W. H. Duden
W. H. Duden, a contractor and builder at Lima, whose excellent work and honest methods of doing business have brought him prominently before the public, has been a resident of this city since 1890. He was born on the line between Fairfield and Miami counties, Ohio, in 1852.
The father of our subject was John A. Duden, who was a soldier in the War of 1812. He learned and followed the trade of a locksmith, as long as it proved profitable, and then turned his attention to cigar manufacturing. In 1858 he moved to Clinton County, Ohio, and in the fall of 1861 to Allen County.
W. H. Duden was eight years old when the family settled in this county. He attended school until he was 15 years old and then learned the tradeof a shoemaker. He was thus employed at Cridersville, Auglaize County, for some 12 years, after which he mastered the carpenter's trade, having always had a natural bent in that direction. This line of work he has since followed continuously, and for the past 26 years has been engaged in a general contracting business, during 15 years of which period he has been located at Lima. His work here is shown in some of the finest and most substantial structures of the city among others, the St. Rose parsonage, the Holland Block, and the residences of W. L. Parmenter, M. Cohn, J. C. Ridenour, D. C. Dunn, James Cory and DR. Van Note.
In 1873 Mr. Duden was united in marriage with Mrs. Mary A. Church of Cridersville, and they have three children, viz: Elmer, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, located at Walhalla, North Dakota; James Harvey, a painter by trade; and Ray, who is associated with his father. Mr. and Mrs. Duden are members of the United Brethren Church. In politics Mr. Duden is a Republican. Socially he is a member of the A. O. U. W.