Nelson Wilber Cunningham

Nelson Wilber Cunningham, cashier of the Commercial
Bank & Savings Company, of Bluffton, was born at Lima, Ohio, February
24, 1856, and is a son of Col. James and Martha (Kennedy) Cunningham.
    The late Col. James Cunningham was pioneer in Allen County and for
years was one of its most prominent men, serving two terms as a member
of the State Senate and filling many offices with honor and efficiency.
Extended mention of Colonel Cunningham will be found in the historical
portion of this work.
    Nelson W. Cunningham was a student in the local schools until 14
years of age and then entered another school, a printing office.  For
the following five years he worked in the office of the Allen County
Democrat, which was then under the editorial charge of D. S. Fisher, at
Lima, after which he came to Bluffton, then a village, and founded the
Bluffton News, which he ably conducted for the succeeding 16 years. In
1893 Mr. Cunningham purchased a half interest in the Commercial Bank, a
private banking institution which had been founded at Bluffton in 1887
by Frank Scott.  Mr. Scott and Mr. Cunningham continued sole owners
until June 3, 1902, when it was incorporated under the laws of the State
of Ohio, commencing business as a State Bank on July 1, 1902. At this
time Mr. Scott became president and Mr. Cunningham, cashier.  The
institution is one which commands the confidence of the public.  It is
under the management of men of proved business integrity.  There is
probably no sounder, safer banking institution in Allen County than the
Commercial Bank & Savings Company, and the citizens of Bluffton and
vicinity readily give it support and reap accruing benefits. 
    In 1883 Mr. Cunningham was married to Eva A. Ballard, who was born
in Allen County.

 

Hugh E. Hughes

Hugh E. Hughes, a prominent farmer and successful
stock-raiser of Sugar Creek township, who resides on his well-improved
farm of 80 acres which is situated in section 22, was born November 2,
1839, in Montgomeryshire, North Wales, and is a son of Evan and
Catherine (Evans) Hughes.
   Both parents of Mr. Hughes were born in Wales and their death
occurred in 1852, separated by one month, the mother being aged 44 years
and the father, 60 years.  Their children were: Susan, Hugh E., William,
John and David.  Our subject and his two brothers mentioned live in
Missouri. 
    Hugh E. Hughes, like many others of his countrymen who have
contributed largely to the State's prosperity, came to American shores
in young manhood, poor in purse but rich in health, energy and stability
of character. In his home and he was prepared to work hard in the new
land to which he had come, accepting that necessity as a stepping-stone
to future independence.
    Mr. Hughs reached the United States shortly after the close of the
great Civil War, in 1866, and settled first in Cambria County,
Pennsylvania, where he worked one year and then came to Gomer, Allen
County, Ohio. A year later he went to Missouri and there acquired his
first farm, a tract of 40 acres in the vicinity of Dawn, Livingston
County.  He remained in that State for six years. In 1874 he returned to
Ohio and after his marriage early in the year bought 80 acres of land in
Sugar Creek township, Allen County, on which he and his family resided
for 10 years.  He then disposed of the farm, which he had greatly
improved, and on February 25, 1884, purchased his present farm of 80
acres in section 22.  This property has undergone much improvement since
Mr. Hughes has been its owner.  His commodious barns and large,
comfortable house give an appearance of thrift and good management, and
his fields and stock, his machinery and general orderliness, show that a
careful competent man has been at the helm.  He carries on general
farming and stock-raising.  In addition to the home farm in section 22,
he owns another 80 acres, in section 23, the latter being in charge of a
tenant,  These farms and all else he possesses have been acquired by Mr.
Hughes through personal endeavor.
    On March 28, 1874, Mr. Hughes was married in Sugar Creek township,
by Rev. D. M. Evans, to Margaret Hughes, who was born July 31, 1841,
near Vaughnsville, Ohio, and is a daughter of Jenkin and Jane (Morgan)
Hughes. The parents, both natives of South Wales, located, prior to the
birth of Mrs. Hugh E. Hughes, in Putnam County, Ohio, where the father
died in 1887, aged 84 years and the mother in 1886, aged 80 years.  They
were most worthy Christian people and reared their children carefully.
They had nine children, Mrs. Hughes being the seventh in order of birth.
Three of her brothers were in the Civil War. David served in Company D,
118th Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf.; Evan belonged to the 61st Regiment, Ohio
Vol. Inf.; and John served in the 151st Regiment, Ohio Vol. Inf.
   Mr. Hughes and his wife have had three children Jennie, Katherine,
and Jenkin, of whom the last named died in infancy.
    Mr. Hughes votes with the Republican Party, but takes only a good
citizen's interest in politics.  He is a charter member of the
Vaughnsville Congregational Church, one of its deacons and formerly
served as the Sunday- school superintendent.  Mrs. Hughes has been a
member of the church since 1855.      

Charles Pugh

Charles Pugh, manager of the Pugh Stone Company,
conducting of Lima, was born in Oneida County one of the most important
industries New York, November 23, 1858, and is a son of the late William
Pugh, whose portrait is shown on the opposite page.  Our subject's
father located in Allen County, Ohio, in the early '60's and was among
the first to engage in the construction of pike roads here.  The
headquarters of the company have been located in Lima for almost 30
years.
    William Pugh, born in Wales, November 26, 1832, was a shoemaker by
trade, and followed that calling for a few years at Gomer, in this
county, after which he engaged in a special line of contracting.  He
furnished crushed stone for road-ways, and built pike roads for a great
many years, later furnishing stone for concrete and cement work.  For
about 15 years he was also engaged in the ice business.  All in all,
William Pugh was an influential citizen of the county.  He served as a
member of the Lima Water Works Board and was holding that position at
the time of his death, February 28, 1900.
   William Pugh was married about 1852 to Mary Evans, a native of Wales,
and they had nine children, as follows: William, deceased; Annie, who
married Joseph Jones, of Lima, and has two children Mary M. and Richard
W.; William C., deceased; Charles; Mary; Lisabeth, deceased, and
Elizabeth.  William Pugh and wife came to America from Wales, in 1857,
after their two oldest children were born.  Their third child was born
en route to this country.  The parents landed in New York City and went
directly to Waterville, New York, where they resided about eight years
before coming to Allen County, Ohio.  Mrs. William Pugh died March 4,
1896, aged 65 years.
   Charles Pugh was reared and educated at Gomer, and, upon leaving
school, was put to work in his father's stone quarry.  He soon became
the latter's able assistant, and in 1877 located at Lima, where he has
since resided and superintended the interests of the company. Since the
death of his father, Mr. Pugh has had the sole management of the
business. During recent years the company has done a large amount of
cement construction, being especially busy in getting out crushed stone
for cement and concrete work and for repairing pike roads.  The quarries
and crusher of the Pugh Stone Company are located on East North street,
within nine blocks of the heart of the city.
    In 1890, Charles Pugh was married to Clara Miller, who is a daughter
of one of Allen County's oldest and most esteemed citizens Uriah Miller,
of Elida.  This union has resulted in the birth of four children,
namely: Beulah June and Charles Victor, both deceased; Virgil N. and
Gladys E.   Mr. Pugh is one of the substantial, reputable business men
of Lima, and has a pleasant home at No. 925 East High street.  He is a
member of the Improved Order of Red Man and the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows.      

E. D. Wallace

E. D. Wallace, for more than a quarter of a century an
esteemed and honored citizen of Lima, was born in 1847, at Poland,
Mahoning County, Ohio, where he was reared and educated,  He is a son of
the late John Wallace, who for many years was engaged at Poland in the
furniture and undertaking business.  Mr. Wallace is by occupation a very
successful agent for a number of insurance companies, while by trade he
is a miller, having learned that calling in his early youth at
Youngstown, Ohio.  After working at his trade in that city and in Sharon
until 1870, he entered the store with which he was connected until he
located at Lima in 1880.
    Arriving in Lima on December 1, 1880, Mr. Wallace at once engaged in
the general insurance business, with which he has since been identified,
having become proficient and eminently successful in his work.  He
represents a number of companies, among which are the following: Ohio
Farmers; Eureka, of Cincinnati; Metropolitan, of Chicago; Central
Manufacturers of Van Wert; Mutual Life, of New York, and the Maryland
Casualty, of Baltimore, Maryland.
   Mr. Wallace was married in 1870 to Miss Alice Draa, daughter of Perry
Draa, of Trumbull County, Ohio, and a descendant of Sir Francis Drake,
the name having been changed form the original spelling "Drake" to
"Draa."  Three children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Wallace,
viz: Glen I., who is in the insurance business at Lima; Julia L., wife
of Orrin Simpson, who is with the Central Gas Company of Columbus, Ohio;
and Frank N., who is associated in business with his father.  Mr.
Wallace is a member of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, of Lima,
in which he takes an active interest.  He is also a member of the
Knights of Pythias.

 

Daniel McKerren

Daniel McKerren, notary public, who is one of the
well-known business men of Lima, conducting a real estate and pension
claim business at No. 202 1/2 North Main street, has been a citizen here
for the past twenty years.  He was born November 30, 1850, in the city
of Londonderry, Ireland, and was brought to America by his parents,
Daniel McKerren, Sr., and wife, Nee Margery Sweeney, both originally
from the parish of Clondavodag, in County Donegal, Ireland.  The first
permanent settlement made by the parents of Daniel McKerren was at
Greenville, Darke County, Ohio, where they lived a few years, then
removing to near Fort Recovery, Mercer County, Ohio, where they
purchased forty acres of land, and lived there a few years.  Later
exchanging this property for eighty acres of land, in the northern part
of Darke County, they removed to the latter county and lived there until
they retired from farm life and moved to Lima, where they died, having
passed the four-score mark, leaving besides Daniel, two other sons,
James D., and John, both of whom have since married and located in the
city of Detroit.  They also had one daughter, Mary, who married James
Costello of Lima; both have since died. 
    Daniel McKerren, the subject of this sketch after leaving the farm
home of his parents, learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed in
various places until the fall of 1875, when he married Catharine M.
Hillen, then a school teacher, the daughter of James and Mary Hillen,
who lived a few miles northwest of Sidney, Ohio, where they owned a farm
of eighty acres.  To this union was born eight children, of whom one
died in infancy.  The oldest child living, James D., married and resides
on North Metcalf street, Lima, being employed as a cigar maker at the
Deise l- Wemmer factory.  The second son, John H., married and now lives
in Akron, Ohio; he is a molder by trade.  A daughter, Catherine C.,
married and resides at Sidney, Ohio; previous to her marriage she was
cashier at Feldman's store. The next, a son, Daniel E., deceased
December 1, 1901, was at the time of his death 19 years old, and was
collector for the Metropolitan Bank of Lima.  Charles J. is employed as
an accountant in the Buckeye Pipe Line Company's office.  Mary Agnes,
still living at home, will finish her high school course this year.  The
youngest member of the family, Bernard A., now 13 years old, is going to
school.  Mr. McKerren is a member of St. Rose Catholic Church and is the
financial secretary of the C. M. B. A.