Harris B. Dahl
One of the largest business firms of Washington C. H.. Ohio, is the Midland Grocery Company, a wholesale company which does a large business throughout the state of Ohio, employing a large force of salesmen on the road all the time. Harris B. Dahl is the treasurer of the company and has been connected with the firm since 1882. His father before him was a merchant in Washington C. H., and consequently his early training was directed along mercantile lines. He has made an unusual success in business and ranks as one of the most substantial and prosperous business men of Washington C. H.
Harris B. Dahl, the son of George and Ruth (Bereman) Dahl, was born in Washington C. H. May 30, 1859. His parents, who were natives of Brown county, Ohio, and Washington C. H., respectively, reared a family of four children: Lizzie, the widow of Col. B. H. Millikan; Harris B., of Washington C. H. ; Victoria, the wife of T. W. Marchant, of Washington C. H., and Ethel, deceased, who was the wife of William Campbell.
George Dahl came to Fayette county and located in Washington C. H. when he was a small lad. coming to this county with his mother. As a young man he manufactured candies and delivered them by wagon, later engaging in the retail grocery business in Washington C. H. He gradually branched out into the wholesale grocery business and continued in this line until his death, in 1898, at the age of sixty-four. His wife still survives him at the age of seventy-eight. George Dahl and his wife were both members of the Methodist church.
The paternal grandparents of Harris B. Dahl were natives of Germany and came to America in an early day. locating in Brown county, Ohio, and were pioneer settlers of that county. Grandfather Dahl died in middle age and his widow came to Fayette county, where her death occurred in Washington C. H. at an advanced age. The grandfather of H. B. Dahl had a large family of children: Henry, Jacob, George, Mrs. Catherine Rapp. Mrs. Ann Siehl, Mrs. Mary Hirt and Mrs. Ziegler
The maternal grandparents of Harris B. Dahl were Joel S. and Sina (Thompson) Bereman, of Scotch-English descent, and pioneer settlers in Fayette county. Mr. Bereman was in the hardware business and was familiarly known as "Judge Bereman." He was twice married, and by his first marriage had one son and four daughters: Clayton, Elizabeth, Jennie, Ruth and Victoria. His second wife was a Miss Porter, and to this union were born three children: Eli, Porter and Catherine.
Harris B. Dahl was reared in Washington C. H. and attended the local high school until the age of seventeen, when he entered the State University at Columbus, where he remained three years. He then spent one year in the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and a year in the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, after which he took a course in the laboratory of the State University of Ohio with the intention of becoming a physician.
However, Mr. Dahl finally decided to engage in the business which had made his father so successful, and in 1882 he embarked in the retail grocery business in Washington C. H., and two years later he started the wholesale business. This has grown into a business of large proportions and goods from Washington C. H. are shipped all over the state of Ohio, as well as other states. The company now has four large buildings. The original building burned December 30, 1911. The firm was incorporated under the name of The Midland Grocery Company, with a capital stock of five hundred and eight thousand dollars common stock and six hundred and thirty-six thousand dollars preferred stock. The company also has a large store in Columbus, Ohio, which is the headquarters of the firm. The Washington C. H. store is called the Dahl-Millikan Branch.
The officers of the Midland Grocery Company are as follows A. S. Hammond, of Columbus, president; Col. B. H. Millikan, vice-president; C. C, Benbow. secretary; H. B. Dahl. treasurer, and William M. Campbell, manager of the Dahl-Millikan branch at Washington C. H. The company employs about sixty people in the branch store at Washington C. H. and a similar number in the Columbus store. Mr. Dahl is a director in the Commercial Bank of Washington C. H. and president of the Washington C. H. Gas and Electric Company, and has money invested in various other business enterprises in the county seat.
Mr. Dahl was married September 18, 1890, to Mary Maynard, the daughter of Col. Horatio and Clara (Blakemore) Maynard, and to this union four daughters have been born: Fanny, Charlotte, Nina and Mary. Fanny is the wife of Conrad Schweitzer, of Los Angeles. California.
Mrs. Dahl was born in Washington C. H., and her mother was a native of Virginia and her father of Holden, Massachusetts. Her father came from Drewsville, New Hampshire, to Fayette county, Ohio, when he was a young man. He was a school teacher in early life and later practiced law, and was a partner of Judge Briggs and H. L. Hadley, of Washington C. H.. and H. M. Daugherty, of Columbus, for many years. Colonel Maynard was a soldier in the Civil War and was the colonel of the One Hundred and Fourteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving three years at the front. He died in 1907, aged over eighty years, while his wife still survives him at the age of seventy-eight. Eight children were born to Colonel Maynard and wife: Herbert P., John P., Walter E., Mary, Nina, Augustus F., Horatio and one who died in infancy.
The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Dahl were John Phillips and Roxey (Davis) Maynard, of English descent. They died in Drewsville, New Hampshire, after rearing a family of five children : Caroline, Cleora, Horatio B., Mary and Augustus. The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Dahl were Harvey and Ann (Millikan) Blakemore, his wife being born in Washington C. H., and here they both died at the ages of sixty-one and sixty-four, respectively. Mr. Blakemore was a merchant and a sheriff in the early history of Fayette county. Seven children were born to Harvey Blakemore and wife: Clara, Josephine, Emma, Charles, Lee, Wyatt and Anna.
Politically, Mr. Dahl is identified with the Republican party. but his extensive business interests have been such that he has never taken an active part in political matters. Mr. Dahl is a man of sterling character, quiet and unassuming in his manner, with a kindly word for his neighbors, and a man whose veracity has never been questioned. It is needless to say that such a broad-minded man stands high in public estimation and is today one of the representative business men of Fayette county.
From History of Fayette County Ohio - Her People, Industries and Institutions by Frank M. Allen (1914, R. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.)