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RUSSELL
M. KNEPPER - Seneca county has contributed its
generous quota to the high prestige of the bench and bar of Ohio, and
numbered among the reprehensive members of the legal profession in the
county at the present time is he whose name initiates this paragraph.
He is the junior member of the law firm of Wagner & Knepper,
Tiffin, and is known as an able and versatile trial lawyer and well
fortified counselor. He has won success and precedence through his
own efforts, and his course has been so directed as to retain to him the
inviolable confidence and esteem of the people of his native county.
Mr. Knepper was born on the old family homestead
located on Wolf creek in Hopewell township, this county, on the 11th day
of February, 1878, and is a son of Benjamin and Mary (Reeme) Knepper,
the former of whom was a native of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and
the latter of Dauphin county, Pennsylvania. The father died Jan.
31, 1905, and the mother is still living. The active career of the
father was one of close identification with the great basic industry of
agriculture. As a boy Russell M. Knepper began to lend his
aid in the work of the home farm, and in the meanwhile he availed
himself of the advantages afforded in the district school, where he had
as an instructor William O. Doran, who has been a successful and
prominent worker in the local educational field for fully forty years.
That Mr. Knepper made good use of the opportunities offered under
such preceptorship is evident when it is noted that at the age of
seventeen years he proved himself eligible for pedagogic honors.
He began teaching in the work, at intervals, for a period of five years.
His appreciation and ambition prompted him to seek higher educational
advantages, and his aim then as in later years was one of definite
action. Still dependent upon his own resources for further work
along education lines, he entered to Ohio Northern University, at Ada,
where he completed the prescribed scientific course and was graduated in
the spring of 1901, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. Soon
after his graduation Mr. Knepper located in the city of Tiffin,
where he began the study of law under the preceptorship of Judge
George M. Hoke and where he continued his technical reading until
1904, when he was matriculated in the law department of his alma mater,
the Ohio Northern University, in which by close application he was
enabled to complete the prescribed course and gain his degree of
Bachelor of Laws in June, 1905. He simultaneously passed the
examination entitling him to admission to the bar of the state. He
initiated the practice of his profession in Tiffin, and have in Tiffin,
and here, in June, 1906, he formed a partnership with Judge W. Scott
Wagner, under the firm name of Wagner & Knepper. A
large and substantial law business has been conducted to the present
time by this firm. The clientele is of representative order, and
the junior member has effectively proved his mettle in connection with
many important litigations, as well as in the counsel room, where he has
shown a comprehensive and accurate knowledge of law and precedure.
He is a close student, painstaking, honest and capable in the
preparation of his causes, and his close observance of the unwritten
code of ethics has gained and retained to him the high regard of his
professional confreres. His personality, genial, democratic and
unaffected, has likewise contributed to his success in his exacting
profession, of whose dignity he has the deepest appreciation.
Mr. Knepper has not only shown a fine dialectic and forensic powers
but has also gained reputation as an effective orator, in which
connection his services have been in frequent requisition at various
social and public assemblies, including those of a political nature.
He is well fortified in his opinions as to matters of public polity and
is a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies of the Democratic
party. Though he has never held public office. Mr.
Knepper takes a loyal interest in local affairs, and in his
political party he is one of the leaders in his native county.
On the 12th day of December, 1906, he was
united in marriage to Mamie A. Corn, daughter of William D.
and Birdie (Gates) Corn, of Ironton, Ohio. William D. Corn,
the father of Mrs. Knepper and a very successful lawyer, died at
Cincinnati Feb. 16, 1907, and the mother, Mrs. Birdie Corn,
resides at the home of their only child and her husband, Mr. and Mrs.
Knepper.
Mr. Knepper is a contributor to the Methodist
Protestant church of Tiffin, where Mrs. Knepper is a member, and
he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks and the Junior Order United American Mechanics
fraternal orders. The U. R. K. P. recently conferred honors upon
Mr. Knepper which entitles him to the rank of captain and
he is commissioned as such.
Mr. and Mrs. Knepper are the parents
of one child, William Edward, who was born Oct. 25, 1909.
SOURCE: A History of Seneca
County, Ohio - Vol. II - 1911 - Page 876 |
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GEORGE A.
KUHN is one of the energetic, progressive business
men of Thompson township, his connection with the commercial world
having dated from the year 1893, previous to which time he was one of
Seneca county's agriculturists. He is engaged in buying grain for
the W. H. Gardner Grain & Mill Company at Bellevue, his own
headquarters being located at Flat Rock. Mr. Kuhn is a
native son of the township, having been born here Sept. 12, 1859, the
son of Adolph and Susan (Harpster) Kuhn. The subject is
German in parentage, his father having been born in the Fatherland in
the year 1826, coming to the land of the stars and stripes in the year
1832 or 1833, when he was scarcely more than half a dozen years of age.
The elder Kuhns were named Jacob and Catherine, and
the former was a well educated man, he having taught school previous to
his removal to a new scene of endeavor. They found their way to
the Buckeye state and located in this township.
Adolph Kuhn grew up with the new country,
learning its lessons of independence and progressiveness and he remained
under the home roof until he was about sixteen years of age.
Thrown upon his own resources, he worked for neighboring farmers for
several years or until his marriage, when he secured a farm and branched
out as an independent agriculturist. He married Susan Harpster,
who was born in 1832 and died Jan. 5, 1906. She was a native of
the Keystone state, having come here with her parents, George and
Catherine (Harpster) Harpster, when she was a very young girl.
They secured land from the government, the deed bearing the signature of
President Andrew Jackson. This they improved and converted
into a comfortable home for their family, which contained seven
children, whose names were Thomas Solomon, Fred, Daniel, Elizabeth,
Susan and Katie the latter being the only one living at the
present day. George Harpster held a firm place in the
esteem of his fellow men. He was a stanch adherent of the
Democratic party and a member of the Evangelical church, in whose
campaign for righteousness he played a prominent part. The First
Evangelical church in Ohio was erected upon the Old Harpster
farm in the year 1841, and he gave a great deal of time and money to
its support. The Harpster home was a haven for traveling
ministers. Two of George Harpster's brothers,
Solomon and Daniel, were in the Civil war.
George A. Kuhn resided with his parents until
the death of the head of the house on Mar. 22, 1870. It was near
that time that he married Arcelia Spittler, born June 19, 1854,
to Daniel and Mary A. (Patterson) Spittler, natives of Fairfield
county, Ohio. The paternal grandfather was the son of Christian
Spittler of the Keystone state. Simeon Spittler, who
was an uncle of the subject's wife, was a soldier of the Civil war.
Mrs. Kuhn was one of four children, the other members of the
family being Ransler, Josiah and one who died at birth. The
father, who was born in 1816, died June 6, 1866, and the mother, born
July 5, 1815, died May 14, 1902. Mrs. Kuhn is of
remote Irish descent, her great-grandfather, David Patterson,
having been a "Son of Erin." He came to America and married a
Maryland girl.
Two children have been born to bless the union of the
subject and his wife. Samuel A., born May 8, 1883, resides
in Flat Rock, where he holds the position of an engineer. He
married Elva A. Noel Mar. 31, 197, she having been born July 25,
1884, to George and Catherine Good. Their daughter,
Helen M., born Oct. 2, 1908, makes Mr. Kuhn a grandfather.
The second son, William D., born Oct. 26, 1886, and his wife,
Olive B. (James) Kuhn, born July 14, 1885, to Charles and Amanda
(Tussing) James, reside with the subject and his wife. Their
marriage was celebrated on Independence Day, 1909, and they have an
infant son, Paul G., born Apr. 8, 1910. Both sons received
their education in the schools of Flat Rock.
Not only is Mr. Kuhn a good business man, but he
is active and interested in public affairs. He pays fealty to the
"Grand Old Party" and has been entrusted with positions on the school
and township boards. He and his family, like those of the name who
have gone before them, are faithful members of the Evangelical church,
giving, as did their forbears, their sympathy and support to its good
causes. Mr. Kuhn and his brother David own one
hundred of the fertile acres of Seneca county, this tract being known as
the Harpster homestead and having belonged originally to
George Harpster, mentioned earlier in this article. Samuel
A. and William D., the sons of him whose name initiates this review,
are associated in the grain buying business with their father, and all
three are recognized as representative and estimable citizens.
SOURCE: A History of Seneca
County, Ohio - Vol. II - 1911 - Page 824 |
