Charles W. Coe

As printed in 1912

CHARLES W. COE.

The popular citizen and enterprising business man whose name furnishes the heading of this review needs no formal introduction to the people of Knox county. Long identified with the agricultural and business interests of the community, he has taken an abiding interest in the welfare of the same in all phases of its development, and has forged to the front ranks as a man of affairs, besides earning an honorable reputation as a man of integrity and wholesome ideals. He represents a sterling pioneer family.

Charles W. Coe, well known president of the Building and Loan Association of Centerburg, was born on December 25, 1848, in Washington township, Licking county, Ohio, and is the son of Charles H. and Eliza Ann (Conard) Coe. The father came to Licking county when three years old with his parents, Joshua and Mary (Burgone) Coe, from Maryland in 1826, and the grandfather, Joseph Conard, came here from Virginia in 1805. settling in what is now Morgan township when the country was a wilderness, and here he remained a number of years, finally selling out and moving to what is now Washington township, Licking county, settling where the town of Utica now stands. He was a farmer and he established the first tannery in the locality. When the father of the subject married he also engaged in the tanning business, following the same for many years, later turning his attention to farming, finally giving up the tanning business. He was a soldier in the Civil war, a member of the First Ohio Independent Sharpshooters. He was an exceptionally good shot, and prior to this service of about two years he was a recruiting officer. While in the service he was captain of a company of the sharpshooters and was attached to different regiments at various times, and he saw some hard service with the different armies. After the close of the war he came to Hilliar township, Knox county, Ohio, in 1865 and engaged in farming, in which he prospered, both as a general farmer and a sheep raiser. He died December 20, 1911, at the age of eighty-eight years, on his fine three-hundred-and-fifty-acre farm, a half mile north of Centerburg. His first wife died in December, 1873, she being the mother of the subject, and the father married again, his second wife surviving at this writing. Four children, two sons and two daughters, were born to Charles H. Coe and his first wife, namely: Alice, now the wife of George Rinehart, her husband being now deceased; Charles W., of this sketch; Jennie married Joseph Sutton, a farmer of Hilliar township; and Judson C., of Centerburg, all living.

Charles W. Coe grew to manhood on the home farm and his first activities were in his father’s tannery. He attended the public schools and one year in the normal school at Lebanon, Ohio, also attended Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, then spent one year at Michigan University at Ann Arbor. Thus well equipped for his life work, he left college and began life by clerking in a drug store in Springfield, having taken the course in pharmacy at Ann Arbor, Michigan, for one year. After spending a year at Springfield, he returned to the home farm, undertaking the management of the same, and for a period of twenty-seven years he operated the same in a most successful manner, carrying on general farming and stock raising, making a specialty of sheep. During the latter years of his farming operations, in 1893, he moved to Centerburg for the purpose of making his future home, but retained his farming interests. He was one of the organizers of the Building and Loan Association and after two years he became president of the same, which position he still holds, having discharged the duties of the same in a manner that reflects much credit upon himself and to the eminent satisfaction of all concerned, in fact his judicious management has been largely due to its large success. It is one of the most successful of its kind in the state. In 1901 Mr. Coe became associated with the Centerburg Bank, and was made vice-president of the same and has filled this position with rare ability ever since. The bank has since been reorganized and is now known as the Centerburg Savings Bank Company, under the state laws. Mr. Coe is

boo also interested in the Johnston & Croton and the Patalaska & Hebron Telephone Companies, being one of the promoters of each and he has been a director in these companies from their organization. He is also the vice-president of the Centerburg Gas Company, president of the Little Sandy Oil and Gas Company, operating in Licking county, and vice-president of the Farmers Fertilizer Company, of Columbus, Ohio. He is president of the Capitol Limestone Company of Columbus. All the above named corporations are at present in a prosperous condition. He is also interested in the Louisa Coal Company, of Louisa, Kentucky, and is a stockholder in various other corporations, and is thus a very busy man of affairs. He also has valuable farming interests in Knox and Licking counties. He is by nature an organizer and promoter, a man of keen discernment, sound judgment and rare business acumen, possessing the foresight to see with remarkable accuracy the future outcome of a present transaction. Few business men of the county are more widely or favorably known in business circles of this part of the state, and none are more deserving of their success.

Mr. Coe was married on December 25, 1880, to Belle L. Riley, a lady of culture and refinement, and the daughter of John and Susan (Curtis) Riley, a prominent and highly esteemed family of Hilliar township, both parents being now deceased.

Fraternally, Mr. Coe belongs to the Masonic order, the chapter and commandery, at Mt. Vernon and the Ancient Arabic Order of Nbbles of the Mystic Shrine at Columbus. He and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church, he being a trustee of the same.

Mr. and Mrs. Coe have spent considerable time in travel, visiting Florida, Cuba and the Isle of Pines, where he has business interests. Politically, he is a Republican and is a local leader in the party, always active in its affairs, though he has never been an aspirant for public office, preferring to devote his attention exclusively to his large business interests. He has been a frequent delegate to various conventions of his party, in all of which he has made his influence felt for the good of the same and his community.

Personally, Mr. Coe is a refined, genteel, broad-minded gentleman, progressive in all that the term implies, obliging and straightforward in his dealings with his fellow men. a man whose word is as good as the bond of most men and whose life has been so exemplary and praiseworthy that he has always enjoyed the good will and confidence of those with whom he has come into contact. Public-spirited, charitable and unassuming, he merits the high esteem in which he is universally held.

As printed in Past and present of Knox County, Ohio (1912). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.