Oswell D. Lamme, the efficient trustee of Elizabeth township, and a well-known farmer of Miami county, was born in Greene county, Ohio, June 4, 1847. His parents, James and Hester (Black) Lamme, were also natives of the same county, and the paternal grandfather was one of its pioneers. On the maternal side the subject of this review is of Scotch lineage. His father was born in Miami County, two miles south of Troy, March 21, 1841, his parents being James and Mary (Kerr) Youart. The father was a native of county Antrim, Ireland, born in 1804, and crossed the Atlantic to the United States in 1819, becoming a resident of Miami county the same year, the voyage being made in company with his parents, John Alex and Ann Youart, who settled in Concord township, where they spent their remaining days, both living to an advanced age. James Youart learned the carpenter's trade in early life, but became a farmer. He married Mary Kerr, daughter of George Kerr and a sister of Hamilton Kerr. In 1856 the family came to Tippecanoe City and the father purchased a steam saw-mill, which he operated until his wife's death, in 1861. Subsequently he removed to London, Ohio, where he died in February, 1873, at the age of sixty-nine years. They had a family of four children, one of whom died at the age of thirteen years, while three grew to years of maturity. John, however, passed away at the age of twenty-nine. The living are George K. and Martha Ann, the latter now the widow of Dr. I. K. Gilbert, of Carlisle, Ohio. George K. Youart was a youth of fifteen when he came with his father to Tippecanoe City. He assisted in the operation of his father's steam saw-mill and learned the business of engineering. He was engineer in the mill for a period of six years and when his father closed out business he was given the position of engineer by his successor, filling the place for seven years longer. He was also at one time employed as engineer by the Smith Bridge Company, of Toledo, and in 1869 he came to Tippecanoe City to set up the first engine owned by Mr. Ford, who in that year began business as the senior partner of the firm of Ford & Company. Mr. Youart operated that engine for twenty-one years and in 1869 it was replaced by a one-hundred-and-twenty-five-horsepower Buckeye engine, of which he has had charge up to the present time, making a period of thirty years, which has been continuous, with the exception of about three years spent in other factories. During the forty-four years in which he has carried on engineering work he has never met with an accident by which he has sustained an injury. On one occasion, while he was chief engineer in the sugar factory, the boiler exploded, destroying the entire battery of four one- hundred-horsepower boilers, but Mr. Youart was not on duty at the time. On the 7th of September, 1862, Mr. Youart was united in marriage to Miss Candace Karn, who was reared by an aunt upon a farm which is now theirs. Four children have been born to them: John R., an engineer in the employ of the Street Railway Company , of Kansas City, Missouri; Alva George, who is clerk in the Hotel Cordova, in Kansas City; Harry A., an engineer in the Union depot in Kansas City, and Lucian Lester, an engineer in the water power house at Tippecanoe City. The sons were all instructed by their father in the business, which he has made his life work, and were therefore well fitted for the practical duties of business life. Since 1874 Mr. Youart has been chief engineer of the fire department, which owns a Silsby engine. He has invested in a farm near the village and also in village property, which indicates his thrift and enterprise, all having been acquired as the result of his earnest and persevering effort. He is a most trusted and reliable employee and fully merits the confidence reposed in him.