This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: Elzey, Shaefer, Loch, Thurber, Salisbury
Classification: Biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Ui.2ADI/3298
Message Board Post:
20th Century Souvenir Edition of the Ossian News. January 1st, 1900, page 51.
Abner S. Elzey.
The man who has been at the head of all the leading undertakings which have for their
motto the welfare of Ossian, is Abner S. Elzey, the funeral director of this city. Mr.
Elzey's progress is a matter of comment by all who know of the early obstacles which
beset his path. How he persevered and finally won, is an interesting bit of history.
Mr. Elzey was born Oct. 30, 1868, in Washington Township, Adams Co., and his parents,
Elisha and Rebecca Elzey, are well known to the older citizens of Decatur. When but five
years of age the mother died, leaving Abner a heart-broken youth with a long life-fight
before him. Right manfully he labored, first by his father's side, then for years in
one of the Decatur factories. He had, as may be imagined, few opportunities to cultivate
his love for books: yet he managed to gain a fair education by studying whenever he could
find an unoccupied moment. For a time he attended the Decatur schools, but, practically
speaking, Mr. Elzey is a self-educated man, and has a right to be proud of the fact.
At the age of 18 he left the factory, and in 1888 he went to work for Shaefer & Loch,
the leading hardware dealers, in Decatur. In 1894 this firm sent Mr. Elzey to Ossian to
establish a hardware store. This work was not such that Mr. Elzey's talents were
appealed to, therefore, in 1895, he purchased the undertaking business from Thurber &
Salisbury, and added new black and white funeral cars. Here Mr. Elzey seemed to find the
business for which he was eminently well fitted, and from the beginning, his efforts in
this line have been particularly successful. Being a progressive man, Mr. Elzey, as his
territory grew larger, became interested in the undertaking profession in surrounding
towns, until at the present time he largely controls the funeral directorships in
Hoagland, Heckley, Domestic, Woodburn and Westpoint: he is also interested in a Warren
establishment.
As a student of the art of embalming, Mr. Elzey has made great progress. He is now an
acknowledged artist in this special line -- is so recognized by the leading members of his
profession.