Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/54

32 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS ther of the president, born in Pine township, Mer cer county, Pa., in 1807, married in 1829 Nancy Campbell Allison, of Columbiana county, Ohio, whose father, Abner Allison, was of English ex traction, and her mother, Ann Campbell, of Scotch- German. Three of their nine children are now liv ing, William being the seventh. Both the grand father and the father of the president were iron manufacturers, or furnace men. His father was a devout Methodist, a stanch whig and republican, and an ardent advocate of a protective tariff. He died during William s first term as governor of Ohio, in November, 1892. The mother of the presi dent died in December, 1897, at the age of eighty- nine. William received his first education in the public schools of Niles, but when he was nine years old the family removed to Poland, Mahoning county, Ohio, where he was at once admitted into Union seminary and pursued his studies until he was sev enteen. He excelled in mathematics and the lan guages, and was the best equipped of all the stu dents in debate. In 1860 he entered the junior class of Allegheny college, Meadowville, Pa., where he would have been graduated in the following year but for the failure of his health, owing to which, as soon as he was able, he sought a change by engag ing as a teacher in the public schools. He was fond of athletic sports, and was a good horseman. At