William C. Nye
William C. Nye, one of Delaware's leading business men, is engaged in a real estate, insurance and loan business, with offices at No. 48 North Sandusky Street, was born July 20. 1847. in Tarlton, Pickaway County, Ohio. He was reared and educated in his native place until he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University, where he was graduated in 1871. For the following twenty years he was extensively interested in the buying and selling of stock, both he and his father having large business connections in that line. On December 1, 1891, Mr. Nye came to Delaware and formed a partnership with Judge Carpenter in a loan, real estate and insurance business. The firm was very successful and continued until 1900, when Mr. Nye purchased his partner's interest and since then has managed his large business alone, meeting with gratifying success. He handles valuable property all over the county, does an extensive loan and investment business, and represents the leading fire, life and accident insurance companies of the country.
In 1873, Mr. Nye was married to Ella V. Lee, who was born at Urbana, Ohio, and who is a daughter of Hiram and Caroline (McGruder) Lee. Mrs. Nye's ancestry on both sides represents distinguished families of old Virginia. The late Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate forces during the Civil war. was a member of the same branch of the Lee family from which she came. The mother of Mrs. Nye at one time in her childhood attended a school which was taught by John Brown, of Harper's Ferry fame. Mr. and Mrs. Nye have three children, namely: Mary Lee, who married Francis Pattison. an attorney, who is a nephew of the late Governor Pattison of Ohio; Carrie V., who married Stanley Pettit. residing at Huntington, New York, where he is engaged in a wholesale grain business; and W. Stanley, who is a student in the senior class of the Delaware High School.
Mr. Nye and his family belong to St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a steward, and for the past seventeen years he has been superintendent of the Sunday school. He retains his Greek fraternity connection, being a member of the Phi Gamma Delta, of the Ohio Wesleyan University.
From 20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens by James R. Lytle