George M. Stiles
George M. Stiles, formerly and for years superintendent of the cordage plant of the Hooven-Allison Company at Xenia and now engaged in the coal and general building-supplies business in that city, formerly and for years a member of the city council, is a Hoosier by birth, but has been a resident of Ohio since the days of his early childhood and of Xenia since he was but a lad. He was born in the city of Terre Haute, Indiana, August 31, 1861, son of Aaron and Sarah (Smith) Stiles, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of Indiana, and the latter of whom is still living at Xenia, now past seventy-six years of age.
Aaron Stiles was but a boy when he came with his parents from New Jersey to Ohio in the early '30s, the family locating in the neighborhood of Waynesville, in Warren county, where he grew to manhood and where he married Sarah Smith, who was born in Vigo county, Indiana. He later went over into Indiana and for three years was engaged in farming for a kinsman in the vicinity of Terre Haute, in Vigo county, and was living there when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted for service, but was rejected on account of physical disability. He, however, was accepted for the Home Guards and while serving in that capacity helped to repel Morgan's raiders during the time of their invasion of southern Indiana. Finding that life on the farm was not suitable he returned with his family to Ohio and located at Corwin, where he was engaged as station agent for the Little Miami (Pennsylvania) Railroad for six years, at the end of which time he was stationed at Xenia, as night baggage-master for that road at that place and there he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1877, he then being forty-six years of age. He left five children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the eldest, the others being as follows: William, who is now working in a cordage plant at Bradford, Canada; Mary, who married Harvey C. Huppman and died at the age of thirty-three years: Bertha, who married Robert Daughitt and is also now deceased, and Fred, who is employed in the plant of the National Cash Register Company at Dayton. Mrs. Stiles, the mother of these children, later married Andrew McCarty, who is now deceased. She continues to make her home at Xenia, residing at the corner of Second and Mechanic streets with William Stiles. Her parents, Ezra and Sarah Smith, were Quakers and were early settlers in Warren county, whence they had moved over from Clinton county, in which latter county they had lived for a while after coming to this state from Pennsylvania. Though reared a Quaker, Mrs. McCarty has long been a member of the Presbyterian church, with which she became affiliated after taking up her residence in Xenia.
George M. Stiles was three years of age when his parents returned from Indiana to Ohio and he was about nine years of age when they moved from Corwin to Xenia, his schooling therefore having been completed in the schools of the latter city. When twelve years of age he became a wage earner, starting to work at the Bradley bagging-mill, which then was being operated at the corner of Third and Detroit streets, and was thus engaged for two years, at the end of which time he became employed at the glass works. A year later he took employment at the Rader brick yards and while thus employed helped to make the brick that entered into the addition that was built to the old court house in Xenia. He worked there one summer and then, in the fall of 1875, entered the employ of the company that then was operating the cordage-mill, now under the control of the Hooven-Allison Company, his first work there being as the wheel boy for a hand wheel for spinning. For thirty-seven years Mr. Stiles remained connected with the cordage-mill, working his way up until in 1897 he was made superintendent of the plant, a position he occupied for fifteen years, or until 1912, when he transferred his services to the John T. Bailey Cordage Company at Philadelphia and for two years was superintendent of the plant in that city. He then was engaged by the state of North Dakota to take charge of the cordage plant in the state penitentiary at Bismarck, but conditions there were naturally enough not to his liking and at the end of ten months of such service he returned to Xenia and in July, 1915, bought the coal yard of W. O. Maddox, the oldest coal yard in the city, and has since then been engaged in the general coal business, handling at the same time a general line of building supplies. Mr. Stiles is a Republican and when the city commission form of government was adopted by the people of Xenia in the summer of 1917 he announced himself as a candidate for the office of city commissioner, but failed of election. He had previously given similar service to the city, having for eight years served as a member of the city council from his ward. For some time he served as a member of the executive committee of the Republican central committee. He is a Mason and an Odd Fellow. In addition to his other interests Mr. Stiles is a member of the board of directors of the Home Building and Savings Company of Xenia.
In September, 1884, George M. Stiles was united in marriage to Rosa Scheeibold, who was born in the city of London, county seat of the neighboring county of Madison, but who at the time of her marriage was a resident of Xenia, her parents Charles and Barbara Scheeibold having moved from London to Xenia, in which latter city Mr. Scheeibold, who was engaged there in the retail meat business, died in 1910. Mrs. Scheeibold is still living in Xenia. To Mr. and Mrs. Stiles six children have been born, namely: Harry, who is engaged in the tailoring business at Dayton; Lester, who is engaged in the shoe business at Xenia; Edward, who was killed in a railway accident on May 24, 1915: Paul, who is living at Middletown, this state, where he is engaged as circulation manager for the Middletown Journal; Katrina, who is at home with her parents, and Raymond, also at home, who is employed as a clerk in Sayre & Hemphill's drug store. The Stiles reside at 221 Cincinnati avenue. They are members of the First Reformed church and Mr. Stiles was for three years chairman of the congregation and also has served as a member of the official board and as a member of the board of trustees of the church.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918