Charles L. Babb
Charles L. Babb, cashier of the Commercial and Savings Bank Company of Xenia, proprietor of a hardware store in that city and formerly and for years treasurer of Xenia township, was born in this county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm three miles south of Xenia, in Xenia township, a son of James S. and Phoebe (Lucas) Babb, whose last days were spent in this county.
James Babb was a native of the Old Dominion, born in Frederick county, Virginia, but had been a resident of Greene county since the days of his childhood, he having been but a small boy when he came here with his parents, the family settling on a farm on the Burlington pike. On that pioneer farm James Babb grew to manhood and later got a farm of his own, but later returned to the old home farm. His wife, who was a native of Indiana, died at the age of seventy-nine years and he lived to be eighty-three, both dying in Xenia. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and their children were reared in that faith. There were seven of these children, two sons and five daughters, of whom four are still living, the subject of this sketch having a brother, Horace Babb, an attorney, now living in Chicago, and two sisters, Stella, wife of Harry McDaniel, a farmer, of this county, and Flora, unmarried, who is living at Dayton.
Reared on the home farm in Xenia township, C. L. Babb received his early schooling in the neighborhood district school and supplemented the same by a course in the old Xenia College, which then was flourishing on East Church street. He remained an assistant to his father in the labors of the home farm until January 1, 1885, when he entered into a partnership with John C. Conwell and engaged in the hardware and farm-implement business at Xenia, under the firm name of Conwell & Babb, in the building now occupied by the Greene County Hardware Company on Main street; and he was thus engaged there for thirteen years, or until 1897, when the firm started a second hardware store at No. 16 South Detroit street. In the following year, 1898, the firm was dissolved and Mr. Babb retained possession of the South Detroit street store, which is now operated by his sons, but which he still owns. When the Commercial and Savings Bank Company was organized in 1906 Mr. Babb was elected cashier of the. same and has since been serving in that capacity, recognized generally throughout the county as one of the most competent, courteous and obliging bank officials the county has ever had, it being no secret that much of the success attained by this bank is due to the personal popularity of the cashier. The Commercial and Savings Bank, which was organized under the laws of the state on July 7, 1906, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, is situated at the southwest corner of Main and Detroit streets, the very heart of Xenia's business section, where it has admirably equipped quarters, and has been a success from the day it opened its doors. Mr. Babb is a Republican and for twenty years has served as treasurer of Xenia township. He also takes an active interest in the general business affairs of the city and the county at large and has long been regarded as one of the most enthusiastic and effectual "boosters" hereabout.
In 1887, Charles L. Babb was united in marriage to Minnie L. Richter, who was born in Cincinnati, and to this union four children have been born, namely: Elbert L., who was graduated from Denison University at Granville and who, in association with his brother Karl R., is in charge of the South Detroit street hardware store; Alma L., who was graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University and is now a teacher in the Xenia high school: Karl R., a graduate of Denison University, associated with his brother Elbert in the management of their father's hardware store, and who married Dorothy Schwartz and has one child, a daugliter, Virginia: and Lois R., who also was graduated from Denison. The Babbs reside at the corner of Market and Galloway streets. Mr. Babb is a Royal Arch and Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the local council of Royal and Select Masters, affiliated with the blue lodge, the chapter and the council at Xenia and the consistory, Valley of Dayton, at Dayton, and takes a warm interest in Masonic affairs.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918