This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: OVERMYER, Kemmerling, Collins, Davis, Wachtel, Longnecker, Elkins, Miller, Haines, Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/xh.2ADE/1596 Message Board Post: This book has no cover, and no index, and no author. I bought it on Ebay; it just has the insides, but it is full of Indiana biographies. I am not researching this family, just thought I would share. I do not know anymore about these families or these surnames. NOTE: I don’t know if there is any additional mention of this family in the book, it has no index. I do not want to sell this book. I am typing the biographies from it. Typed by Lora Radiches: Surnames in this biography: OVERMYER, Kemmerling, Collins, Davis, Wachtel, Longnecker, Elkins, Miller, Haines, CHESTER PETER OVERMYER. Confidence in his own powers, determination to win, and tireless industry have been potent factors in the successful career of Chester Peter Overmyer, president of the Overmyer Mould Company, of Winchester, Indiana. He was born in Marshall County, Indiana, February 22, 1888, a son of Hiram Ellsworth and Margaret A. (Kemmerling) Overmyer. The parents were both born in the vicinity of Freemont, Ohio, and married in Indiana. In profession a preacher of the Evangelical faith, he held charges in different places in Indiana, and died in 1895, being buried at Noblesville, Indiana. The aged widow survives him and resides at Brazil, Indiana. During the War Between the States he served in the Union army and was a brave and loyal soldier. The youngest of seven children, Chester Peter Overmyer went through the grades and had one year in high school, but the death of his father made it necessary for him to begin to be self-supporting. Therefore h! e arranged to work for a farmer, and to receive in return his board and clothing and opportunity to attend school. Feeling that the farmer did not live up to his contract, the youth ran away, going to Plymouth, Indiana, and for a few months worked on the farm of a cousin in that vicinity. In the fall of 1897 he went to Albany, New York, and there he worked in a grocery, carried papers, was printer’s devil, in fact did whatever he. Could find to do. In 1901 his mother and a sister came to Albany and the three went to Marion, Indiana, where he worked for a time making music racks; later becoming an apprentice in the glass works. After two and one-half years there a strike occurred, and Mr. Overmyer was given a union card and sent to Cincinnati, Ohio, to work. After going to Cincinnati, Mr. Overmyer met and married, April 27, 1904, Miss Hattie Alice Collins, a native of Warren, Indiana, and they became the parents of the following children: Harriet Elizabeth, who is st! udying dramatic art in the Stewart Walker Company of Cincinnati; Martha Christine, who attended Western College, and is now secretary for, her father; C. P. and J. Wilbur, both of whom are attending high school. Mrs. Overmyer died in June, 1915. On December 4, 1919, Mr. Overmyer married Gladys Marie Davis, who was born at Alexandria, Ohio, a daughter of Robert and Mollie (Wachtel) Davis, natives of Alexandria, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Overmyer have a son, Robert Davis Overmyer, who is attending the grade schools. Following his first marriage Mr. Overmyer worked at his trade in Cincinnati and other places from 1904 to 1916, and in the latter year he came to Winchester. Here he worked as a master mechanic for the Woodbury Glass Company until November, 1920, at which time he went into business for himself, making moulds for glass factories. As his business has grown his territory has widened and today he sells his product to factories all over the United Stat! es and foreign countries. When he established his plant it was upon a small scale, employment being given to only two men. A frame building was used, and it was a small one, forty by twenty-eight feet, two stories in height. Today he has a splendid modern plant of several buildings giving him 22,000 square feet of floor space, and employment is provided for 175 skilled workmen. In March, 1922, the business was incorporated as the Overmyer Mould Company, of which Mr. Overmyer has since been president; Morton Longnecker is secretary and treasurer; William Elkins is vice president; and J. D. Miller and Donald Haines, with the officers, form the board of directors. Mr. Overmyer is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a trustee. He is a Republican, active in party affairs, and a member of the City Council. Fraternally he is a Knight Templar and Shriner Mason, an Odd Fellow; and socially he belongs to the Rotary Club. His residence is ! at 569 South Main Street. It is a source of great pride to Mr. Overmyer that he has been able to advance from a fatherless lad working for his board and clothing to president of a company owning the largest plant of its kind in the world, for be has done it by himself, without aid of any kind, and he could not have made such progress if he had not been a man of more than ordinary capability, and one willing to work and save until he was well established in life.