Person:Harry Lollar (1)

THE LOLLARS and THE LAND Chapter 6 Harry David Lollar--1885-1963 By October 16, 1885, when Harry David Lollar was born on the Lollar Farm on the Ridge, in Union Township, Warren County, Ohio, the major acreage of the farm had been accumulated by his grandmother and stepgrandfather, Eliza and William Tingle. His father and mother, Kittie Jameson and Bruce Lollar, had their own 33 acres just to the north. There were no family stories as to why Kittie and Bruce named their only child "Harry," but a study of records already in the file give a clue: Kittie's brother, Isaac Newton Jameson and his wife Eva McCain, had a baby boy named Harry Elmore Jameson, who died while only a few weeks old in 1880. It may have been that Kittie's baby Harry was named after that little tad. Actually, there is more to the story, probably worth telling only to illustrate what detectives genealogists have to be. The rest of this story is that there was an earlier Harry in the McCain family, also that another of Kittie's brothers, John, married a McCain, as well. Maybe there were all close friends and named their children for that earlier "Harry." In any event, there is no mystery about why his middle name was "David." They were simply following the pattern of using the same name every second generation. In other words, Harry David's middle name was for his grandfather and for his great, great grandfather Lollar. At an early age, Harry showed signs of being studious and very good at figures. Among the family things there is a small "Memorandum and Account book designed for Farmers, Mechanics, AND ALL PEOPLE" in which he kept records of yearly income and expenses, starting in 1897 (when he was 12 years old). In that year income items included such things as hunting eggs and picking black-berries, totaling $3.94. Expenses including books and haircut and muskmelon seeds totaling $1.94, leaving him with a capital of $2.00. As time went on income included real farm work for neighbors and expense included $20.00 for N.C.I. tuition. The last year's item were written on the back of an evaluation from the National Correspondence Institute which concluded "The work is neatly done and is highly satisfactory." Harry Lollar was one of five students from The Ridge School and five from South Lebanon who graduated on May 28, 1898, in a combination Commencement Exercise at the South Lebanon M. E. Church. Two letters dated February 12, 1904, from The Bartlett Commercial Colllege, 530 Walnut Street, Cincinnati, certified Harry Lollar's grades in bookkeeping, commercial arithmetic and law, business correspondence and spelling from 95% to 100%. They also stated "his record has been an unusually fine one. He completed the course in much less than the time usually required, we know him to be a thoroughly reliable and trustworthy young man of good character." It is known that he worked at one time for the National Cash Register in Dayton, and there is an envelope addressed to his mother from "H.D.L" at the YMCA in Dayton in 1907. Also, that he worked in New Jersey and there is a typed note to his parents telling them that he was subscribing to «i»Stoddard's Lectures«/i»" for them. It is not known if these renowned early travel books were his taste or his parents'. Perhaps «i»Polar and Tropical Worlds«/i» published in 1871 by Dr. G. Hartwig is indication that his father. Bruce, already had an interest in far-away things and places which he had passed on to his son. One of Harry's favorite jobs was with the Acme-Evans Merchant Millers of Indiapapolis, Indiana, where he had an especially close relationship with Edgar H. Evans, the President. In a letter of March 31, 1911, Mr. Evans stated: "Harry D. Lollar has been with the writer for several years and has shown himself conscientious, energetic and capable." It would seem that Harry never needed to use this recommendation because his father, Bruce, died on June 11 of that year and Harry came back to Ohio to be with Kittie, his mother, and manage the farm. On August 19, 1914, Harry married Ruby Mildred Miller, daughter of Charles and Lucy Evans Miller. Ruby's mother died when she was three and her father when she was twelve but she continued to live at the Miller homestead north of Lebanon with her grandmother, Margaret Miller from Germany, and her stepmother Nina Sellers, and her siblings, Nell, Roy, and Will Miller. She graduated from Hart School and the Lebanon Normal School. After their marriage, Harry and Ruby took a train trip to the East, Harry probably wanting to show Ruby all the exciting places he had seen when he worked in New Jersey. Stories they told as their children were growing up emphasized only Niagara Falls. However, from tinted postcards they collected, as well as sent to relatives at home, it is evident they saw the sights of New York City (including having their photos taken in a 1914 vintage automobile at Coney Island), probably had a boat trip on the Hudson, and went to Boston, before going to Niagara. Upon their return to Ohio, Harry and Ruby went to live at the Lollar Farm Home Place and continued there until 1923 when they had the old house on Bruce's 33 acres torn down and a new home built for themselves. Harry managed the large farm, under the stipulation from Eliza Tingle's will that he could not own it. The big farm now had two sets of tenants, one in the Home Place and one in the Roosa Place. He also worked keeping books for businesses in Lebanon, including the Feed Mill, and Crissenbury's Garage and Sunoco Filling Station. He was clerk of the Ridge School Board for many years. Harry and Ruby were active Presbyterians, first at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church on Main Street, and later at the Lebanon Presbyterian Church, after the two churches combined into one congregation in the big white building at East and Warren in 1930. Ruby was active in the founding of the Union Ridge Community Club. Minutes of the first meeting read: "On Friday afternoon, February 26, 1937, the ladies of the Union Ridge neighborhoods met at the home of Mrs. Ruby Lollar for the purpose of organizing a community Club, 23 ladies were present.". In the meantime, Harry's mother, Kittie, had gone into Lebanon and bought a house at 407 East Main Street in which she lived, active in Presbyterian Church meetings and quilting circles, until her death in 1939. After the marriage of their daughter, Katherine, in 1939, Harry and Ruby sold the 33 acres with which they were free to do as they wished because it had belonged to Bruce and therefore was not tied up in Eliza's will. At first they bought a small house on a side street in Lebanon but Harry missed having a garden so they sold that one and brought another larger house, with ample garden space, on Mound Street, where they lived for a number of years. Finally they went to live out their lives in the house at 407 E. Main Street, which had been made into two apartments when Kittie lived there. Although living in town, Harry often went out to the farm to make minor repairs, fix fences, do small painting jobs, and kept careful books on the expenses and income on the two tenant places. As part of keeping abreast of what needed to be done on the farm Harry would often take Sunday afternoon walks through pastures and plowed fields and woodlands, commenting on fences, checking creeks, identifying plants and trees (including the dreaded thorn trees which had to be burned out by putting a worn out tire around each one and setting it on fire). In 1953, he and neighbors (Thomas A. Scott, E. J Beedle, W. T. Totten, C. Donald Dilatush, Robert Brandenburg, and others) entered into a contract with the Village of Lebanon to provide fire protection for properties on The Ridge. The last tenants Harry secured for the Farm on The Ridge were Francis (Sam) McClung (on the Roosa Place) and his younger brother, Robert (on the Home Place). And just a few years before his death a troublesome thing came up in that the Highway Departments were planning a new Interstate route I71 and State route 48 which would intersect at the southeast edge of the Roosa Place. Many letters and phone calls followed, which also involved Harry's "issue," mentioned so long ago in Eliza's will - Robert Miller Lollar and Katherine Lollar Rowland. In all of this, Harry was grateful to have the advice of Attorney Meryl B. Gray, who had been his lawyer for many years. A meeting on December 4, 1962, resulted in a memo from the State of Ohio Highway Department "regarding the appropriation of land from the Lollar farm." The memo stated that 35.80 acres would be appropriated in connection with I71 and 4.137 acres in connection with State Route 48. The State offered $7,615 for land ($190 an acre) and $10,985 for damages. This specified that it included unnamed damages because 11.27 acres had been detached from the remaining farm with no access to 71 or 48. Somewhat later a Warranty Deed was issued for the same acreage but for $19,625 (the reason for the change in the amount of money is unknown). This deed was signed by Harry D. Lollar, Life Estate; and Robert Lollar and Katherine L. Rowland and their spouses. The 35.80 acres that the roads took were not particularly productive farm land because they were hilly and poor soil. However, the sale was significant because it was the first piece taken off from the Lollar Farm on The Ridge as it was gathered together piece by piece by Eliza and William Tingle. Harry was still living at 407 East Main Street when he died on December 12, 1963. Ruby had gone to Illinois to be near her son, Robert, when she died on February 10, 1970. Both are buried in the Lebanon Cemetery in the Lollar plot with Bruce and Kittie. After Ruby's death, the house at 407 East Main Street was sold to the VanMeters, a family that had long been adjoining land owners on The Ridge. © 2006 Katherine Rowland. All rights reserved

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 [email protected]. RootsWeb.com.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Katherine Rowland. www.katherinelollarrowland.com
   THE LOLLARS and THE LAND; Chapter 6, 5 Jun 2006.