C. H. Hale, one of the prosperous and progressive business citizens of West Milton, where he is proprietor of the leading furniture and undertaking establishment, was born on a farm in Union township, Miami county, Ohio, September 9, 1865, a son of Isaac and Sarah (Kessler) Hale. The Hale family came from Maryland, where its members had been prominent in public life, and Thomas J. Hale, an uncle of C. H. Hale, fought as a Union soldier, during the war between the States. His paternal grandmother came of sturdy old Pennsylvania Dutch stock. Isaac Hale passed his life as a timber dealer and was a man of good business abilities and the soundest integrity. There were three children in the family: C. H.; C. C., of Columbus, Ohio, who is buyer for a large Buffalo lumber firm; and Emma A., unmarried, who is a milliner in New York City. C. H. Hale attended the public schools of Miami county, following which he spent two years at Earlham College, the well known Quaker institution at Richmond, Ind., and as a youth applied himself to learning the trade of wood-worker. For four years he was employed at the Dayton Car Works, as a carpenter and finisher, and in 1896 came to West Milton, where he succeeded L. E. Coppock in the firm of Townsley & Coppock, in partnership with F. M. Townsley. This association continued for sixteen years, at the end of which time Mr. Hale absorbed his partner's interests, Mr. Townsley subsequently being replaced by G. W. Whitmer, of Pleasant Hill, who bought out Mr. Townsley. He remained in the business only one year before severing his connection, and Mr. Hale's son then entered the firm as a partner, but has since left, and Mr. Hale now conducts the business alone. He has an excellent patronage in both departments of his business, and his integrity, probity and soundness in business matters have served to place him high in the confidence of the general public and his business associates. Mr. Hale married for his first wife Alma, daughter of David Baker, of Miami county, and to this union there was born one son, Fred, who is engaged in farming in Miami county, near West Milton. Following the death of his first wife, Mr. Hale married Mabel, daughter of Joseph Haskett, of West Milton. Prior to her marriage she had been a teacher in the public schools and a teacher of music. She and her husband are members of the Methodist church, and for the past twenty-four years Mr. Hale has been superintendent of the Sunday school of that faith. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodges of the Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias, in all of which he has numerous friends. During the war period Mr. Hale and his son were indefatigable workers in behalf of the various activities formulated for the, success of American Army. He has likewise shown his public spirit in civic affairs and has served his community faithfully and capably in the offices of a member of the school board and a member of the board of city affairs for four years.