Reverend David E. Myers
Reverend David E. Myers, present Chaplain of the National Military Home near Marion, Indiana, has held this post for twenty-one years, during which time he has won many friends outside as well as inside of the institution. He himself is a veteran of the Civil War, and has had many years of experience in ministering to men, for he entered the service of his church at the age of twenty and he is now over seventy years of age.
David E. Myers was born on the twenty-third of January, 1840, eight miles southwest of Dayton, Ohio. His father was Benjamin Myers, and his mother was Katherine (Hoover) Myers. His father was a native of Reading, Pennsylvania, and his mother was born near Hagerstown, Maryland. His father lived to be eighty-six, and his mother seventy-five years of age and both of them lived near Dayton, Ohio until they died. Thirteen children were born to Benjamin and Katherine Myers, David E. Myers being the eighth in order of birth.
The district schools near Dayton, and the common schools of Dayton furnished Mr. Myers with his early education. He counts as valuable one year of private study under Dr. Kephart. He entered Otterbein University near Columbus, Ohio, in 1862 and remained there until he was called to fill a vacancy in the ministry of the United Brethren Church. He had become a member of this church, of which he is still a member, about four years previous to this time. He also became a member of the Miami Conference of this church in 1862, is still a member of it and regularly attends its annual meetings. AT the age of twenty-three he became identified with the Ohio National Guard and helped to recruit and organize a battalion of eight companies for the Union. By this organization he was appointed acting Chaplain. They were soon called to the front where he served for one year in the ranks of the Union Soldiers. He was mustered out at the close of the war at Columbus, Ohio, and returned to his home near Dayton.
After the war he pursued his theological studies, and in 1867 was ordained as an elder in the United brethren Church. He served for a number of years in this ministry in Ohio, and it was in 1880 that he came to Marion, Indiana. For several years he was in charge of ministerial work in the counties of Wabash, Grant and Howard, and for two years had charge of the church in Union City, Indiana. During this time he made many acquaintances and friends throughout this whole section.
It was in 1893 on the first of September, that he was appointed Chaplain of the National Military Home near Marion. He has served in this office ever since that time.
For thirty years he has been a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has filled many of the offices of the General Shunk Post No. 23 of the Department of Indiana at Marion.
On the third of September, 1865, Mr. Myers was married to Malinda Emaline Tribbey, a daughter of George Tribbey of Clinton County, Ohio. Six children were born of this union, two of whom are dead. Those living are as follows: George E. Myers of Indianapolis, Indiana; Paul P. Myers, of Grinnell, Iowa; T. A. Myers of Chicago, and Luella B. Myers, who makes her home with her father. Mrs. Myers died on the 17th of June, 1905.
Mr. Myers has had quite a variety of experiences in the ministry, as a Pastor of a Circuit consisting of several churches; as Pastor of the City Church; Presiding Elder or Superintendent of a Conference District; and as Chaplain in the employment of the National Government.
Chaplain Myers speaks of his work at the Military Home with evident enjoyment and seems thoroughly appreciative of the splendid treatment given the disabled veterans by the National Government. That which he seems to have enjoyed most however was the period of his life when he traveled Circuit.
Source: Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914,page 1224.