When the tocsin of war sounded and the news flashed over the country that Fort Sumter had been fired upon, a spirit of patriotism was aroused at the north that burned brighter and brighter until the supremacy of the national government at Washington was established and the Confederacy overthrown. Among those who loyally responded to the country's call for troops was Samuel D. Frank, and in private life he has been as true and faithful in the discharge of his duties of citizenship as when he followed the starry banner upon southern battlefields. He has been called to serve in many public offices and is now the efficient postmaster of Troy.

Mr. Frank is a native of Darke County, Ohio, his birth having occurred where the city of Greenville now stands, on the 11th of August, 1841, his parents being George and Mary (Lutz) Frank, natives of Pennsylvania. They located in Darke County, Ohio, about 1838, and in 1842 they came to Miami county, where the father carried on agricultural pursuits as a means of livelihood. He died in, Mercer County, Ohio, February 9 1898, in the ninety-second year of his age, and his wife passed away March 9, 1888, when about seventy-seven years of age, her death also occurring in Mercer County.

Mr. Frank, whose name introduces this review, was the fourth in their family of six children, and with one exception all are yet living. He was reared on a farm, acquiring a common school education, and August 18, 1862, when twenty-one years of age, he joined the boys in blue of Company A, One Hundred and Tenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He went to the front as a corporal, and when discharged held the rank of first sergeant. He participated in the battles of Mine Run, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor and Monocacy, and others of minor importance. On the 9th of July, 1864, at Monocacy, he sustained a gunshot wound. This unfitted him for further service and he received an honorable discharge on the 24th of December, following.

Mr. Frank immediately returned to his home and in 1865, on the Republican ticket, was elected sheriff of Miami county, and the able manner in which he discharged his duties led to his re-election in 1867. In 1869 he was elected treasurer of Miami county, serving for a term of two years. Thus he was in the public service of the county for six consecutive years, and is the only man who, while holding the office of sheriff, has been elected treasurer. Subsequently he served as county commissioner for twenty months and has held a number of minor positions. In 1896 he was chosen presidential elector for the seventh congressional district of Ohio and had the honor of casting his vote for William McKinley. On the 16th of March, 1898, he was appointed by the president to the position of postmaster of Troy and is now capably filling that office, his administration being characterized by promptness and fidelity in the discharge of his duties. He has long been recognized as a leader in the ranks of the Republican party of his community.

On the 20th of December, 1866, Mr. Frank was united in marriage to Miss Sallie C. Looney, of Miami County, and they now have four children: Lee C.; Mabel, wife of J H. Scott; Maude and Florine. Mr. Frank is a member of Coleman Post, G. A. R., of Troy, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. For more than a third of a century he has been a resident of this city and his straightforward and honorable career commends him to the respect and regard of all who know him.