James Lee Zaring
Of high professional and academic attainments and ranking among the foremost educators of northern Ohio, James Zaring, now the efficient and popular county auditor of Wayne county, has achieved marked distinction in the noble work to which his talents and energies have so long been devoted, and, judging by the past, it is safe to predict for him a future of still greater usefulness and honor. Not only as a teacher and manger of schools has he made his presence felt, but as a citizen in the daily walks of life, his influence has tended to the advancement of the community and the welfare of his fellow men, while the several responsible public positions to which he has been called from time to time bear testimony of his ability to fill worthily high and important trusts. His name, with eminent fitness, occupies a conspicuous place in the profession which he adorns and his career, presenting a series of successes such as few attain, has gained for him much more than local reputation as a successful organizer and manager of educational interests.
Mr. Zaring was born at Jefferson, Plain township, Wayne county, Ohio, December 4, 1859, the son of Eli and Mary (Stevic) Zaring, both natives of Plain township, this county, the father having been born on January 16,1836, and the latter in 1832, each representing old pioneer families of sterling worth who came here in the days of the forest primeval when the country was over-run by wild beasts and the council fires of the red men had scarcely died away. They were a sturdy people who delighted to meet and overcome great obstacles, in short, they were true types of empire builders, making it possible for succeeding generations to live in ease and affluence, to ride in modern motor cars over trails which they blazed and over which their ox carts passed. An insight into the characteristics of the subject would indicate that he had inherited some of the worthy traits of his rugged progenitors.
Eli Zaring grew up on the home farm which he helped clear, and although his chances to receive an education in the old ax-hewn one-roomed school houses of that remote period were indeed limited, he made the most of every advantage and became in after years a well informed man, who was influential in county affairs and who very creditably filled the office of clerk of the local courts for a period of six years. He was for many years solicitor for the Wayne County Democrat and he held every office in Plain township, a Republican stronghold; this proved his high standing in his native community, for he was always a loyal Democrat. The court appointed him appraiser of land in Chester township in 1880. He was a great friend of Capt. Lemuel Jeffries,--in fact, he was a man admired by all who knew him, for he was honest, public-spirited and straight forward in all his dealings with his fellow men.
James L. Zaring was educated in the district schools of Plain township, which he attended during the winter months, working in his father's shoe shop the rest of the year. He also attended the Smithville Normal School, where he made an excellent record in both scholarship and deportment. Being ambitious to enter the career of an educator, he prepared himself very carefully to that end and during his long service as such he has given the utmost satisfaction and his services have been in great demand; he holds a life certificate and he was county examiner for a period of nine years.
Professor Zaring was married on June 3, 1882, to Celestia Reamer, daughter of Jacob and Sophia Reamer, a highly honored family of Smithville. Mrs. Zaring is a woman of culture and refinement and she has been of great assistance to her husband in his manifold duties since their marriage, always encouraging him and counseling him in whatever work he was engaged. This union has been blessed by the birth of four children, two of which died in infancy; the two living children are Ethel, now twenty-six years of age, and John, who is twenty-four years old. Politically, Professor Zaring is a Democrat and he has held many of the minor village offices and is now auditor of Wayne county, filling the office in a manner that is winning universal approval. He stands high in Masonry, being a member of the Knights Templar, Wooster Commandery, No. 48; Cedar Lodge, No. 430, Free and Accepted Mason, of Orrville, and Wooster Chapter, No. 27, Royal Arch Masons.
Although a school man in the broadest and best sense of the term Professor Zaring has never become narrow or pedantic, as have so many whose lives have been spent in intimate association with the immature minds within the four walls of a school room. He is a well rounded, symmetrically developed man, fully alive to the demands of the times, thoroughly informed on the leading questions before the public and takes broad views of men and things. By keeping in touch with the times and the trend of current thought he has ever bee enabled to discharge the duties of citizenship in the intelligent manner becoming the level-headed American of today, and his acquaintance with the history of the country and its institutions makes him also a politician, but not necessarily a partisan. He believes in progress in other than the profession to which he belongs and to attain the end manifests an abiding interest in whatever makes for the material advancement of the community, encouraging all worthy enterprises and lending his influence to means where by his fellow men may be benefited and made better. He is in hearty accord with laudable and healthful pastimes and sports, such as base ball, basket ball, hurdle and foot racing and all kinds of athletics that tend to develop and strengthen the physical powers. These he has always encouraged among his pupils, believing that development of the body as well as the mind and heart of be essential to the make-up of the scholarly and well-rounded man. Wayne county owes a great debt of gratitude to Professor Zaring for the great good he has done in educational, political, social and material affairs.
From The History of Wayne County, Ohio, Vol. 1, B. E. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, 1910