My Genealogy Hound

DAVID R. HOSTERMAN is prominent among the influential men of brain, character and ability who have devoted their best energies to the upbuilding of the city of Springfield, and to the development of Clark County, and his financial and business tact and unbounded enterprise have been potent in extending their industrial and commercial interests; he is President of the Springfield Metallic Casket Company, and has for several years been one of the leading insurance men of this city, and is now Secretary of the local board of underwriters of Springfield. He was formerly engaged in the profession of teaching and is still identified with the educational interests of the county and State as a member of the Board of Directors of Wittenberg College.

Mr. Hosterman is a native of Pennsylvania, the town of Shippenville, Clarion County, the place of his birth, and April 2, 1837, the date thereof. His parents, David and Susan (Reeser) Hosterman, were also born in the Keystone State, the father in Centre County, June 6, 1803, and the mother in 1793. The former carried on the business of a tanner in Shippenville for many years, and he was held in high consideration by all about him for those manly traits of character that marked him as a good citizen and a man of genuine worth. His wife preceded him in death, dying in 1873, and his death occurred January 31, 1875, both being life-long residents of their native State. They reared five children to honorable and useful lives.

Their son who is the subject of this brief biographical review passed the early years of his life in his native county, and was the recipient of excellent educational advantages in the public schools, and at the age of eighteen was amply fitted for teaching, and entered upon the duties of that profession in his native State. He taught three terms, and then being desirous of extending his education he came to Springfield to take a course in Wittenberg College, and in this excellent institution of learning he devoted himself to his books and rapidly acquired a thorough knowledge of the studies that he pursued, which were interrupted only when he engaged in teaching to secure money to pay his expenses. At the expiration of three years he left college, and soon after was married to Miss Harriet A. Chatterton, their union taking place in July, 1859. She was a most amiable and cultured young lady, and their marriage has proved a happy one, and has been blessed to them by the birth of Arthur D. (of whom see sketch), Frank C. (teller Second National Bank), Hattie May and Harlan C., all of whom are at home. Mrs. Hosterman is of pioneer antecedents, and was born in Dayton, Ohio, a daughter of David and Doretha (Aspinwall) Chatterton.

After marriage Mr. Hosterman settled on a farm in his native county, and gave his attention to agricultural pursuits, excepting in the winter when he taught school. During his sojourn in this city when a college student he had acquired a liking for the place and had been impressed with the excellent advantages it offered for a live business man, and in January he returned to this city to avail himself of its opportunities and accepted a position as book-keeper and general clerk in the office of the Springfield Republic, which position he retained a year, when he gave it up as he was elected to the responsible position of Deputy County Treasurer for a year. He was then elected Secretary of the Springfield Fire Insurance Company, and he acted in that capacity until 1870, when he withdrew from the company to establish a general insurance office on his own account, representing a number of different companies. He was engaged in that business very profitably until 1889, when he disposed of it to a good advantage to Wallace & Dye, and at the death of H. M. Shepard in the same year, he was elected to fill his place as Secretary of the local board of Underwriters. In 1889, he was elected President of the Springfield Metallic Casket Company, which was organized in 1884, and is one of the important industries of Springfield, and under the able management of our subject its business is increasing rapidly. Since becoming a resident of Springfield, Mr. Hosterman’s ambition in settling here has been more than gratified from a financial point of view and in other directions, and he is now one of the moneyed men of the city, and has built up a beautiful home for himself and family, his handsome and tastefully furnished residence at No. 180 South Limestone Street being the centre of a refined and generous hospitality. Mr. Hosterman is a sincere and manly Christian, and is among the foremost members of the English Lutheran Church of this city, in which he has held the offices of Deacon, Elder and Secretary of the Board. A man whose fine intellectual powers have been developed by education, and who possesses in more than an ordinary degree those traits that make him quick to perceive and prompt to judge and act in business matters, he is prominent in all the walks of life wherein his vigorous mind has led him, and the financial, commercial, literary, educational and religious interests of his adopted city and county have been augmented by his wise labors.