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WHO WAS WHO in PLUM TOWNSHIP
~ Titusville Herald
By H. W. Strawbridge

Simeon O. Proper

Simeon Ogilvia Proper was born Dec. 1, 1857, in the Sugar Creek valley, Troy Township. The site of the Proper home was a short distance north of the Meadville-Titusville road at the foot of the Armstrong hill beyond Chapmanville. His parents were Andred H. and Elvira Williams Proper. Simeon was one of five brothers and sisters, which included in proper age order: Mrs. Forest Willey, Simeon O. Proper, William Proper, Mrs. Lewis Bower and Frank Proper.
Simeon was commonly called "Sim" Proper. He was reared in Troy Township and was educated in the schools of that township. He was married to Miss Alice Lillian Wright of Diamond on May 23, 1882, in the Methodist parsonage of Sunville by Rev. W. H. Hover.
Alice was born Aug. 27, 1863 in Vinton, Ia. She was one of several children of Rev. John and Mary Wilde Wright who moved to Diamond in 1867. Both parents were of pure English descent. Rev. Wright, a Wesleyan Methodist minister, operated a stave mill in Diamond for several years.
It is probably that Sim and Alice began housekeeping in Cooperstown because that's where their first child was born two years later. Alice had dreaded moving to Cooperstown because she didn't know anybody there. Someone told her not to worry, that "your neighbors are as good as you make them."
It is thought by relatives that Sim worked in the mills there owned by A.P. Miles. After being there for some time they moved back to the Proper farm of 40 acres in Troy Township where their last two children were born.
Their three children were Clyde Merle Proper, July 29, 1884; Clarence Ogilvia Proper, April 10, 1887; and Margaret Diana Proper, Jan. 1, 1891.
Clyde was married on July 4, 1922 to Miss Grace Hulburt at Thompson, O. Clyde was in the restaurant business for many years. He and Lewis Schultz first owned a restaurant in Oil City and Schultz later sold out to Clyde. From Oil City Clyde moved to Cleveland and operated a restaurant which was the Childs Restaurant, one of a noted chain of restaurants. He retired at Thompson, O. After the death of his wife on Aug. 8, 1955, he made his home with his niece, Mrs. Milburn Bimber, and her family on the Spring Creek road outside of Titusville. He died there suddenly on Aug. 24, 1957, and is buried with his wife at Thompson, O.
Clarence was married to Miss Hattie Foster at her parent's home west of Chapmanville on June 1, 1910. They lived their married life on the present farm of Mr. and Mrs. Lester Snyder at Chapmanville except half a year when they resided in the nearby Freeman Proper house. Clarence and the late Ed Reed operated a threshing machine for several years, and Clarence also hauled milk to the Titusville Dairy Products Company for years. He was active in church and I.O.O.F. organization. They had three children, Mrs. Eyla Snyder of Chapmanville, Howard C. Proper of near Diamond and Mrs. Margaret Bimber of near Hydetown. Clarence died in a wood sawing accident on his farm on Oct. 20, 1943. Mrs. Proper presently spends the major portion of her time in Meadville and the remainder at her Chapmanville home.
Margaret was married to Lester O. Walter in the Methodist parsonage of Titusville on Nov. 14, 1916. For a few years they lived in Titusville where he was a machinist and tool maker. Then he entered the U.N.G. Company and stayed with it for 38 1/2 years. He was a foreman for that company in Titusville and also a supervisor in Oil City. He was also connected with the company in Grove City for a time. Margaret as a girl took music lessons and played the organ and piano. Now retired, the couple presently live on Central Avenue in Oil City.
In the early spring of 1892 the Sim Proper family moved into eastern Plum Township on the J.D. Grove farm. This was in the Fairview area. Sim rented this farm and the adjoining James Miles farm that season. The J.D. Grove farm was many years later known as the Jim Haines place. The housed burned in 1946.
Shortly after Sim's family moved there, 50 friends gathered one evening and held a welcoming party for them.
Clyde attended the Fairview school during that year when the teacher was J.N. Holder. Clarence, who was only five, wanted to go too, so the teacher told Clyde to bring him along as he wouldn't disturb the pupils. Clarence slept most of the school day. By the next season Sim moved back to Troy Township. He then took employment on oil leases at Lake Creek. He walked to work early on Monday mornings, staying there through the week days, then came home for weekends.
Sim dressed tools for Philo Williams, the driller. These wells were on or near the Willis Brown farm and were Third Sand wells, which are generally reliable and lasting producers. Sim worked in the oil fields several years. In fact his essential interest through the years was in oil.
Sim was also a stone mason by trade. He was one of the masons who helped construct the stone arch bridge in Diamond in 1897.
In 1902 his family moved into the Burdell Proper house in Diamond and lived there about two years. From there they moved into the William Proper house south of Diamond, which house burned in 1939, and lived there awhile. While at Diamond Clarence clerked for some time in the Shriver & Thompson general store.
The family then moved to the Reed farm at Horseshoe Bend, Troy Township, and lived there approximately three years.
On Feb. 3, 1908, Sim bought the George W. Beers farm of 50 acres in Chapmanville for $1,500 and moved there where he spent the rest of his life. Incidentally Sim kept title to his father's old farm in Troy throughout his life.
Sim was about average height and was rather heavy, weighing perhaps 175 pounds. He was quite bald at last. He certainly had good teeth. At the time of his death, every tooth was still in his head and not one filling in them. He had a mild disposition and enjoyed visiting with people. Often he invited a visitor to come in and have a meal with the family.
Alice was a small woman. It is said she never weighed 100 pounds, even in good health. She liked to do fancy needlework. In her very last years she most enjoyed rocking her little granddaughter, Margaret Proper Bimber, a relative claims.
Sim and Alice were members of the Methodist Church of Chapmanville. Alice joined the church in 1890 under the Rev. E.J. Stinchcombe, and he in 1897 under Rev. W. P. Lowthian.
Sim and his three children were baptized by Rev. Lowthian on Aug. 22, 1897. Sim served as church trustee for a few years and record states he served on the auditing committee of the Sunville Charge in 1913. He had a bass voice and often sang in quartets in church. Alice served as president of the Ladies Aid Society of the church for 8 years. Sim was also a member of the Diamond IOOF lodge into which order he was initiated in April, 1906.
Sim had a mighty pretty team of horses. They were small sorrels, the Morgan breed, with cream-colored tails. Sim both farmed and traveled with them. They were lively, strong animals. This team of horses lived a few years after Sim's death. They were around 25 years old when they died.
Sim once owned the present Freeman Proper house in Chapmanville, but didn't live in it himself. He sold it when he was ill in 1918 to R.P. Seely.
Sim had a spot on his farm picked out that he "knew" would yield oil, but he never had a drilling rig try it in his time. In 1922, a few years after his death, his son-in-law, L.O. Walter, and two other men leased the farm and the adjoining Roy Smith farm. They sank a well down on each. The well on the Proper farm was put down on Sim's picked spot. They drilled deeply too, and it was bone dry. The well on the Smith farm yielded only a trace of oil.
About 1912 Sim had an attack of pneumonia which lowered his vitality, and a few years later he developed dropsy of the heart. In the spring of 1918 he became quite serious and death took him the following Aug. 17, at 5:35 o'clock in the morning.
The funeral was held in the Chapmanville Methodist Church on Aug. 19, with Rev. L.W. Miller officiating. The IOOF also was represented at the service. Interment was in the Chapmanville Cemetery. Mrs. Sim Proper died in her home on April 16, 1929. She had been a diabetic during her last few years.

Transcribed by Penny Minnick
minnick862@verizon.net

Disclaimer:there may be errors due to transcription of information from both early and late (current contributors) work.