John N. Garver

As printed in 1908

JOHN N. GARVER, a business man at Springfield, is a citizen well known in journalistic and political circles and has been identified with various important interests in this section. Mr. Garver was born in Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio, September 28, 1858, and is a son of Benjamin C. and Ruth A. (Rohrer) Garver.

Benjamin C. Garver was born near Harper's Ferry, Virginia. His grandfather, Christian Garver, emigrated from Germany and settled in Washington County, Maryland, where his family of eighteen children were reared. Abraham C. Garver, father of Benjamin C, was born in Marjdand but became a resident of Jefferson County, Virginia, now West Virginia, in 1819. In 1831 he came to Clark County with his wife and six children, and settled in the forest in Bethel Township, where he had purchased a farm. Later he acquired land aggregating 700 acres. He married Elizabeth Rice, who was born in Maryland. He died in 1857, his wife surviving him several yearSij Benjamin C. Garver was two years old when his parents came to Clark County. At the death of his father he inherited a portion of the land, on which he continued to reside for some years and then moved to Kansas. The closing years of his life were spent as a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife Ruth, who was born in Springfield, was a daughter of John A. and Susan (Thrall) Rohrer, who came to Clark Countv from Pennsvlvania, in 1840. Benjamin C. Garver and wife had eleven children, the following nine reaching maturity, John N., Abraham R., Frank R., James L., Walter B., Edward M., George G., Clara E. and Arthur C.

After an academy preparation, John N. Gai-ver entered Wittenberg College and continued his studies there from 1876 until 1878, and then entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, where he was graduated in the class of 1882. He was then engaged as traveling representative of the Superior Drill Company, of Springfield. He later turned his attention to the study of law, reading for about one year at Emporia, Kansas, and then drifted into newspaper work, for which he had acquired some earlier training as a reporter on the Springfield Republic and as business manager of a college publication. He became editor first of the News and later of the Globe at Emporia. In 1885 he filled the same position on the staff of the Sioux City Tribime. In the fall of 1886 he was appointed land inspector for the New England Trust Company, for Missouri and Kansas, and late in 1887 he went to Lincoln, Nebraska, where, associated with A. D. Hosterman, now a resident of Springfield, and a number of promise'it business men of Lincoln, he established a publishing house known as the Lincoln Newspaper Union. This venture proved a great success and in 1888 they disposed of this business advantageously. Returning to Springfield, Mr. Garver, as a member of the Hosterman Publishing Co., became interested in. and the advertising manager of, the Republic Times, then one of the leading Republican newspapers of southern Ohio. In 1892 Mr. Garver became one of the owners and the business manager of the Peoria, Ill., Transcript, which he conducted successfully for five years, after which, in 1898, he became sole owner of Farm Neivs, which he published with splendid success until 1905, at which time he sold it in order to give his entire time to his western land and local real estate and business interests.

In 1888 Mr. Garver was married to Anna Geiger, a daughter of the late Dr. H. R. Geiger, and Nancy (Hartford) Geiger, of Spring-field. Mr. and Mrs. Garver live in a beautiful home at No. 619 Wittenberg Avenue and are members of the High Street Methodist Episcopal Church. In his political affiliation Mr. Garver has always been a staunch Republican and has taken an active part in public affairs wherever he has been located. He is an alumnus of the Phi Kappa Psi, a college fraternity. He is a member of the several Masonic bodies, including the Knights Templar and the Mystic Shrine. During 1898 he was president of the Springfield Commercial Club, the city's leading commercial organization. He is interested in several business concerns in Springfield and elsewhere.

As printed in 20th century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens (1908). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.