Kate's Notes: The maternal grandparents of  Mr.Gettles were Strickland and Mary Ann (Clare) Gillilan, and the paternal grandparents of Mr. Gettles were Valentine and Mary (Canter) Gettles, all of Jackson County, Ohio.

HISTORY OF OHIO

BY

CHARLES B. GALBREATH
Secretary of the Ohio State Archeological and Historical Society,
Former State Librarian and Secretary of Ohio
Constitutional Convention (1912).

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Historical and Biographical

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IN FIVE VOLUMES
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ILLUSTRATED
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VOLUME III
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THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC.
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1925

   CLARE C. GETTLES is one of the vital and progressive business men in the city of Chillicothe, Ross County, where he is vice president and general manager of the East End Sand & Gravel Company.
   Mr. Gettles was born in Madison County, Ohio, October 28, 1886, and is a son of Charles and Adeline (Gillilan) Gettles, who now reside at Frankfort, Ross County. Charles Gettles gave his attention to farm enterprise until his removal to Frankfort, where he is living in large measure retired, though he finds much demand upon his attention in connection with the administration of estates. He and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Frankfort, and he is not only serving on its Official Board but is also teacher of the Men’s Bible Class in its Sunday school. Of the four children the eldest is Harland, the family name of whose wife was Wallace, and they have two children, Harland, Jr., and Eleanor; Clare C., of this sketch, and his twin brother Clyde, who is deceased, were the next in order of birth; and Hazel is the wife of Ernest Wood, their home now being at Emporia, Kansas.
   In the public schools of Frankfort Clare C. Gettles continued his studies until his graduation from high school as a member of the class of 1905. Thereafter he took a two years’ course in civil engineering at National Normal University, Lebanon, Ohio. During the ensuing four years, as a representative of the profession for which he had thus fitted himself, he was associated with location and construction work on the line of the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railroad, his service in this connection having been largely in the State of Virginia. He next formed an alliance with the firm of Jones Brothers, of Cincinnati, and was assigned to important work on the great Mesaba iron range in Minnesota, where he had charge of stripping iron-ore beds for the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron company. He gave one year to this service, and was then sent to Middletown, Ohio, where as representative of Jones Brothers, he had charge of the construction of the American Rolling Mills Plant. This work engaged his attention during a period of eighteen months, and Mr. Gettles then became associated with the firm of Wiley Brothers, and took charge of the construction of the modern bridge on Paint street, in the City of Chillicothe, Ohio, one and one-half years have been required to complete this work. He then became general superintendent of construction for the McArthur-Hangs Company in the building of a lock and dam on the Ohio River at Evansville, Indiana, where he thus maintained his headquarters five and one-half years. In the employ of the same company he then went to Charleston, South Carolina, where the McArthur-Hangs Company held the contract for the construction of Government docks and terminals, this being at the time of American participation in the World war, and in this important work Mr. Gettles was made superintendent of construction, under the official direction of Major Harvey, the Government representative. After the close of the war Major Harvey, as a representative of the war department of the Government, selected Mr. Gettles engineer to construct barracks for the department at Corazel, in the great canal zone, Panama, and later he was assigned to similar service in Porto Rico.[sic]  Mr. Gettles returned to the United States in the autumn of 1919, and, in the interests of the Austin Compnay of Cleveland, took charge of the construction of the plant of the Chillicothe Paper Company. After giving his attention to the work for a period of six months he initiated independent operations as consulting engineer and as engineering contractor. In 1922 he organized the East End Sand & Gravel company of Chillicothe, and he has since continued its vice president and general manager, this company having extensive beds of sand and gravel of the highest grade, the sand from the deposit having been found to contain 99 1/2 per cent of pure silicon. The business of this company is one of major importance in connection with construction work and general industrial advancement in the territory drawing upon its supplies, and the enterprise has became one of broad scope and most substantial order. In addition to his connection with the company Mr. Gettles continues in the work of his profession as a consulting and contracting engineer. He is a valued member of the Chillicothe Chamber of Commerce and the local Kinawis Club. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in their home city of Chillicothe he and his wife hold membership in Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church.
   October 30, 1912, recorded the marriage of Mr. Gettles and Miss Bessie Myrtle West, of Chillicothe, she being the daughter of William and Susan (Seney) West, the former of whom is deceased. The other two children in the West family are: Anna, who is the wife of Charles Abernathy; and Seney West, who married Miss Nellie Bader, their children being three in number, Katherine, Eleanor and William. Mr. and Mrs. Gettles have no children.
   The paternal grandparents of Mr. Gettles were Valentine and Mary (Canter) Gettles. Valentine Gettles was born in Germany, and was twelve years of age when he accompanied his parents to the United States, the family home having been established in Jackson County, Ohio. The maternal grandparents of Mr. Gettles were Strickland and Mary Ann (Clare) Gillilan, and the lineage of the Gillilan family traces back to staunch Scotch origin.