Elmore T. Elliott

As printed in 1905

ELMORE T. ELLIOTT.

The record of the subject of this review is that of an enterprising gentleman who worthily upholds an honorable family name and whose life has been very intimately associated with the material prosperity and moral advancement of Liberty township during the most progressive period of its history. E. T. Elliott, the youngest son of Arthur and Emmeline Elliott, is a native of Butler county, Ohio, and was born on his father’s homestead in the above township, January 24, 1852. During his boyhood and early youth he manifested a lively interest in the work of the farm and while still a mere lad took a pardonable pride in keeping pace with much older and more experienced person in all kinds of manual labor in the fields. At the proper age he entered the district school, where his young and naturally strong and inquiring mind began to unfold and to give promise of the intellectual advancement which he subsequently made under more favorable circumstances in higher institutions of learning. Finishing the elementary branches in the country schools, he spent the sessions of 1869-70 in the Seven Mile Academy, after which he yielded to a laudable desire to increase his scholastic training by entering Miami University at Oxford, where he pursued his studies from 1871 to 1873 inclusive, during which time he acquitted himself creditably and earned an honorable reputation as a diligent, enterprising student. His father having large landed interests which held out flattering inducements to one desirous of living an independent life and achieving a useful career, young Elliott those agriculture in preference to the honors and emoluments of a learned profession and, leaving the above institution at the time noted, he returned to the farm and assumed the duty and responsibility of its management. On November 10, 1875, he contracted a matrimonial alliance with Miss Margaret M. Withrow, the accomplished daughter of John L. Withrow, a prominent farmer and influential citizen of Wayne township and a descendant of one of Butler county’s oldest and most highly esteemed families. Mrs. Elliott was born in the township of Wayne, March 16, 1856, received a liberal education in the public schools and the high school of Jacksonboro and intellectually as well as in other respects is admirably fitted to be the companion and helpmeet of the husband of her choice. The Withrows have figured quite prominently in the affairs of Butler county and the name is also widely and favorably known in other parts of the state, a brother of Mrs. Elliott, Dr. John M. Withrow, being a man of commanding influence in the medical circles of the city of Cincinnati.

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Elliott has been blessed with two children, Mabel, born July n, 1877, and Edith, whose birth occurred on August 9, 1879. The former, after finishing the public-school course, entered the Hamilton high school and was on her second year’s work in that institution when prematurely stricken by the cruel hand of death in 1891. Edith attended the public schools, spent one year in the Western College, Oxford, Ohio, and the same length of time at Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, after which she became the wife of Eugene Hunter. She is still an inmate of her father's beautiful home and the happy mother of a bright and promising son by the name of Elliott Hunter, who was born on the 21st day of December, 1898, and who is the pride and delight of his grandparents and the sunshine of the household.

For a number of years following his marriage Mr. Elliott devoted his attention very closely to agricultural pursuits and in due time became one of the leading farmers and representative citizens of his township. His farm, consisting of two hundred and fifty acres of fine tillable land, is in an excellent state of cultivation and, being admirably situated for agricultural and livestock purposes, it returns him the handsome income, which, with his earnings from several other enterprises in which he has been and is still interested, has made him not only independent but one of the financially strong and reliable men of Butler county. While still residing on his farm, where he has one of the most beautiful and attractive rural homes in the county, Mr. Eliott has retired from active life, though he still retains his interests in the Black & Clawson Company, of Hamilton, and the Sidney Steel Scraper Company, of Sidney, this state, with both of which concerns he has long been identified and from which, as already indicated, no small share of his liberal income is derived. Mr. Elliott is an optimist and has always looked on the bright side of life and received therefrom all the pleasure obtainable as well as a goodly share of profit. He has been judicious in expending his means for wise and useful purposes; has not been spring in beautifying his home and supplying it with needed improvements and comforts, and in a much wider scope he has aided and encouraged all worthy enterprises, besides lending his influence and financial assistance to measures and movements having for their object the educational and moral welfare of the people among whom he lives.

Like his father before him. Mr. Elliott is first of all an American and the love he bears his country is second only to that of the strong and abiding religious convictions which have ever been among his most pronounced characteristics. A firm believe in Christianity and the church, he gives to each an earnest and intense devotion, being a Methodist in belief and an active member of the congregation and one of its most liberal contributors. A Republican in the full sense of the word, an uncompromising supporter of the principles upon which the party is founded* and a believe in the great mission which called it into existence, he has persistently refused to enter the political arena as an office seeker, nor has he ever permitted his quiet to be disturbed by dreams of public honors or aggrandizement. His chief aims have been to dignity and make successful his chosen calling and to live so that the title of citizen may mean something higher and nobler than a mere empty sound. Mr. Elliott is a clever gentleman, popular with a large circle of friends and acquaintances, and he embodies in his make-up the sterling qualities and sturdy characteristics of the broadTminded, enterprising American who hopes for the best and strives with might and main to make these hopes vital and real. Of pleasing personality and dignified presence, he is easily accessible and the high esteem in which he is held proves that the universal confidence with which he is regarded has been worthily bestowed.

As printed in Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio (1905). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.