Curtis B. Hare

CURTIS B. HARE.

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

By occupation Conrad Hare was a farmer; he continued to follow agricultural pursuits in Pennsylvania until 1828, when he migrated to Wyandot county. Ohio, and purchased a tract of government land near the present site of Carey. Here he spent the remainder of his life as a miller of the soil, dying when fifty-six years old: his widow survived him some years, departing this life at the age of seventy-six.

Among the children of Conrad and Anna Hare was a son by the name of Levi, whose birth occurred in Center county. Penn. He was a small boy when the family settled in Wyandot, and. like his father before him, grew to maturity on a farm and selected agriculture for a vocation. He became successful in his chosen calling, and by industry and judicious management acquired a comfortable competence, including two hundred acres of valuable land, the greater part of which was cleared and developed by his own labor. When a young man he married Miss Jane Berry, a native of Ross county, Ohio, who was brought to the county of Wyandot by her parents as early as 1823: she died here at the age of thirty-nine years. Mrs. Hare bore her husband eight children, seven sons and one daughter, namely: Darius D., a prominent citizen of this county whose 1 biography appears elsewhere; Curtis B.. of this review; Celestia S.. who lives in Upper Sandtixky; Cyrus D., engaged in the insurance business in the same city; Albert J., editor of the Union County Journal, a paper published at Marysville, this state; Adrian A., a merchant of Detroit. Mich., and Wellington R., a sketch of whom will be found in another part of this volume

Politically Levi Hare was a Democrat, and as such wielded an influence for his party in the community where he lived. In: religion he subscribed to the Methodist creed, as did also his wife, both being for a number of years devout members of the church, the teachings of which they early impressed upon the minds and hearts of their children. Mr. Hare met with an accident which resulted in his death when he was forty-nine years old, his loss being greatly deplored throughout the county in which he was so well and favorably known. Mrs. Hare's parents were Curtis and Sallie ( Cavite) Berry, the father a native of Virginia and the mother of Ross county. Ohio. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Berry settled in Crawford township, Wyandot county and continued to reside there until their deaths, which occurred at the ages of seventy and fifty-six. respectively Curtis Berry served in the war of 1812 as a noncommissioned officer in a Virginia regiment, and made a creditable record as a soldier; he was of English descent, his wife's ancestors being originally Irish.

Reverting to the personal history of Curtis B. Hare, it may be stated that he received his first practical training in life on the family homestead near the town of Carey. During the summer months his employments were such as are common to the majority of country lads, and after the crops were gathered he attended the common-schools in the neighborhood. To those early years, under the tutelage of parents whose earnest desire was to graft upon the minds of their children such principles as would insure lives of usefulness and honor, Mr. Hare is largely indebted for the integrity of character and laudable ambition that have since distinguished him. The world is full of similar examples, and the student of biography will have no difficulty in recalling instances in which farm life left its impress upon some of the most noted characters known to history. In early years, when the mind is taking its bent, and when youthful ambitions are shaping themselves for manhood's achievements, no influence has ever been found more potent for good than that which the farm affords. As a student young Hare was diligent. He continued the pursuit of knowledge in connection with farm labor until his nineteenth year when, like thousands of other patriotic men throughout the North, he laid aside his books and the implements of husbandry and tendered his services to the government to assist in putting down the Rebellion. In March,

1864, he entered the signal corps service at Columbus, Ohio, and served in that capacity in Washington, D. C.. until September,

1865. Subsequently he saw considerable active service on the Mississippi river under Commodore Porter and participated in the operations against Mobile with Farragut, besides taking part in other important movements on land and water. He discharged his duties creditably to himself and satisfactorily to his superior and at the expiration of his period of enlistment was discharged at the city of New Orleans.

Actuated by a desire to add to his scholastic knowledge Mr. Hare on leaving the army entered an academy, where he spent one year studying the higher branches of learning, after which he secured a situation as clerk with a mercantile firm. In this capacity lie continued two and a half years and then affected a co-partnership in the grocery business with M. B. Smith, a relationship which was dissolved at the end of one year by reason of the death of the subject's father.. The better to look after the latter’s business affairs, Mr. Hare disposed of his interests in the store and assumed the management of the home farm, which he conducted about one year, selling the place at the end of that time and engaging in the grocery trade at Upper Sandusky. Pie continued to sell groceries successfully for a period of five years, when he changed his line of business by engaging in the hardware trade in association with R. A. Mc- Kelly, a partnership which still exists.

Mr. Hare's commercial career presents a series of successes anti as long as he was actively engaged in merchandising his business grew in magnitude until he became a leader in the various lines which he represented. On the ist day of June, 1895, he retired from active participation in the affairs of the firm, for the purpose of accepting the presidency of the First National Bank, of Upper Sandusky, a position he has since filled to the satisfaction of every one. officially or otherwise, connected with this old and reliable financial institution.

Mr. Hare's life has been exceedingly busy and not without events of striking interest and his record as a business man is without a stain. As a financier he ranks with the successful men of his city and county and by reason of a long experience in commercial and monetary affairs his opinions have great weight and his ideas always receive due consideration. He is regarded as sound and reliable in matters involving large and important interests, careful in the management of all affairs intrusted to him, laying his plans with wise forethought and forming his opinions only on mature reflection. In the discharge of his official functions as executive head of the First National Bank, he has demonstrated sound judgment, attending to his duties with fidelity to the interests of stockholders and depositors in such a way as to win the confidence of the business public.

Of Mr. Hare, personally, those who know him best assert that he is a man of strong attachments for friends and entertains the trust and deepest regard for all who have kindred with or claims of friendship or gratitude on him. His nature is firm and positive, but kind, and while in the course of a long business career he may at times have produced antagonisms, they have always been without malice. In all, he has been a. just man. and his deeds, which are so well known to the people of Upper Sandusky and Wyandot county, are the best standard by which to measure his life.

Politically Mr. Hare is a stanch supporter of the Democratic party, but has never had any ambition to gratify in the way of public office. He was married on the 23d of October, 1872, Co-Miss Nettie J. Brown, of New York. This union resulted in the birth of five children, two of whom grew to maturity. Adelaide, a cultured and refined young lady, who is still under the parental roof, and Levi Broun, also at home and who has charge of his father’s hardware store at Upper Sandusky; die other three children died in youth. Mrs. Hare is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church:

she and her husband are esteemed members of a large social circle, a position which they have merited by their characters and genuine personal worth.

As printed in Biographical memoirs of Wyandot County, Ohio : to which is appended a comprehensive compendium of national biography ... embellished with portraits of many national characters and well known residents (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CURTIS B. HARE.

While the record of a business man may be less spectacular than that of a statesman or military leader, it is none the less essential and none the less valuable. In fact the stable prosperity and substantial growth of every community depend upon its enterprising and reliable business men who day by day perform their daily duties, advancing slowly yet steadily and utilizing every means that come to hand, not only to enhance their own interests but also to promote the public welfare. To this class belongs Curtis B. Hare, president of the First National Bank of Upper Sandusky. Honored and respected by all, no man of the city occupies a more enviable position in its financial circles, not alone by reason of the success he has achieved but also owing to the straightforward business policy he has ever followed.

Mr. Hare was born in Seneca county, Ohio, October 13, 1844, and is a son of Levi and Jane (Berry) Hare. The father, a native of Pennsylvania, was born in 1819, made farming his life work, and died in the year 1869. His wife, a native of Ross county, Ohio, came to Wyandot county as early as 1823 with her parents and here passed away at the age of thirty-nine years. Their children were Darius D., Curtis B., Celestia S., Cyrus D., Albert J., Adrian A. and Wellington R.

Curtis B. Hare pursued his education in the district schools of Crawford township and by three terms' study in the Carey Academy of Carey, Ohio. He then entered upon his business

As printed in Past and present of Wyandot County, Ohio; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement; (1913). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.