New Lexington. At the usual
age he entered the public schools and continued his studies
here until he had completed the high school course. He
after ward became a student at Notre Dame, South Bend,
Indiana, and in the Ohio State University, at Columbus.
In the latter institution he studied electrical engineering an
has since been connected with many electrical enterprises,
including the establishment and control of telephone and
electric light systems in different parts of the state.
He is also the owner of a plant in this city and his machinery
here and equipments of all kinds are modern and of the most
improved workmanship. Mr. Smith is winning
constant advancement in the line of his chosen pursuit and is
already classed among the successful and prosperous men of his
hometown.
Source: A
Biographical Record of Fairfield and Perry
Counties, Ohio - Publ. New York and Chicago: The S. J.
Clarke Publishing Co - 1902 ~ Page 448 |
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WILLIAM SNIDER is closely associated with the
business interests of Perry county and of southeastern Ohio as
a representative of industrial circles. He owns and operates
five sawmills and two planing mills, and in the conduct of
these enterprises is meeting with excellent success, his
business also proving of benefit to the community. It has been
said that the man who pays over his counters each week a large
sum of money to workmen does more for his country than he who
leads an armed host forth to battle. Employing men in his
mill, Mr. Snider is thus contributing to the
general prosperity and at the same time is winning for himself
gratifying and creditable success.
Mr. Snider was born February 20, 1856, in
Clayton township, Perry county, a son of Peter and
Eleanor (Dean) Snider. His father was born in Maryland
in 1816 and was a son of Nicholas Snider, who
about 1818 removed from Maryland to Ohio, entering land from
the government one mile north of Somerset, in Reading
township. This he cleared and improved, developing there a
good farm, upon which he spent his remaining days. His son,
Peter Snider, was reared here amid pioneer
conditions, became familiar with the work of field and meadow
in early youth and after attaining man's estate he purchased
land in Clayton township, whereon he made his home until 1886,
when he removed to Somerset and spent his remaining days in
honorable retirement from labor. He died in 1891, at the age
of seventy-five years. His wife was a daughter of Samuel
Dean, a resident of Clayton township. She died in 1900, at
the age of seventy-four years. In their family were four
brothers who are still living and four who have passed away,
and of the five sisters one is now deceased. Samuel,
the eldest, a lumber merchant of Columbus, Ohio; Jacob,
deceased; Joseph J., of Logan, Ohio, who owns and
operates a large bent wood works and is also the owner of ten
sawmills; William, of this review; Thomas J.,
who is associated with his brother William in business
as manager of his sawmill at Zanesville; Austin, Alfred
and Nicholas, all deceased; Mary, the wife of
Joseph Stalter, of Logan, Ohio; Mrs.
Arthur McNally, who lived in Somerset but has how
passed away; Mrs. Elizabeth Beaver, of
Somerset; Mrs. John Maher and Mrs.
Amon Miller, both of Somerset.
In the schools of Clayton township the subject of this
review was educated, and. when a young man he became connected
with the lumber Business, which has been to him a profitable
field of labor. His career has been remarkably successful,
chiefly by reason of his natural ability and his thorough
insight into the business in which as a young tradesman he
embarked. His strict integrity, business conservatism and
judgment have been so universally recognized that he has
enjoyed public confidence to an enviable degree, and naturally
this has brought to him an extensive patronage, his sales of
lumber extending throughout the southern portion of Ohio.
His-brothers-in-law, Henry D. and James M. Flautt,
are connected with him in the planing mill business, each
having owned a: third interest in the two planing mills since
1894.
In Somerset was celebrated the marriage of Mr.
Snider and Miss Bertha Flautt,
a daughter of Joseph Flautt, who came from
Maryland to Ohio in 1830. Their children are Mary
Blanch, Bertha Eleanor, Martha,
Zita, Lauretta, William,. Rose and
Grace. The family are communicants of the Holy Trinity
Catholic church. Mr. Snider is interested in all
movements for the advancement of the community along social.,
material, intellectual and moral lines and has co-operated in
many movements for the public good. In addition to his
industrial and property interests he is also connected with
financial circles as a director in the Somerset Bank. Although
his business interests have been and are extensive, he is
always the same genial, courteous gentleman, whose ways are
those of refinement and whose word no man can question.
Source: A
Biographical Record of Fairfield and Perry
Counties, Ohio - Publ. New York and Chicago: The S. J.
Clarke Publishing Co - 1902 ~ Page 470 |
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WILLIAM T. STEVENS, who
is an honored veteran of the Civil war and is the present
postmaster of Thornville, was born in the village in which
he still makes his home, on the 14th of July, 1844, his
parents being John B. and Lucy (Scarbaugh) Stevens.
The father was a native of Virginia and and in 1833,
when seventeen years of age, came of Ohio, locating near
Thornville, Perry county. He was accompanied by his
parents, Thomas and Nancy Stevens, who were also
natives of Virginia. A carpenter by trade he followed
that occupation throughout the years of his active business
career and many evidences of his handiwork are still seen in
substantial structures in this county. He died at his
home in Thornville at the advanced age of eighty-two years,
in 1898. He held membership in the Methodist church
and for many years served as one of its trustees, taking an
active part in everything tending to advance the growth of
the church and extend its influence. He was an Odd
Fellow for over fifty years and for many years was chaplain
of the lodge. His widow is still living, making her
home in Thornville. She is a most estimable lady,
highly esteemed throughout the community. Her mother
was the first white child born in Newark county. By
her marriage Mrs. Stevens became the mother of four
children, all of whom are yet living, namely:
William T., of this review; Oliver J., who is
engaged in the undertaking business in Thornville, Ohio;
Noble L., a practicing dentist of Thornville; and
Attie V., the wife of John Conklin, who is
engaged in the poultry business in Thornville.
Mr. Stevens, who is well known and highly
esteemed throughout this community, remained at home until
eighteen years of age, but the country was then engaged in
Civil war and he could no longer content himself to remain
in Ohio while many brave sons of the north were battling for
the Union. Accordingly he enlisted in 1862, becoming a
member of Company K, One-Hundred and Twenty-sixth Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for three years.
He was then mustered out at Elmira, New York, having
participated in the battle of Martinsburg, Virginia.
After receiving his discharge Mr. Stevens
returned to Ohio and has resided continuously in Thornville,
with the exception of a period of four yeas. He is a
carpenter by trade and for many years he followed that
occupation, being actively identified with building
interests of this place. An expert workman he has
always been kept busy in the line of his chosen pursuit and
has thus been enabled to provide comfortably for his family.
In February, 1899, he was appointed postmaster of the
village to serve for a term of four years and is now the
incumbent in that office, his administration being practical
and progressive and giving good satisfaction to his fellow
townsmen.
In 1871 Mr. Steven was united in marriage to
Miss Sidney Trovinger, one of the early settlers of
Perry county, living in Thorn township. He became a
prosperous and enterprising agriculturist there and was a
leading and influential citizen at an early date, but he
died forty years ago. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Stevens
has been born one son, George B., who is a resident
farmer of Thorn township. He married Miss Lizzie
Zollinger and they have two children, John William
and Alice M.
Mr. Stevens enjoys in a high degree the confidence
and respect of his fellow townsmen and recognizing his worth
and ability they have several times called him to positions
of public trust. He has served as infirmary director
for one term and has also been a member of the council of
Thornville. He maintains pleasant relations with his
old army comrades through his membership in Reuben Lampton
Post, G. A. R., of this place, and his religious faith is
indicated by his membership in the Methodist Episcopal
church. Having spent almost his entire life here he is
widely known and that many of his warmest friends are
numbered among those who have known him from boyhood is an
indication that his has been an honorable and upright
career. In manner he is pleasant and cordial and the
qualities of his nature are such as to have made him a
popular and representative citizen of his community.
Source: A
Biographical Record of Fairfield and Perry
Counties, Ohio - Publ. New York and Chicago: The S. J.
Clarke Publishing Co - 1902 ~ Page 414 |
NOTES:
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