John Thorburn Charters
John Thorburn Charters, president of the Xenia city commission and for years one of the leading jewelers in this part of Ohio, was born at Xenia and has lived there all his life. He was born on March 4, 1873, son of George and Janet (Moodie) Charters, the former of whom also was born at Xenia and there spent all his life, establishing in that city in 1854 the business which is now being carried on by his son, whose connection with the same began in 1891 and who has been the sole proprietor of the establishment since his father's death in 1910. For thirty years the Charters jewelry store was conducted in the room at 114 East Main street, but in March, 1915, Mr. Charters moved to his present location at 44 East Main street, where the business has expanded and increased steadily.
George Charters, the veteran jeweler, who died at his home in Xenia on April 17, 1910, was born in that city, then a mere village, July 12, 1835, son of John and Margaret (Monroe) Charters, the latter of whom was a native of Scotland, born in the parish of Arisdale, Annandale county, and who was but a child when she came to this country with her parents. John Charters was born in the city of New York, the son of a piano-maker, who later came to Ohio and who, in association with his son John, made the first pianos manufactured in the state of Ohio, one of these quaint instrumerits still being in possession of the pioneer manufacturer's great-grandson, the subject of this biographical review. It was in 1825 that John Charters came to Ohio from New York and it was on April 15, 1829, that he married Margaret Monroe, who had come here with her parents from Scotland in 1816. To that union were born ten children, four sons and six daughters, who were reared in the faith of the Associate ( Seceder) church, the family becoming one of the influential families in and about Xenia. John Charters died on January 6. 1870, aged sixty-eight, and was buried in Woodlawn cemetery. George Charters, one of the ten children here referred to, grew up at Xenia and early became skilled as a jeweler and watchmaker, presently engaging in business in that line in his home town and so continued the rest of his life, one of the best-established merchants in the city of Xenia, his death occurring, as noted above, in the spring of 1910. he then being in the seventy-fifth year of his age. In 1864 George Charters married Janet Moodie, who was born at Jackson Center, in Shelby county, this state, January 21, 1842, daughter of Robert Moodie, a member of one of Ohio's pioneer families, and to this union were born three children, the subject of this sketch having a brother, Robert Moodie Charters, now a resident of Cleveland, this state, and a sister, Margaret Isabella, wife of A. R. Collins, of Kenaston, Saskatchewan, Canada. The mother of these children died at Xenia on August 25, 1905, she then being in the sixty-fourth year of her age.
John Thorburn Charters was reared at Xenia, the place of his birth, received his schooling in the schools of that city, and in 1891, he then being but eighteen years of age, became associated with his father in the jewelry business in Xenia,- a business he had followed ever since, sole proprietor of the old-established concern since the death of his father in 1910. Upon the adoption of the new city charter in 1917, the same providing for a change of local administration from the old common-council system of government to a commission form of government, Mr. Charters permitted the use of his name as a candidate for membership in the first city commission and in the ensuing election received the highest number of votes cast in that behalf, this very gratifying honor making him, under the provisions of the charter, president of the commission when the same in due time came to be organized, and he is now serving in that capacity, the only public office he has ever held. Mr. Charters is a 32'^ Mason, affiliated with the consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Valley of Dayton; is past master of Xenia Lodge No. 49, Free and Accepted Masons; past high priest of Xenia Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and past thrice illustrious master of Wright Council, Royal and Select Masters. He and his family are connected with the Methodist Episcopal church.
On January 1, 1896, at Xenia, John Thorburn Charters was united in marriage to Harriet Pearl Stull, who also was born in this county, May 22, 1877, daughter of John and Harriet (Fries) Stull, the latter of whom also was born at Xenia. John Stull was born at Fredericksburg, Maryland. He and his wife were the parents of three sons, Charles, residing near Waynesville, Ohio; Ralph, a farmer near Xenia, and Edward, of Dayton, and four daughters, Mrs. Charters, Carrie B. (deceased), Mabel (deceased), and Alice May. Mr. and Mrs. Charters have two daughters, Anna Marguerite, born on October 18, 1896, and Ruth Janet, August 5, 1905. They have a very pleasant home at 126 East Second street.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A. Broadstone, editor. B. F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918