Frank H. Downing
Frank H. Downing, a member of the well-known law firm of Welty & Downing, of Lima, is the worthy representative of a name that has been indissolubly linked with the history of Allen County for nearly four- score years, his grandfather, Adam Downing, having come to Allen County in 1833; He took up a section and a half of land and erected the first house in Monroe township. It was on this farm that Frank H. Downing was born, July 27, 1870. His parents were Rev. Hugh and Mary (Hughes) Downing, whose family consisted of three children.
Hugh Downing was a child of two years when his father settled in Allen County, and the hardships and privations which were the lot of the early pioneers only accentuated the religious vein which the lad possessed, and he read messages of love and warning from the grandeur of the forest with its wild solitude and the untamed creatures lurking within its sheltering depths. In his sermons he spoke from the heart full of love for his fellowmen. He made a wide reputation, and the good accomplished by him can never be told.
Frank H. Downing was reared on his father's farm and attended the common schools when a lad. Not caring to follow agricultural life, he determined to take up the study of the law, and to that end entered the Ohio Normal University at Ada. He was admitted to the bar in the autumn of 1899, and came to Lima the following spring. His partnership with Mr. Welty was formed soon after, and the volume of business conducted by them shows the confidence reposed in this firm by the public. Mr. Downing is a Republican. He is genial and affable and has met with quite as much success in a social as in a business way.
From History of Allen County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, Edited by Charles C. Miller. Richmond & Arnold, Publishers, Chicago, 1906