Jesse A. McConaughy
Jesse A. McConaughy has been identified with the business life of Dayton for nearly a quarter of century. His business during most of his time has been as a funeral director, and he is proprietor of one of the leading establishments of that kind in that city.
He was born in Brown County, Ohio, August 11, 1868, son of John C. and Ellen Jane (Hodlins) McConaughy. His parents, who spent their lives as farmers, died in 1923, the father at the age of eighty-six and the mother at eighty-three. Jess McConaughy grew up on a farm in Southern Ohio, attended country schools, and farming was his regular vocation for a number of years. Moving to Dayton in 1901, he spent about a year in the dairy business, and for over six years was connected with the National Cash Register Company.
Mr. McConaughy in 1907 graduated from the Cincinnati College of Embalming, was licensed under the Ohio laws in 1908, and for two years following was associated with one of the leading undertaking firms of Dayton. He then opened a business of his own, and has his funeral home at 1446 West Third Street, having a building with fourteen rooms, devoted to the various departments of the service. Mr. McConaughy is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Junior Order United American Mechanics, and takes an active part in the Euclid Avenue United Brethren Church.
He married, in 1896, Miss Mabel Cropper, of Brown County, daughter of Lige and Albertina (Louden) Cropper, the former being deceased. Her father was a teacher, a very able educator and also a noted musician. Mrs. McConaughy is a member of the Missionary Society, the Ladies' Aid Society and the Otterbein Guild, and is very active in the United Brethren Church. Mr. and Mrs. McConaughy have two children. Miss Rhea M., born in 1900, graduated from the Dayton High School, from Otterbein University with the class of 1923, and is now a teacher of the fifth and sixth grades in the Kemp District School and also teaches in Sunday school and has a prominent part in certain literary affairs. She is president of the Girls' Missionary Association of the Euclid Avenue United Brethren Church, is a member of Dayton Chapter of Alpha Iota Alpha Sorority, belongs to the Alpha Literary Society, the Ohio State Teachers Association and the National Educational Association. The son, Gwynne H. McConaughy, born in 1906, is a graduate of the Dayton High School, and is now a student in Otterbein University.
From History of Ohio, The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925, Volume V