F. D. Carpenter
F. D. Carpenter, vice- president and general manager of the Western Ohio Railway Company, has been a resident of Lima since 1900. He was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in July, 1850, and is a son of Richard and Mary J. (Dimock) Carpenter.
Richard Carpenter, father of F. D., was born in Dover, Vermont, and was a son of John Carpenter, one of the first settlers on the Cuyahoga River. He made the journey from New England with an ox team, but did not settle in the rich valley land, thinking the sandy soil not adapted to agriculture. He established his home some 11 miles from the river, in the midst of the forest. In association with Judge Coe, another of the first settlers, he bought up a large tract of country and a part of this was later cleared laid out and sold to settlers, and thus the town of Dover, named for the old Vermont home, came into being. The mother of our subject was a daughter of Rev. Solomon Dimock, one of the pioneer Baptist ministers of Ohio, who rode over a wide circuit and encountered many hardships in order to fill appointments in isolated regions.
F. D. Carpenter's schooling included several terms at Oberlin College; but he grew up on a farm from which he did not move until 25 years of age, when he engaged in the flouring-mill business at Cedar Point, Ohio. He remained in that business for seven years and then organized the Walton Fertilizing Company, which was incorporated with a capital stock of $20,000, and began the manufacture of fertilizers. Mr. Carpenter was president of the company and owned three-fifths the stock and continued to push this business for eight years. It was during this time that he organized the Cleveland & Elyria Electric Railway, which was afterward consolidated and operated as the Cleveland & Southwestern Traction Company. He was associated with L. M. Coe and continued a member of the board of directors of the former road until he came to Lima, still retaining an interest n the latter company. He was also one of the promoters and general manager of the Cleveland & Chagrin Falls Railway, which he operated for one year.
In 1899 Mr. Carpenter came to Lima to secure the right of way and to build the Western Ohio Railway, and he has been superintendent of all its work ever since. A company was formed and incorporated with a capital stock of $3,000,000, with E. A. Akins, of Cleveland as president and Mr. Carpenter, as vice-president and general manager. This road extends from Piqua to Findlay, with branches from Wapakoneta to St. Marys and Celina, Bremen and Minster, with a total mileage of 112 miles. Mr. Carpenter is also a director in the Ohio Central Traction Company. His fine homestead is situated 12 miles west of Cleveland.
Mr. Carpenter was married, in 1872, to Levia A. Coe, who is a daughter of the late Judge Coe mentioned before as one of the early settlers of Cuyahoga County, and they have two children, viz: Richard H., a graduate of the Cleveland Business College, who is general passenger agent of the Western Ohio Railway Company; and Harriet, who is the wife of Howard Storer, who is in the insurance and real estate business in Cleveland. Mr. Carpenter and family belong to Pilgrim Church, of Cleveland. He takes no active part in politics, but served as township trustee while living on the farm. He belongs to the Masonic order.