LEWIS EDWARD SIMES, postmaster at Covington, Ohio, and president the Covington Tribune Company and secretary of the Covington Home Telephone Company is one of the prominent and representative citizens of Miami County, Ohio. He was born at Covington, May 7, 1873, and is a son of E. D. and Margaret (Stailey) Simes.

The late Edward D. Simes, whose death occurred at Covington, March 6, 1909, was a hero of the Civil War, and for years thereafter was engaged in business at Covington. He was born in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, March 5, 1840, and in early boyhood accompanied his parents to Miami County, spending almost his entire after life at Covington. In response to President Lincoln's call for soldiers in 1862 he enlisted in Company G, 110th Regiment O Vol. Inf., and gained promotion from rank to rank until he was commissioned first lieutenant. For several years he escaped the more serious hazards of war, but in 1864, in the Shenandoah Valley, while on duty, lie was so seriously shot that he was taken first to a hospital at Winchester and subsequently sent home on sick leave, and before he had sufficiently recovered the war was over. He had two brothers in the army, one of whom died in the Wilderness and the other after the war. Mr. Simes assumed business responsibilities at Covington, in the course of time, and these he fulfilled carefully and effectively until failing health caused his withdrawal from active life. At times he served both on the City Council and the School Board. He was married April 14, 1868, to Miss Margaret Stailey, who died May 1, 1893 , this domestic affliction being one from which be never recovered. Their three children are two sons, Lewis Edward and George Miles, and one daughter, Mrs. May Simes Rothermel. Mr. Simes was a consistent member of the Christian Church and very active in all its avenues of usefulness. He was a member and frequently an official of Covington Lodge, No. 168, F.& A.M.

Lewis Edward Simes was educated in the Covington schools and for eleven years was associated with his father in a retail grocery business, after which he entered the telephone business, and since the Covington Home Telephone Company was first organized has been its secretary. He is identified with other interests and is president and one of the organizers of the Covington Tribune Company, successors to the Tribune Printing Company. Mr. Simes was married to Miss Irene Edge, daughter of W. W. Edge, of Troy, Ohio, where Mrs. Simes was born and reared. They have two children, Margaret and Mary. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, an Elk, a Knight of Pythias, and also a member of the Ancient and Honorable Order of Gobblers. In politics Mr. Simes is a Republican and is serving his first term as postmaster, his administration meeting with the approval of his fellow citizens.