JOSIAH W. RUHL, president of the Citizen's National Bank of Covington, is a man of large and varied interests in the business world and has been prominently identified with the growth and development of the village in which he lives. He is proprietor of the well known Rocky Branch Quarry at Covington, dealing in crushed stone, lime and ground limestone, and has large realty holdings. In addition to the twelve acres in Covington, on which the quarries are located, he has a farm of 215 acres in Newberry Township, which he farmed until two years ago and on which are located three separate sets of farm dwellings. He and his wife also own another tract of sixty-five acres in Newberry Township, which is well improved.

Mr. Ruhl was born at Galion, in Crawford County, Ohio, February 18, 1837, and is a son of Levi and Mary (Folekemer) Ruhl, and a grandson of John Ruhl, who removed from York County, Pennsylvania, to Crawford County, Ohio, in 1828, and purchased 1,300 acres of land, on which the city of Galion now stands. The parents of the subject of this sketch in 1848 moved to Springfield, Ohio, where they died.

Josiah W. Ruhl was reared to maturity in Springfield, and in 1861 moved to Covington, Miami County, Ohio, where for a few years he devoted his energies solely to farming. In 1869 he opened his quarries in Covington, and after a time operated them on an. extensive scale, employing a force of forty men. He in 1871 erected his present home near the quarries. In 1876 Mr. Ruhl and his brother, Albertus M., opened a general store, which they operated about nine or ten years in Covington. He was for ten years a member of the City Council, seven years trustee of Newberry Township, and for ten years a member of the School Board. He is at the present time president of the Board of Public Safety, and president of the Highland Cemetery Association.

Mr. Ruhl was first married to Zipporah Lindsey and they became parents of two children: Dr. L. A. Ruhl, a successful physician and surgeon, of Covington, and vice-president of the Miami County Medical Association; and Eva M., wife of R. W. Shuman, secretary of the Y. M. C. A. at Camden, New Jersey. Mrs. Ruhl died in 1888, and Mr. Ruhl subsequently formed a second marital union with Miss Sarah Royer. Religiously they are members of the Presbyterian Church, of which he is a deacon. He has been an officer and director of the Citizens' National Bank ever since it was established in 1900, serving as vice-president until January 1, 1909, when he was elected president of the institution. He is a man of sterling worth and integrity, and is most highly esteemed by his fellow men.