Daniel P. W. Eylar
Daniel P. W. Eylar, of West Union, son of John Eylar and Ann Wilkins, was born at Youngsville, Adams County, July 2, 1858. His father was a son of Joseph Eylar, Associate Judge of Adams County, and his mother was a daughter of Daniel P. Wilkins, once a prominent lawyer at the West Union Bar. The parents of our subject moved to West Union when he was a mere lad and there has been his home ever since. He was educated in the West Union public schools, and in his seventeenth year took up the profession of teacher in the common schools. Like many boys in a town where there is a newspaper office, he early learned the printer's art, and after teaching several years, he with E. B. Stivers and W. F. Trotter began the publication of The Index, afterwards The Democrat Index, at West Union, in 1889. He became the editor and proprietor of the last named newspaper in 1891, and continued its publication until 1896, when it was disposed of to the publishers of The Defender.
In politics, Mr. Eylar is as he puts it "independently Democratic with out any aspirations for official preferment." He does his own thinking on matters of religion as well as in politics. He was reared strictly orthodox, but after reading and careful investigation along historical and scientific lines, he became inclined to infidelity in his religious opinions, and finally agnostic with very materialistic inclinations. He was one of the "pioneers" in the world of free thought in Adams County. He is an active worker and one of the best informed members of Crystal Lodge, No. 114, K. of P., West Union.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900