Willard f Engle

 

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM 

pg 917, 918 

     WILLARD F. ENGLE, Agent and Telegraph Operator of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad Company at Enon, also officiates as Postmaster of Mad River, Clark County.  He is a man of good business abilities, and exercises no small influence among the leading men of his community.  He enjoys the advantages of a thorough education, and is more than ordinarily well informed.

     The native place of Mr. ENGLE was the famous Harper’s Ferry, made historical by John Brown, of Ossawatomie, and the date of his birth was September 27, 1857.  He spent his boyhood days on his father’s farm and in attendance at the common school, where he received thorough instruction in addition to careful training at home.  At the age of twenty years he became a student of Shepherd’s College, Jefferson County, W. Va., but after an attendance of six months was obliged to abandon his studies on account of ill-health.  Upon coming to Ohio, in 1877, he located in vicinity of Catawba, Champaign County, where he engaged in farming about one year.  Not yet satisfied with his condition and surroundings, Mr. ENGLE abandoned farming and commenced studying telegraphy at Catawba.  He made such good progress that in the course of about six months he was given the position of night operator at Catawba, which he followed for some time thereafter.  In 1880 he became yard operator at Springfield, holding this position probably three years.  Still advancing he was next given the position of operator at Lockland, but two weeks later returned to Catawba, where he became both operator and agent and served as Postmaster.  From there, in 1887, he removed to Enon, where he has likewise made a good record.  To this other duties he added that of agent for the American Express Company, in whose employ he has been for over seven years.

     Mr. ENGLE was married at Frankfort, Ross County, this State, October 6, 1844, to Miss Jennie ROWETON.  This lady was born in Frankfort, and is a daughter of George W. ROWETON, a prominent resident of Ross County, who is now well-to-do and living retired from active business.  Mrs. ENGLE was reared and educated in her native town, remaining under the parental roof until her marriage.  This union has resulted in the birth of two children—Ethel and Willard.  Mr. ENGLE, politically, is a straight Prohibitionist, warmly interested in the success of the temperance cause.  He is a Presbyterian in religious belief, but there being no society of that denomination in Enon, he is consequently not connected with any organization.  Mrs. ENGLE conforms to the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

     The father of our subject was James W. ENGLE, a native of Jefferson County, Va., and the son of John ENGLE, who was also born there.  Grandfather ENGLE was of Scotch and English descent, and a well-to-do farmer, who spent the closing years of his life in his native county.  James W. also followed farming, and when reaching manhood located on land which was given him by his father, where he prosecuted agriculture successfully, and also engaged quite extensively in stock-raising.  He invested his capital in additional land, and is now the owner of four hundred broad acres near Harper’s Ferry, in the Shenandoah Valley.  He met with quite heavy losses during the late Civil War, some of his buildings being destroyed by fire, and his horses and cattle driven off.  In early manhood he belonged to the old Whig party, but now affiliates with the Democracy.  Although seventy-one years old he is quite active, possessing much of the energy and determination of his younger years.  In religion he is a stanch Presbyterian and an Elder in that church.

     The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Margaret DUKE.  She was likewise a native of Jefferson County, Va., and a daughter of Robert DUKE, a well-to-do farmer, and a Baptist in religion.  The DUKE family is also of English and Scotch descent.  Mrs. Margaret ENGLE departed this life October 1, 1874.  Like her father she adhered religiously to the Old School Baptist Church.  Of her union with James W. ENGLE there was born a family of nine children, seven of whom grew to mature years:  Robert is farming on the borders of the Indian Territory; James is an attaché of the Auditor’s Office in Washington, D. C.; Jesse was studiously inclined, acquiring a thorough education, and now holds a professorship, occupying himself among the schools of Jefferson County, Va.; William F., our subject, was the next in order of birth; John F. went to California, and became agent of the Santa Fe Railroad Company; he died in 1888; Shadia is a minister of the Presbyterian Church and located at Hampden Sidney, Va.; Carleton is attending a commercial school in Washington, D. C.