TRUMBULL COUNTY OHIO - BIO: LEPPER, Ward J. (published 1925)
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HISTORY OF OHIO, The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925
Volume III, page 76

        WARD J. LEPPER. In modern days one of the busiest business centers
in a community is apt to be an automobile exhibition and sales room, and
this condition, if close observers are right, is not only to continue but
to increase. The development of the automobile has been so rapid and its
uses so generally recognized that the manufacture, handling and sales of
many reliable types of care have become a most profitable line of business
and has engaged the attention of men of enterprise everywhere. A well known
and experienced automobile business man at Elyria, is Ward J. Lepper,
general agent for the Chevrolet cars.
        Mr. Lepper is a native of Ohio and was born at Mesapotamia, in
Trumbull County, in June, 1889. His parents, Smith A. and Elizabeth
(DIFFORD) Lepper, were born and reared in one of the farming districts of
England, and were married there. When they came to the United States they
settled on a farm in Trumbull County, Ohio, where the mother of Mr. Lepper
died in March, 1911. His father is now a resident of Elyria.
        Ward J. Lepper attended the public schools also Hall's Business
University at Youngstown, Ohio, and when twenty years old became a clerk in
the office of a Youngstown automobile firm. Later he went to Cleveland,
where he had sales experience with such well known automobile houses as
Jackson & Viele and the Buick up to 1913, when he came to Elyria with the
Buick people. Later, in partnership with Studebaker, the Chevrolet and the
Chandler cars at Elyria with the Buick people. Later in partnership with
C.A. Wise, Mr. Lepper took the agency for the Studebaker, the Chevrolet and
the Chandler cars at Elyria, and eighteen months later he bought his
partner's interest and conducted a very successful business alone for the
next eight months. Then, having other business projects in view, he sold
out and subsequently bought the Overland agency and took also the Oakland
and Hudson agencies, and with marked business enterprise handled them all
successfully up to January, 1922, since when he had devoted himself
exclusively to the Chevrolet cars as general agent. There are few better
informed auto salesmen in the business along the line of high grade cars,
and through his honesty and reliability Mr. Lepper has built up a fine
business and gained the respect and confidence of the community.
        Mr. Lepper married, on June 12, 1910, Miss Edna Reed, who, like
himself, was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, and was educated there. She is
a daughter of William and Letitia (Bundy) Reed, of West Farmington, Ohio.
Mr. and Mrs. Lepper have one daughter, Lois Lorraine. The family belongs to
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Lepper is a member of the Men's
Church Club and is athletic director. Fraternally he is a member of the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and has served as chaplain of the
local lodge. He belongs to the Lorain County Auto Club, and is deeply
interested in its welfare as an organization, and in political life, has
always been identified with the republican party.


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