Charles W. Bloom

CHARLES W. BLOOM.

It is a well-recognized fact that the most powerful influence in shaping and controlling public life is the press. It reaches a greater number of people than any other agency and thus always has been and always will be the most important factor in moulding public opinion and shaping the destiny of the nation. Charles W. Bloom was prominently identified with the journalism of eastern Ohio for many years. He was connected with several papers, but during his most active newspaper career, was the editor and proprietor of the New Paris Mirror. Mr. Bloom sold a half interest in this paper in 1902, and in 1906 disposed of the other interest. Throughout the greater part of his life, Mr. Bloom has been a successful farmer and is so today. He also was connected with another profession which is perhaps second only to that of the press in moulding and shaping public opinion. For many years, Mr. Bloom was a successful teacher in Preble county, and today, therefore, he may be considered as a representative farmer, a forceful journalist and a capable teacher.

Charles W. Bloom was born in Jefferson township, Preble county, Ohio, September 4, 1846, the son of Guy and Hannah (Jameson) Bloom, the former a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, born in 1816. About 1825 Guy Bloom accompanied his parents to Darke county, Ohio, where he grew to manhood on a farm. He came to Preble county when a young man and married Hannah Jameson, a native of Kentucky, born in 1826, who came to New Paris, this county, with her parents in 1836. Her father was Wesley Jameson, a native of Kentucky, who left that state in 1836, lived in New Paris until the early fifties when he removed first to Rushville, Indiana, and then to Noblesville, Indiana, where he died.

The paternal grandfather of Charles W. Bloom was Joseph Bloom, a native of Pennsylvania and a descendant of an old-time German family of that state. He died in Darke county, Ohio, in October, 1868. Guy Bloom, the father of Charles W., was a farmer and at one time owned seven hundred acres of land. He was a progressive citizen in every respect and was usually the first man in his neighborhood to purchase all of the improved implements to be used on a farm. He was a man of indomitable energy and great executive ability. Any man who came to his farm hunting work could find it. In this he was prompted by humane impulses and the duty which one man, however successful, owes to the other, however unfortunate. He was for many years an active member of the Masonic lodge. He died in September, 1883, and his wife died in 1899.

Charles W. Bloom was the eldest of ten children, all of whom were born in Preble county, Ohio. Those now living, besides Charles W., are Mary, the wife of William B.-Reid, and Homer. Charles W. Bloom received his early education in the common schools of Preble county, Ohio, and at the academy at Richmond, Indiana. He went to Richmond at the age of nineteen and there engaged with his father for a time in the furniture business. Later he became an engineer and, on his return to New Paris, located on the farm, which he operated in the summer. During the winter months, for a period of six years, he taught school.

On January 6, 1870, Mr. Bloom was married to Anna Pence, a native of Preble county, Ohio, and the daughter of Nimrod and Elizabeth Pence. To this union, one daughter, Grace, has been born. She learned the printing business with her father and is now the wife of W. L. Hahn, a merchant of New Paris, Ohio.

After his marriage, Mr. Bloom continued teaching for four years and then devoted all of his spare time to his farm until 1884. He now owns a splendid farm of one hundred and ninety-eight acres in Jefferson township. In 1884 Mr. Bloom moved to New Paris and was engaged in the newspaper business until 1906, in which year he disposed of his paper. This paper was established in 1887 and was published under the name of The Business Mirror for some time. Mr. Bloom first established, however, The Amateur.

Charles W. Bloom became a member of the national guard in 1864. the guard was called out and Mr. Bloom served one hundred days in the Civil War.

Mr. Bloom is an independent voter, but he is a prominent and influential Prohibitionist and a particularly strong temperance man. He was a delegate of the Prohibition party to the national convention in Pittsburgh in 1896 and for many years took an active part in the councils of his party. Fraternally, Mr. Bloom is a member of New Paris Lodge No. 303, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is a past grand. He also has served as secretary of the lodge, a position which he has held for twenty-seven years. Mr.

Bloom has always identified himself with the Universalist church. He is a prominent member of this church and for several years was clerk of the local parish. Mr. Bloom takes an active interest in everything pertaining to New Paris and the surrounding country. He is a director in the First National Bank of New Paris and helped to organize this bank. Mr. and Mrs. Bloom are comfortably situated in their beautiful home and are enjoying the fruits of their early labors. No more highly respected citizens are to be found anywhere than Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Bloom, and they very properly stand high in the estimation of the people of New Paris and vicinity.

As printed in History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions (1915). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.