OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 572 Today's Topics: #1 JAMES PARKER WOODWORTH-HURON COUNT [AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M RE] #2 CARL B. RETTIG - HURON COUNTY [AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M RE] #3 LESTER G. SEYMOUR - HURON COUNTY [AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M RE] #4 JOHN FLANAGAN -PREBLE COUNTY [AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M RE] #5 ROBERT B. REEDER - OHIO/INDIANA [AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M RE] ------------------------------ X-Message: #1 Date: Sun, 1 Aug 1999 11:47:05, -0500 From: AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M REASONER) To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <199908011547.LAA10774@mime3.prodigy.com> Subject: JAMES PARKER WOODWORTH-HURON COUNTY Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=US-ASCII INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931 Volume III, page 52-53 JAMES PARKER WOODWORTH is owner of the Woodworth Storage & Transfer Company at South Bend, a business he founded nearly a quarter of a century ago, and in its growth and development it has reflected his personal enterprise and energy. Mr. Woodworth was born at New Haven in Huron County, Ohio, July 17, 1868, a son of James and Lucinda (Shepard) Woodworth, his father a native of the same Ohio county, while his mother was born at Republic, Ohio. In 1887 the family moved to a farm at Hillsdale, Michigan, and some years later James Woodworth retired and lived at Hillsdale until his death at the age of eighty-one. The mother reached the advanced age for eighty-six. James P. Woodworth had two younger brothers, Charles, living at Hillsdale, and Frank who died 1929. Mr. Woodworth's early life was spent on a farm. After the district schools he attended the Hillsdale College and taught school there for a year. After one year working in the lumber mills in Montana he returned to Hillsdale and became a buyer among the farmers for J.H. Lane & Company, wholesale dealers in butter and eggs. After two years he established a butter and egg business of his own at Hillsdale, selling that in 1898, in which year he became a resident of South Bend. For the first three months here he was with the Mills Fruit Company and then established a wholesale butter and egg business, which he conducted for several years. For a short time he was in the real estate business with Mr. George Eberhart at Mishawaka. Mr. Woodworth in June, 1906, started his present business, since known as the Woodworth Storage & Transfer Company. One small building gave him quarters for his office and storage space and he had only one team. It was almost entirely a one-man business at the start, and its prompt and efficient service won it a steadily growing patronage. In 1913 he bought the ground at 409 South St. Joseph Street and put up a three-story warehouse, moving his business from its former location at 222 South Michigan Street. A few years later he added two more stories, his warehouse today being one of the most perfectly equipped and commodious establishments of the kind in Northern Indiana. He also has a large fleet of moving vans, trucks and other equipment. He operates his plant as a general furniture storage and transfer business, and also makes a specialty of transferring heavy machinery. Mr. Woodworth married, in 1900, Miss Winnella Merphy. She was born in Ohio and spent her early years at Sturgis, Michigan and at South Bend. They have two children, James Zalman and Olga Irene. James, who is assistant manager of his father's business, is married and has a son, Earl. Mr. Woodworth is a past president of the Indiana State Warehouse Men's Association, a member of the National Warehouse Men's Association. Fraternally he has been for seven years a trustee and member of the advisory board of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, member of the Knights of Pythias, the Kiwanis Club, Knife and Fork Club, Chamber of Commerce, and is a Baptist. He has been much interested in Boy Scout work, and has had charge of the construction of the new buildings of the Boy Scout camp. His hobby is horseback riding and he owns several fine riding horses. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Sun, 1 Aug 1999 11:46:58, -0500 From: AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M REASONER) To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <199908011546.LAA12030@mime3.prodigy.com> Subject: CARL B. RETTIG - HURON COUNTY Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=US-ASCII HISTORY OF OHIO The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925 Volume V, page 16, 17 CARL B. RETTIG has the progressiveness and energy that make him an effective executive in his service as sales manager for the Waddell Steel company located in the City of Niles, Trumbull County, a corporation that has done much to further the civic and industrial advancement of this vital Ohio city. Mr. Rettig was born at Willard, Huron County, Ohio, on the 5th of October, 1893. His father, John Leonard Rettig, was born near Holgate, Henry County, Ohio, in the year 1840, and was a resident of Willard, Huron County, at the time of his death, in 1900. He was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and during the course of his entire independent career he continued his successful association with farm enterprise. In 1870 he purchased and established his home on an excellent farm near Willard, Huron County, and he continued actively as one of the representative farmers of that county until 1893, when he retired from his farm to the village of Willard, where he remained until his death. His widow survived him about nine years, and her death there occurred in 1909. Both were earnest members of the United Brethren Church, and his political alignment was with the republican party. He was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Grand Army of the Republican, he having b een a member of an Ohio regiment in the Civil war and having given gallant service in the great conflict by which the integrity of the nation was preserved. Mrs. Rettig whose maiden name was Hannah Carson, was born near Holgate, Henry County, in 1849, both she and her husband having been reared and educated in that county, where their marriage was solemnized. Of the children the eldest, Elmer E., is a retired farmer residing at Baltimore, Fairfield County, this state; Mrs. Nellie Jackson, whose husband is a railroad employe, residing at Willard, was thirty-six years of age, at the time of her death; Melvin O. is a successful lawyer in the City of Toledo; Adelbert S. is engaged in the steel brokerage business at Kansas City, Missouri; Lettie is the wife of Albert Behn, a railroad machinist, and they reside at Willard, Huron County; and Carl B., of this sketch is the youngest of the number. Carl B. Rettig was graduated from the high school at Willard as a member of the class of 1910, and thereafter he entered historic old Kenyon College, at Gambier, Ohio, in which institution he was graduated in 1914, with the degree of Bachelor of Science, he having there become affiliated with the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. In the year of his graduation Mr. Rettig entered the employ of the Briar Hill Steel Company at Youngstown, Mahoning County, and about two years later he retired from this position with this corporation to enter the nation's military service in connection with the troubles on the Mexican border. He enlisted July 1, 1916, and was assigned to service with the Third Field Hospital Corps, a Youngstown organization, with which he served ten months on the Texas-Mexican border. When the United States entered the World war, in April, 1917, Mr. Rettig was sent to the Officers Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, and there on the 15th of August, 1917, he w as commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army. He was shortly afterward assigned to service with the Twenty-fourth United States Cavalry at Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming, and three months later he was transferred with this command to Houston, Texas. One month later he was assigned to the Twentieth Field Artillery at Leon Springs, near San Antonio, that state, and four months later he entered the School of Fire at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he remained ten months. He was then transferred to Camp Upton, New York, and on the 15th of May, 1918, he embarked at Montreal, Canada, for overseas service. He landed with this command at Liverpool, England, and thence proceeded across the channel to France, where he landed, at Le Havre, on the 1st of June, 1918. He took part in the now historic Vosges and St. Mihiel offensives, as well as those of the Meuse-Argonne and the Metz, and in July, 1918, he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, the following October having recorded his advancement to the brevet rank of captain. After the signing of the armistice he was with the allied Army of Occupation in Germany, where he was stationed at Luxemburg. After his return to the United States he continued in service in the Regular Army until October, 1920, when he received his honorable discharge. For nine months thereafter he was engaged in the brokerage business at El Paso, Texas, and he then came to Niles, Ohio, in May, 1921, and on the first of the following August he was made secretary of the Niles Chamber of Commerce, serving until February, 1924, when he resigned to take up his present work. Mr. Rettig is a thoroughgoing republican in politics and he and his wife are members of the United Brethren Church. In his home city Mr. Rettig's Masonic affiliations are with Mahoning Lodge No. 394, Free and Accepted Masons, and Niles Chapter No. 223, Royal Arch Masons, of which last named organization he is the secretary (1923). At Warren, the county seat, he is affiliated with Warren Council No. 66, Royal and Select Masters, and Warren Commandery No. 39, Knights Templar. His Scottish Rite affiliations are with the Consistory at San Antonio, Texas, in the southern jurisdiction and in the same he has received the thirty-second degree, besides which is a Noble of El Maida Temple of the Mystic Shrine at El Paso, Texas. His is one of the most loyal and popular members of William McKinley Post No. 126, American Legion, at Niles, and had the distinction of serving as its commander in 1921. August 18, 1917, recorded the marriage of Mr. Rettig and Miss Selma Evans, who was born and reared at Niles, and who is a popular figure in the representative social activities of her native city. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #3 Date: Sun, 1 Aug 1999 11:47:02, -0500 From: AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M REASONER) To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <199908011547.LAA05646@mime3.prodigy.com> Subject: LESTER G. SEYMOUR - HURON COUNTY Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=US-ASCII HISTORY OF OHIO The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925 Volume V, page 455 LESTER G. SEYMOUR is a grower, buyer and shipper of onions, with headquarters at Kenton. The Seymour family for three generations has been identified with a business handling grain and other agricultural products at Kenton. He represents the third generation in Kenton. The founder of the Business was his grandfather, William Henry Seymour, who settled in Hardin County in 1850, and for many years was a merchant at Kenton. In 1872 he and his son, John B. Seymour, became grain commission merchants at Kenton. He finally retired from the business in 1893. For many years he was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. His wife, Eliza Bemis, was born in Ohio, daughter of Elijah Bemis. John B. Seymour, one of the four children of William H. Seymour, was born in Huron County, Ohio, January 2, 1849, was reared in Hardin County, where he attended the public schools at Patterson, and at the age of eighteen went to Chicago, being employed in a hardware establishment. Returning to Hardin County, he became associated with his father in the grain and produce business at Kenton, and gave his time and energies to that firm until the grain department of the business was sold in 1919. He died in 1920. The firm at one time operated two elevators, one at Kenton and the other at Foraker. At Foraker was started the business of the firm as buyers and shippers of onions. John B. Seymour married in 1872 Pauline Heym, who was born at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 21, 1851, daughter of J. Adam and Jane Heym. Her father was a soldier in the Civil war. John B. Seymour was employed in the hardware business of William Blair, Chicago, when the great fire of 1871 occurred. He was a republican in politics, and a member of all the York and Scottish Rite bodies of Masonry, and was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. Lester G. Seymour was born at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, February 24, 1891, and was reared at Kenton, attending the grammar and high schools there. He spent one year in Wooster University, and completed a business course at Kenton. He married Eleanor M. Zeis, of Kenton, widow of Dr. H.J. Zeis, and daughter of Daniel R. McArthur, who was a pioneer of Hardin County. Mrs. Seymour by her first husband has one son, Robert H. Zeis, now a sophomore in high school. The one child of Mr. and Mrs. Seymour is John L. Seymour. Mr. Seymour is affiliated with Lodge No. 154 of the Masonic Order, Scioto, Royal Arch Chapter, Kenton Council, Kenton Commandery of the Knights Templar, Toledo Consistory of the Scottish Rite and Aladdin Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Columbus. Mr. Seymour served eighteen months with the colors during the World war, but was never assigned to overseas duty. He was commissioned a first lieutenant with the Three Hundred and Thirtieth Machine Gun Battalion. He is a republican, a member of the Elks, and is a past commander of Kenton Post of the American Legion. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #4 Date: Sun, 1 Aug 1999 12:32:23, -0500 From: AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M REASONER) To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <199908011632.MAA09590@mime3.prodigy.com> Subject: JOHN FLANAGAN -PREBLE COUNTY Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=US-ASCII THE MAKING OF A TOWNSHIP Being an Account of the Early Settlement and Subsequent Development of FAIRMOUNT TOWNSHIP, GRANT COUNTY, INDIANA 1829-1917 Edgar Baldwin Printing Co., 1917 Page 328 JOHN FLANAGAN is a native of Preble County, Ohio, where he was born August 10, 1853. His father, James Flanagan, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, about 1820, came to the United States in 1848 and settled in Grant County in 1865. He died in 1880, at his home northeast of Fairmount. John Flanagan was educated in the common schools of Preble County, Ohio, and in Grant County, attending a Normal School later, teaching in winter and farming in summer. April 1, 1879, he entered the mercantile business with E.N. Oakley, a partnership which continued for three years. In April, 1882, he joined the firm of Henley & Nixon, grain dealers, and took over a grain elevator at Summitville, operating this enterprise under the name of John Flanagan & Company, for one year. The same firm, Flanagan, Henley & Nixon, bought the stock of merchandise at Washington and Main streets and conducted this store from 1883 to 1888, when the firm name was changed to Flanagan & Henley, Mr. Nixon having retired. The two story brick building was bought in 1889, and the business has continued at this corner ever since. In 1893 Mr. Flanagan bought Dr. Henley's interest and he has since conducted the business as sole proprietor. In addition to his mercantile interests Mr. Flanagan owns considerable land. For six years he was President of the School Board. He was one of the organizers and for seven years President of the Fairmount State Bank; a director and Secretary of the Fairmount Mining Company, which put down several productive wells in the oil and gas districts of this section; President of the Commercial Club during the period of its greatest activity; President of the Fairmount Building & Loan Association for several years, and for many meetings of that organization he was an official of the Fairmount Fair Association. In politics Mr. Flanagan is a Republican, and while not a member of any church he has always contributed liberally of his means to the support of all. He was married to Miss Sarah E. Winslow, daughter of Levi and Emily (Henley) Winslow, on March 8, 1860. Mr. and Mrs. Flanagan have no children. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #5 Date: Sun, 1 Aug 1999 15:28:13, -0500 From: AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M REASONER) To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <199908011928.PAA05696@mime3.prodigy.com> Subject: ROBERT B. REEDER - OHIO/INDIANA Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=US-ASCII THE MAKING OF A TOWNSHIP Being an Account of the Early Settlement and Subsequent Development of FAIRMOUNT TOWNSHIP GRANT COUNTY, INDIANA 1829-1917 Edgar Baldwin Printing Company, 1917 Page 230, 231 with photo ROBERT B. REEDER, one of the enterprising farmers of Fairmount Township, resides one mile and a half southwest of Fowlerton. He is a son of William Henry Harrison and Elizabeth (Dealy) Reeder, the father born at Centerville, Ohio, November 15, 1813, and the mother in Buckeye County, Kentucky, December 29, 1824. William Henry Harrison Reeder died at his home in Fairmount Township on June 24, 1885, and Mrs. Reeder passed away on May 6, 1892. George Reeder, the paternal grandfather, was born September 24, 1767, and married Margaret Van Cleve, at Cincinnati, Ohio, June 2, 1796. She died September 12, 1858. George Reeder served as a captain in the American Army during the War of 1812. He died May 13, 1845. Robert B. Reeder is a native of Fairmount Township, where he was born June 13, 1864. He was educated in the Township, attending schooling winter and working on his father's farm in the spring and summer months. He owns a farm of one hundred acres, part of which is the original Reeder homestead, and has been quite successful in its management. In politics, Mr. Reeder is a Progressive Republican and has served several terms as a member of the Grant County Republican Central Committee. In 1912 he was the choice of the Progressive party for the nomination of Representative in the Legislature. As a member of Fowlerton Lodge No. 848, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, he passed all the chairs and was a delegate at one time to the grand lodge. On February 5, 1892, he was married to Miss Hattie Glass, a native of Rush County. Their children are Crystal, George S., B. Dora and Edgar C., all graduates of high school or common school. -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V99 Issue #572 *******************************************