Harman H. Tyner

As printed in 1902

HARMAN H. TYNER.

In days of increased commercial activity, advertising is considered one of the most potent elements in conducting successful business affairs. Many methods of advertising have been employed in introducing goods to the market, but not the least of these has been through bill-posting and distributing and this has led to the building up of a large business, so that many men are employed in carrying on such work. Mr. Tyner, who is well known throughout Springfield by the title of major, is a billposter and distributor of this city, now conducting a large business because of the liberal patronage extended him.

He was born in Wabash, Indiana, July 20, 1842, and attended the public schools there until fourteen years of age. His parents were Daniel H. and Caroline C. (Flora) Tyner, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Kentucky. In 1856 they removed to Mankato, Minnesota. The father was a general horse trade and buyer and conducted a livery stable. In his political afhliations he was a Republican and he served as sheriff of Blue Earth county, Minnesota, for two terms. His wife held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and was a devout Christian woman, who passed away in 1887, in Mankato, Minnesota, at the age of sixty-nine years, while her husband died at Medicine Lodge, Kansas, in 1883, at the age of sixty-eight years. He was a self-made man and his position in the business world was the result of his untiring energy and diligence.

To a limited extent, after the removal

‘of the family to Minnescta, Harman Hi,

Tyner attended school in that state, but there were only five houses in Mankato when the family arrived there. He afterward became identified with his father in the livery business and engaged in buying horses for the eastern markets and as he grew older he was given the management of the business. In 1861, at the first call for troops to aid in the preservation of the Union, he enlisted as a drummer in the First Minnesota Regimental Band. The regiment was stationed at Fort Snelling. He was in no active service during his three months’ term of enlistment. Later he re-enlisted for three years, but after fifteen months regimental bands were discharged by general order and he returned home. At the Indian outbreak in Minnesota in the same year he and his father became scouts and served in the battles of New Ulm and Wood Lake against the Indians. They organized an independent company, the father being looked upon as a leader in the community because he had served as sheriff of the county and was fa-: miliar with all that region, and both father and son served throughout the outbreak.

In 1864 occurred the marriage of Harman H. Tyner and Carrie C. Cannon, who was born in New York in 1838, and had resided in Minnesota for several years prior to her marriage. They had two children: Frank H., the elder, is now conducting a bill-posting plant in Englewood, Illinois. He married Edith Hoff, of Springfield, Ohio, and they have one son, Elmer. William H. is associated in business with his father and resides at home. In the year 1869 Mr. Tyner come with his family to Springfield and here his wife died in 1894, after thirty years and one month of married life, her remains being interred in Ferncliff cemetery. In 1898, in this city, Mr. Tyner was again married, his second union beirig with Miss Margaret Reising, who was born, reared and educated in Cincinnati and is a sister of Professor John Reising, the leader of the Big Six Band. With this band our subject was connected as a drummer for seventeen years. He purchased and erected his present home at No. 22 North Race street and there he resides with his wife and son.

After coming to Springfield Mr. Tyner began work as a carpenter and followed that business for four years, being an expert in the use of tools. Finally, however, he drifted into the bill-posting business, purchasing the half interest of a man who conducted a small plant. Mr. Tyner has since continued in this line and with the growth of the city his business has increased and he has given to it his personal supervision. He put bill boards up all over the city and has been very successful in enlarging his business and making it a profitable source of income. He was one of the originators and organizers of the Ohio State Bill-Posters Association, which was organized in Columbus in 1890 and has gradually grown until it now covers all of the cities of any importance in the state. He became one of its charter members, was its president in 1894-5 and has served on various committees, while for one year he was treasurer of the society. He has the franchise for Springfield and South Charleston and in July, 1902, Urbana was added to his list. He has always enjoyed the respect and confidence of the men with whom he has done business and the firm of H. H. Tyner € Company is a reputable one of Springfield. In 1891 Mr. Tyner joined the National Association and since that time has attended every national convention with one exception. In the thirty-two years of his business career here he has never been censured for neglect of duty by an advertiser. - He employs two men throughout the year and is doing a business which is growing and has long since become profitable.

Mr. Tyner belongs to Moncrieffe Lodge, K. of P., also to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in which he has served as an office holder for five years..He is a member of Springfield Lodge, A. F. € A. M., and the Union Veteran Union, and in politics he is a Democrat, save at local elections where no issue is involved, on which occasions he gives his support to the men best qualified for the office. His wife is a member of St. Raphael's church. Both are well known in Springfield and the Major has a large circle of friends here.

As printed in A Biographical Record of Clark County Ohio (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.