Clark County Ohio Biographies

JAMES T. EICHELBERGER has made worthy contribution to the furtherance of the prestige of Clark County along agricultural and live-stock lines, and though he is now living virtually retired he still remains on his fine homestead farm on the Selma Turnpike in Greene Township, five miles southeast of the City of Springfield. This old homestead has added value to him by reason of the fact that it was the place of his birth, which here occurred on the 29th of April, 1847, a date that indicates that he is a representative of a pioneer family. Mr. Eichelberger is a son of the late Michael and Margaret (Todd) Eichelberger, the former of whom was born in Maryland and the latter was born in Greene Township, Clark County, November 21, 1819, her parents having been numbered among the very early settlers in this county. John and Fannie (Baker) Eichelberger, parents of Michael, passed their entire lives in the State of Maryland.

Michael Eichelberger was born in Maryland in September, 1815, and he was a young man when he came to Clark County, Ohio, where was solemnized his marriage with Miss Margaret Todd, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Garlough) Todd, the former of whom was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, October 22, 1796, and the latter of whom was born at Hagerstown, Maryland, January 12, 1799. James Todd, who was a millwright by trade, came to Greene Township, Clark County, early in the nineteenth century and here his marriage was solemnized January 28, 1819, his wife having been a daughter of John Garlough, who was born in Germany, in 1728.

Michael and Margaret (Todd) Eichelberger became the parents of four children, of whom the subject of this review was the third in order of birth; Fannie became the wife of Isaac Tuttle; Margaret became the wife of J. M. Paschall; and John W. is now deceased.

James T. Eichelberger has resided on the old homestead farm from the time of his birth to the present, and in his active career was recognized as one of the most vigorous and progressive farmers of his native county, his success being such that he is able to pass the gracious evening of his life in peace and prosperity and in a community that is endeared to him by the memories and associations of many years. His farm comprises 133 acres of the valuable land of Greene Township and is maintained under a high state of cultivation. In addition to farming Mr. Eichelberger was for a number of years the owner and operator of a portable saw mill. He has shown loyal interest in community affairs and is independent in politics.

December 26, 1872, recorded the marriage of Mr. Eichelberger and Miss Eliza Nave, who was born January 22, 1853, and died January 28, 1919. She was a member of a family that is specifically mentioned on other pages of this volume. Of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. Eichelberger three are living: John, a bachelor, remains at the old home and has the active management of the farm; Miss Nina likewise remains at the old home; Claude is deceased; and Byron is one of the progressive young farmers of Greene Township. His wife’s maiden name was Mabel Hansell. Byron Eichberger is affiliated with the Junior Order United American Mechanics, and his sister Nina is a member of the Daughters of America. Byron Eichelberger has one son, James W., who was born July 9, 1919.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 211

GEORGE ELDER, farmer; P. O. Clifton; was born in this [Green] township January, 1839. His early years were spent on the farm, and his only means of education was that of the common schools of his neighborhood. At the age of 22, when the country was in the throes of civil war, he volunteered and entered the 16th Ohio Militia, and afterward served three years in Co. A, 94th O. V. I., of which he was Orderly-Sergeant. During this period he was at Chickamauga, Stone River and on other fields of blood, and was with Sherman “to the sea.” The war over, he was honorably discharged and settled in Jackson County, Kan., in the business of stock-raising, but that climate and occupation disagreeing with him, in a short time he closed out his interests there and returned to his native township, than which a fairer or better rural district would be difficult to find. Since his return he has followed farming, and is the owner of a farm very pleasantly located, and in a good state of cultivation. His people have honored him with the offices of Trustee, Assessor and Township Treasurer, the last of which he now holds. In 1869, he married Miss Sarah Kitchen, daughter of Abraham Kitchen, an old settler and highly esteemed citizen. She departed this life in 1872, and in 1875 he was married to Miss Jane Duval, daughter of Lewis Duval, and there are, issue of this marriage, three children—one girl and twin boys—all of whom live.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 1048

JOHN SUDLER ELLIOTT was a pioneer insurance man of Springfield, and founded and conducted for forty years a properous business that is still continued under the old name. He was widely known in insurance circles, and he was generous of his time and means in connection with many movements for the advancement of Springfield as a city and community.

He was born at Sudlersville, Queen Anne County, Maryland, December 9, 1854, his birthplace being a village named in honor of his maternal grandfather. His parents were John and Ann (Sudler) Elliott, natives of the same county. Both families were established in Maryland in pioneer times.

The late John S. Elliott was reared and educated in Sudlersville, and at the age of seventeen came to Ohio. For several years he lived with a relative, Matthew Morris, at Bellbrook, near Dayton. He worked on his relative’s farm and also attended the old Wiltz Business College in Dayton. Soon after completing a course in that school he engaged in the insurance business on his own account at Xenia, where he represented the Farmers Insurance Company of Dayton. Mr. Elliott came to Springfield in 1875, and for a short time was employed in the insurance office of D. R. Hosterman. He then established his own business, and on July 1, 1877, organized the J. S. Elliott Company, insurance, and personally conducted that widely known insurance agency forty years, being president and general manager of the company until his death, which occurred on November 30, 1917. The business under the old name is still continued by his widow, Mrs. Nora E. Elliott and his son, John Oliver Elliott. In civic affairs Mr. Elliott served as a member of the City Board of Safety under Mayor W. R. Burnett, was president of the Board of Public Affairs under Mayor John M. Good, and for a number of years was on the Democratic Executive County Central Committee. He was one of the first trustees of the Mitchell-Thomas Hospital. He was a charter member of the Lagonda Club and at one time was president of the Ohio State Association of Fire Underwriters. Other organizations of which he was an esteemed member were Anthony Lodge No. 445, F. and A. M.; Springfield Chapter No. 48, R. A. M.; Springfield Council No. 17, R. and S. M.; Palestine Commandery No. 33, K. T.; Dayton Consistory of the Scottish Rite; Springfield Lodge No. 23, B. P. O. E., and the United Commercial Travelers.

In September, 1877, Mr. Elliott married Mary W. Boyer, of Dayton. She died in December, 1884, leaving a son and daughter. John Oliver, the son, now president and general manager of the J. S. Elliott Company, married Ruby Brenner, of Springfield, and they have a son, John. The daughter is Mrs. Lida B. Limbocker, now of Detroit, and she is the mother of four children, named Virginia, Eleanor, Jane and Henry.

In January, 1886, J. S. Elliott married Nora E. Wood. Mrs. Elliott is a native of Springfield, daughter of Samuel R. and Margaret (Mclntire) Wood. Her father was born in Virginia and was a child when his parents moved to Clark County, Ohio. Her mother was born in Clark County, and is a member of the old Mclntire family of this section. Samuel R. Wood died in 1898. Her mother is now eighty-four years of age. Mrs. Elliott became the mother of three children and also has several grandchildren. Her daughter, Margaret, is the widow of John Snyder, of the old Snyder family of Springfield. Mr. Snyder died December 24, 1918, and is survived by five children: Kathryn, William, Rachel, John and Margaret. Mrs. Elliott’s older son, Benjamin F., died July 30, 1913, at the age of twenty-three. Her other son, Alan G., is a young business man in Kansas City, Missouri.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 392

WILBUR E. ELWELL is giving vigorous and successful management to his excellent farm of sixty-two acres on the Willow Road in Moorefield Township, and is a popular scion of one of the old and well known families of Clark County.

Mr. Elwell was born at Springfield, judicial center and metropolis of this county, and the date of his nativity was June 23, 1881. He is a son of Eli and Zella (Owen) Elwell, the former of whom was born in Greene Township, this county, and the latter of whom was born near Urbana, Champaign County. Eli Elwell was a skilled machinist and was long employed at his trade in the City of Springfield, where he remained until his death and where his widow still resides. Mr. Elwell was independent in political matters, was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he served as noble grand of his lodge, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as is also his widow. Of the surviving children the eldest is Mabel, who is the wife of Frederick Henderson; Wilbur E., of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; Harry L. is in the employ of the American Rose & Plant Company at Springfield; Frank M. is engaged in farm enterprise in Springfield Township; Irene is the wife of W. L. Cotton.

Wilbur E. Elwell was reared in Springfield and there profited duly by the advantages of the public schools. After leaving school he was for some time employed as clerk in a grocery store and later he found employment at farm work in Randolph County, where he remained thus engaged for a period of six years. He then returned to Springfield and learned the machinist’s trade, to which he there continued to give his attention for fifteen years, besides which he was for a time there engaged in the draying business. In 1914 he purchased and removed to his present home farm, which he has made the stage of effective and successful agricultural and livestock enterprise. Mr. Elwell gives his political allegiance to the republican party, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he and his wife hold membership in the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Springfield.

Mr. Elwell married Miss Clara B. Dietzel, who was born at Springfield, this country, December 23, 1889, a daughter of Edward and Barbara (Vetter) Dietzel, both natives of Germany. Mr. Dietzel became a prosperous merchant at Springfield, and was also identified with the tinning business. Mrs. Elwell continued her studies in the public schools until she had profited by the advantages of the high school, and thereafter she completed a course in a business college. For six years prior to her marriage she held a position as stenographer at Springfield. Mr. and Mrs. Elwell have no children.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 154

L. M. ERVIN has played a vigorous part in the commercial affairs of Clark County for a number of years. His business headquarters are now at South Vienna, where he is proprietor of the elevator and a dealer in coal and implements.

Mr. Ervin was born in Madison County, Ohio, October 17, 1878, son of Alfred H. and Columbia (Perkins) Ervin. His father was born in Fayette County, Ohio, June 30, 1843, and his mother was born at Marietta, Washington County, Ohio, January 23, 1844. Alfred Ervin, when a boy, accompanied his parents to Madison County, where he grew up and acquired a common school education. In 1861, at the age of eighteen, he enlisted in the Seventy-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and gave three years of soldier’s service to the cause of the Union. After his discharge he returned to the farm, soon afterward married, and took up farming as his regular vocation. Later he removed to Fayette County, and was a contractor there until his death. He was a member of the Baptist Church and a republican. Of his five children four are living: Mary, wife of Curtis Milburn; Charles, a farmer in Harmony Township of Clark County; L. M., and Harry, a farmer in Madison Township.

Leon M. Ervin spent the first sixteen years of his life in Fayette County, and acquired his public school education there. Later he completed a course in the commercial college at Springfield, and at the age of nineteen began keeping books and subsequently for five years was in the grocery business at Springfield. Then, following an experience in the southern states for about two years, he returned to Clark County and located at South Charleston, and for eleven years was associated in business with the Houstons of that vicinity. In 1917 Mr. Ervin located at South Vienna, and after conducting a store for three years, he engaged in his present business, operating the elevator and as a dealer in coal and implements.

On November 7, 1899, he married Sue Munsey, daughter of Rev. C. D. Munsey. They have one daughter, Alice M., born January 16, 1907, and now attending high school at Plattsburg. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Ervin is a past master of the Masonic Lodge and is keeper of records and seals in the Knights of Pythias. He is a republican, and while at South Charleston he served as mayor two years and six years on the Town Council.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 222

AUSTIN C. EVANS, inventor and manufacturer, Springfield. Among the many inventors of this—the “Champion manufacturing city” of the West—there are none more worthy of mention than the subject of this sketch—Austin C. Evans. He was born Feb. 1, 1851, in Piqua, Miami Co., Ohio; is a son of Jonathan M. and Anna (Muter) Evans. Jonathan M. manufactured threshing-machines, steam engines, etc., for twenty-five years in Piqua, Ohio. Austin spent his boyhood days in school, and, since 20 years old, has spent his time inventing and manufacturing different farming implements. Among his inventions that are superior to all others of the same class, are the corn drill, corn planter and triple harrow; he is at present engaged in the manufacture of the “Evans’ two-horse corn planter,” “harrows,” etc., under the firm name of “The Evans & Foos Manufacturing Company,” West Main street. The business was established in 1876 by Mr. E., and carried on by him until September, 1880, when it assumed its present name. They will make this year about one thousand double planters and one thousand five hundred harrows. They have in their employ forty men. Mr. Evans was married, June 7, 1873, to Miss Kate S. Dibert, daughter of George and Elizabeth Dibert. Mr. Dibert was one of the early settlers of Springfield. He at one time owned the land on which the greater portion of the southwestern part now stands, and by him laid off in lots. Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Evans are the parents of one child—Pearl C. Mrs. Evans was born in Springfield.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 822

CHARLES WESLEY EVANS, M.D. In the practice of medicine and surgery Mr. Evans has been successfully engaged at Springfield for a number of years, and in addition to devoting his best talents and resources to his professional clientele he has also figured in the development of real estate and is one of the large property owners of the city.

Doctor Evans was born in Jackson County, Ohio, July 25, 1871, son of John W. and Margaret (Cherrington) Evans, his father a native of Jackson County and his mother of Gallia County. The paternal grandparents, William and Margaret Evans, were natives of Wales, and came to America by sailing ship in 1818. From Pittsburgh they journeyed down the Ohio River on a boat as far as Gallipolis, but their intention to proceed further was frustrated when their boat was cut loose for the purpose of making them stay. They subsequently secured land in Jackson County. The maternal grandparents of Doctor Evans were William and Margaret (Hanks) Cherrington, both natives of England, and early settlers in Jackson County. Four sons of William Cherrington became ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. John W. Evans and wife after their marriage settled on a farm in Jackson County and lived out their lives as country people in that community. John W. Evans died in 1903 and his wife in 1912. They reared a large family of eight sons and two daughters, Charles W. being the seventh in order of birth.

Doctor Evans after the local schools continued his education in the Ohio Normal University and the Ohio Wesleyan University. He graduated in medicine from Starling Medical College of Columbus, and soon afterward came to Springfield, where he began practice with his brother Doctor Orin H. Evans. Together they erected the large three-story brick building at 554 South Limestone Street, where Doctor Evans still has his home. His brother, Dr. Orin H., died in August, 1909. Doctor Evans is president of the Springfield Apartment Company, incorporated for $100,000. This company built the Southern Apartments on South Lime Street.

Doctor Evans is a member of the Clark County, Ohio State and American Medical Associations, is a republican voter and is a trustee of the High Street Methodist Episcopal Church.

On June 10, 1907, he married Miss Nellie Blanche Wiley, a native of New Park, Pennsylvania, and daughter of John C. and Luella Wiley. They have one son, Haden Wiley Evans, born November 28, 1913.

Source: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Benjamin F. Prince, 1922, page 375

ISRAEL EVERHART, retired farmer; P. O. Catawba. He is a son of William Everhart, of Loudoun Co., Va., where he lived and died. Israel was born May 6, 1811, in Loudoun Co., Va.; was raised and educated there; when 18 years of age, he learned the trade of a carpenter, and worked at it over thirty years. He was married, Dec. 8, 1836, to Miss Maria Ropp, of his native county; they had seven children, of whom six are living, viz.: William C., John A., Thomas F., Edgar S., George H. and Elizabeth M. In 1861, he came to Ohio and located two miles south of Catawba, in Pleasant Township, Clark Co. He owns a good farm of 120 acres, with good farm buildings upon it. Mr. Everhart is a highly respected citizen; he and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 974