Clark County Ohio Biographies

R. E. VAN METER was born Sept. 16, 1853, on a farm in Mad River Township, Clark Co., Ohio., where he lived until he was about 17 years of age, when he went to Minnesota, where he spent about five years attending school and teaching. In the fall of 1875 he went to Illinois, where he taught school until the next spring, when he visited Texas with a view to locating there; there, again, he engaged in the pursuit of teaching school, but returned to Illinois before the year was out; the fall and winter of 1876-77, he taught the same school he had presided over the year before; in the spring of 1877 he returned to his old birthplace in Ohio. The following winter he removed to Springfield, and began the study of law with the firm of Wolf & Gillett; but before the year was out, he gave up his law studies, and connected himself with one of the newspaper offices in that city, and ever since has been in journalism. In the spring of 1879, he went to South Charleston, Ohio, where he now lives, to work on the Clark County Republican, and, with the exception of a few months, has been connected with it ever since, now being editor and joint proprietor. All that he has and is to-day he owes to his own industry, having gone forth into the world, at the age of 17, to seek his own fortune. He and his twin sister were unfortunate in being left motherless at their birth. Mr. Van Meter’s father married the second time, a woman far inferior to his first wife, making the home of the motherless children anything but comfortable and happy, though it might have been otherwise, for so far as earthly possessions is concerned, there was everything that heart could wish for. This accounts for the fact that the subject of this sketch left his home so young, and went to live among strangers, and, though yet less than 28 years old, has experienced more, perhaps, of the ups and downs of life than many men twice his age, and through it all has managed to maintain an integrity that any man of his age may well be proud of. He is a stanch Republican, inheriting the uncompromising Republican principles for which his father and grandfather, especially the latter, were so notorious. His grandfather, Joel Van Meter, was, at one time, the only Abolition voter in Clark County, and did more, perhaps, for the fugitive slaves and the abolition of slavery than any other man in the county. Mr. Van Meter is a descendant of one of the oldest and most noted Holland families, his ancestors settling in New York in the beginning of the seventeenth century.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 1074

EDGAR V. VAN NORMAN, homeopathic physician and surgeon, Springfield. There are those characters that stand out from the ordinary plane of humanity as a “bas relief” from a frescoed wall, which can be distinctly seen from positions whence the surrounding figures are hid in obscurity. Such a character is Dr. Edgar V. Van Norman—an admirable illustration of sturdy self-reliance and indomitable will, against which difficulties are presented but to be overcome—obstacles but to be removed. Although but nine years a resident of Springfield, his influence has been widely felt, professionally and otherwise, having rescued the homeopathic practice from the languishing and moribund condition in which he found it, and placed it at least upon a plane with the allopathic school, on a flourishing and growing basis. Edgar V. Van Norman was born in Halton Co., Canada, in 1838; emigrated to Ohio in 1857, attending school at Berea six months; thence he went back to Canada. Here he spent some time on the paternal farm, for the double purpose of clearing it of incumbrance and studying his profession; having accomplished the former, and becoming dissatisfied with the allopathic school, he decided to abandon it, and traveled a few years, accomplishing again a double purpose, as, while collecting for an agricultural implement house, he was studying homeopathy; he then attended the homeopathic school in Cleveland, from which he graduated in 1869; during this course, he practiced medicine in Cleveland with his uncle, Dr. H. B. Van Norman, subsequently consummating a copartnership with Prof. T. P. Wilson. During his residence in Cleveland, he had charge of the Opthalmic and Aural Institute of that city. In 1871, he came to this city, finding homeopathy at zero, and before him the difficult task of establishing the practice in the face of almost organized opposition. The present status of homeopathy here, and the Doctor’s onerously large practice, speak his unqualified success. The Doctor was married, in 1867, in Indiana, to Miss Martha N. Hazlitt, of a family of culture and refinement, and has been blessed with two children, a boy and a girl, of singular beauty and attractiveness. The Doctor comes of a sturdy pioneer family, from whom he inherits his strong points of character and an iron constitution fully equal to the gigantic tasks imposed upon it. He is a member in good standing of Springfield Lodge, No. 33, I. O. O. F.; a Master Mason; a 32-degree member of the Scottish Rite, and for a time Orator of the Anderson Lodge of Perfection, of Anderson, Ind.; he has done much effective work in the temperance movement, and was District Grand Marshal of Good Templars for the Dominion of Canada; is a prominent and zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has always been actively engaged in Sunday-school work. Although just in the very prime of vigorous manhood, the gratifying results of the Doctor’s well-directed efforts are manifest in his very comfortable circumstances, having surrounded his family with all that a spacious and elegant homestead implies. In politics, the Doctor is a “Stalwart;” physically, he is hale and muscular, with a commanding and at the same time a pleasing and welcoming presence—a man who makes friends without any apparent effort.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 937

HARVEY VINAL, now liveryman, formerly attorney at law, Springfield. Col. Vinal is truly one of the “oldest and best.” Born in New York State in 1807, April 13, he spent the prime of his life in the “Queen City,” when it was smaller than the Springfield of to-day, leaving Cincinnati in 1829; in 1833 (memorable as the year in which the stars fell) he pitched his tent in the then little village of Springfield, innocent, at that early date, of anything like railroads or corporation lines, and the Colonel’s career of nearly half a century as a worthy citizen, gentleman and friend, finds him to-day venerated and beloved by all—for all know him. Aug. 18, 1879, was his “golden wedding” anniversary, and Mrs. Col. Vinal is still living; of their three children, the son is Adjutant of the 16th Regiment of United States Regulars; one daughter is single, and the other is Mrs. Elizabeth Smith. Col. Vinal had to abandon his legal profession fifteen years ago on account of his health, hence his present avocation. His business affairs compelled him to decline the appointment tendered him, during the war, of the Colonelcy of the 44th Ohio State troops. The Colonel served his constituency (of the Senatorial district composed, as now, of Clark, Champaign and Madison Counties) four years in the State Senate, and was thrice chosen Clerk of Courts here, filling the office from 1850 to 1859 most creditably; during his Senatorial term, he drafted the charter for the town of Springfield, which was at that term granted. The manufacturers of this miniature Birmingham then consisted of a blacksmith-shop; Dr. John Ludlow, Ed H. Cumming (now an Episcopal clergyman) and the subject of this sketch organized the second military company of which Springfield was the headquarters, and young Vinal was elected Captain. The Colonel is a prominent and bright Mason, a Knight Templar, and at present Prelate of Palestine Commandery, of this city, and was for one year Grand High Priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State of Ohio. To do Col. Harvey Vinal’s long, honorable and varied career any sort of justice would require greater space than can be afforded in this volume; but enough has been said in this superficial sketch to establish his strong and acknowledged claims upon the affections and esteem of his fellow citizens and all who know him.

Source: The History of Clark County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., 1881, page 938