Charles C. Weybrecht

2026 | Hall of Fame

Charles Christopher Weybrecht
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Col. Charles C. Weybrecht (1867-1919)

Class of 2026 – Military

Col. Charles C. Weybrecht was a prominent Alliance businessman, civic leader, and military officer whose life reflected a strong tradition of service and family enterprise.

Born into one of Alliance’s foundational families on December 6, 1868,, he was the son of Maragaret (Honacker) and fellow 2026 Alliance Historical Society Hall of Fame inductee John T. Weybrecht, a pioneering builder and lumber merchant.

On May 7, 1894, Charles C. Weybrecht married Emilie Brosius (1874-1934).

Weybrecht pursued a long and distinguished military career in the Ohio National Guard. He served during multiple periods of national mobilization, including the Spanish-American War and the Mexican Border Campaign, when he commanded “Weybrecht’s Bulldogs” in the 8th Ohio.

Over time, he rose steadily through the ranks, ultimately attaining the rank of colonel. His leadership and organizational skill earned him respect throughout Ohio’s military establishment and he played a significant role in World War I.

Upon his arrival home, he gave fellow members of the Alliance Rotary Club a brief account of his military service.

After organizing the 10th Ohio Infantry in July and August of 1917, he led his troops to Montgomery, Alabama. Due to lack of training, the large regiment was converted to machine gun battalions and a trench mortar battery soon after arrival.

Weybrecht was assigned command of the 146th U.S. Infantry, made up of the 2nd and 8th Ohio regiments. It reached battle strength in May of 1918 embarked for overseas duty on June 15, reaching France on June 22.

Along the front, he commanded the unit in a defensive sector known as Baccarat until August when he was detailed to formulate and organize a plan to salvage the region around Chateau Thierry, the Germans in their retreat having left $2 million worth of stores.

Weybrecht was then sent to command the port of Nantes, where 22,000 American troops, largely untrained and undisciplined, were stationed, and a large quantity of supplies was being sent through to the Allies lines.

When Nantes was abandoned in March 1919, he was sent to Rotterdam, Holland, to organize and command Base Section No. 9, where he remained until July 1919.

About a month following his return to Alliance, Colonel Weybrecht was honored at a celebratory banquet at the Lakeside Country Club near Canton on August 23, 1919. During the event, olives served at the table by hostess Helen Sebring Gehris were later determined to have been contaminated with botulism toxin, resulting in a sudden outbreak of illness among several attendees. The incident became known locally as the “Great Olive Poisoning” of 1919.

Colonel Weybrecht became critically ill shortly after the banquet and died on August 26, 1919, one of seven victims of the olives.

Shorly after, the American Legion Post No. 166 in Alliance was named in his honor.

He is buried in a family plot inside Alliance City Cemetery.

 

 

John T. Weybrecht

2026 | Hall of Fame

John Theobold Weybrecht
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John T. Weybrecht (1829-1895)

Class of 2026 – Business

John Theobold  Weybrecht was one of the most important builders of early Alliance and a pioneer whose craftsmanship helped shape the physical appearance of the growing community.

Born in Alsace, France, on January 27, 1829, he learned the carpenter’s trade in Europe before immigrating to the United States in the early 1850s. After a brief stay in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, he decided to go west, initially setting out for Chicago. Alliance at the time was still a wilderness, and his train stopped overnight. While taking a walk, some prosperous Germans convinced Weybrecht there was opportunity at the locality and he was enticed to settle in the burgeoning town, setting in Alliance in 1853.

Recognizing the opportunities created by Alliance’s growth, Weybrecht established the city’s first lumber yard in 1856, an enterprise that would become one of the community’s most successful early businesses. He later expanded into contracting and manufacturing, opening a planing mill and supplying building materials for many of the structures that transformed Alliance from a small railroad junction into a thriving industrial city. The Alliance Historical Society lists the founding of Weybrecht’s lumber yard among the significant events in the city’s history, underscoring its importance to the community’s development.

In 1855, Weybrecht married Margaret Honacker (1833-1910) and the couple had eight children. Listed in his obituary were  Mary Christine (LeRoy) Lamborn (1856-1932), Lucinda Weybrecht (1858-1862), Benjamin F. Weybrecht (1861-1926), Jennie (unknown) Vizthum (1867-1952), Col. Charles C. Weybrecht (1868-1919), and Andrew T. Weybrecht (1871-1947). Annie (unknown) Livingston was listed as a daughter surviving in Pittsburgh. Another daughter, Antoinette, had died in infancy.

Weybrecht was more than a lumber dealer; he was one of Alliance’s foremost builders. Historical accounts credit him with constructing every school building in Alliance during his active career, along with numerous commercial and public structures. Among his most notable projects were the Union School building and Alliance College, both considered major achievements of their day.

His success in business allowed him to establish a lasting family enterprise. Following his death in 1895, the company continued as J. T. Weybrecht’s Sons, operated by his sons Benjamin F. and Charles C. Weybrecht. The family remained prominent in Alliance business, civic affairs, and public service for decades. Benjamin became a state legislator and community leader, while fellow 2026 Hall of Fame inductee Charles earned distinction as a military officer who commanded troops during World War I.

As a skilled craftsman, entrepreneur, contractor, and supplier of building materials, he helped construct much of the Alliance that emerged during the second half of the nineteenth century.

Following an abdominal operation performed by five doctors, he died on January 31, 1895 at his family home, located at the corner of Linden Avenue and Columbia Street, he died at the age of 66.

He is buried in Alliance City Cemetery.

 

he Hartzell name.

Daniel Crist

2026 | Hall of Fame

Daniel Webster Crist
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Daniel Webster Crist (1857-1929)

Class of 2026 – Business

Daniel Webster Crist was a prominent music composer and publisher as well as an educator, banker, and statesman.

One of ten children of Robert and Mary (Ruff) Crist, he was born on November 28, 1857 in New Chambersburg in Columbiana County, and was reared on the homestead farm.

He graduated from Ohio Northern University in 1882. That was the same year that he married Mary A. Reed (1864-1931), of Columbiana County. They had three children, Myrtie M., wife of Charles G. Miller; James R., connected with manufacturing industry in Canton and Arthur Dillon, a prominent businessman of Alliance.

One of the pioneer singing teachers of his day, as a young man Daniel Webster Crist began composing songs and later instrumental music, and gradually his efforts were directed to broader fields. His first publication, a collection of Sunday school music of his own composition, was published under the title of “Gospel Gleanings” in 1886. This was so successful that it proved the cornerstone of his business as a music publisher, producing  Sunday school song books, day school song books, music folios, sheet music, band music, instruction books. He was also the author of eighteen song books, besides some eighteen volumes of musical collections and over 200 special compositions.

Crist was com­pos­ing at least through 1910, when he scored the “Flow­er Girl Waltz.” His other prominent works included “The Ev­er­green Waltz;” “Joy and Praise for Sun­day Schools,” with R.A. Glenn (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: H. L. Ben­ham, 1886); “Gospel Glean­ings,” 1886; and “Victory of Song.” (Moul­trie, Ohio: D. W. Crist, 1892.

For many years his business as a music publisher was conducted at Moultrie, in Columbiana County, before moving his plant to Alliance in May 1915. The company published largely the compositions and collections of Crist.

Soon after his relocation, he became one of the organizers of the Peoples Bank of Alliance and also served on the school board.

While working for 30 years as a suc­cess­ful mu­sic pub­lish­er, he al­so taught, farmed, and in New Al­ex­an­der, served as a church mu­sic di­rect­or and Sun­day school su­per­in­ten­dent.

Crist also had a career in politics. In 1901, he was elected a member of the state legislature on the Republican ticket, was reelected in 1903, and in 1905 was elected to the state senate where he advocated ideas and principles that subsequently became the ground work of the state tax commission of Ohio.

A member of the Christian Church, he was a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and Shriner, a member of Al Koran Temple, at Cleveland.

Crist died in 1929 and is buried in Moultrie Chapel Cemetery.

Daniel Sourbeck

2026 | Hall of Fame

Sourbeck House
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Daniel Sourbeck (1812-1883)

Class of 2026 – Business

Daniel E. Sourbeck was born in Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania in 1812, and he spent most of his life doing hotel work.  He was the son of John and Lydia Sourbeck.  He married Louiza (Eliza) Jack in 1836 in New Brighton, Pennsylvania.  They had two children: James Power (1848-1887) and Sophia (1865-1890).

Sourbeck received training in carpentry and various trades in his youth, and he worked at bridge building and on the Erie Canal for a time.  In 1837 he established a Sourbeck House in New Brighton, which he personally ran until 1852. 

In May 1852 Daniel Sourbeck came to Alliance, Ohio at the request of the railroad company.  He took over operation of the hotel in the original station erected by the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad, later known as the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railroad.  The hotel soon became noted far and wide for its superior meals.  Even though he accepted the position in Alliance, he continued in ownership of the hotel in New Brighton.  It is said that the name recognition of Alliance across the country had much to do with the excellent reputation of the Sourbeck House.  In the fall of 1852, the railroad erected a neat frame depot on the north side of the track and this move only added to the appeal of Sourbeck’s establishment. 

In 1855 Sourbeck survived a deadly train crash traveling from Philadelphia.  Reports indicate that dozens were killed as a result of the crash and derailment, and Sourbeck was badly injured but was lucky to be alive.

A tragic train accident at the Alliance depot on December 8, 1856 resulted in substantial damage to the station, but no harm to its proprietor.  Eight people were killed and others injured.   One of the passenger cars was thrown into the rotunda of the depot, and another into the sitting room of the Sourbeck Hotel.   This building burned down in 1864, forcing Sourbeck to briefly do business again in his original building until the magnificent new and expanded brick structure on the south side of the track was completed in 1866.

On February 15, 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary stopped in Alliance on their way to Washington, D.C. for his inauguration.  Because of the Sourbeck House’s reputation for fine dining, Lincoln’s party stopped to eat there, and Lincoln delivered a very brief address to a gathered crowd.

Daniel Sourbeck was connected with the Ohio militia, having been a lieutenant in the Alliance Light Guard, and while in Pennsylvania he was captain of a cavalry company known as Beaver Co. Light Horse. He is often referred to as Colonel Sourbeck, although this title could be honorary.  He was affiliated with both the Masons and the Odd Fellows.

Sourbeck died Nov. 19, 1883 in New Brighton, Pennsylvania after retiring from the hotel business.  He and his wife, who died in 1884, are buried in Grove Cemetery in New Brighton.

(Sources: Perrin 1881, 745; Sourbeck Children online; Ancestry; 1868 McKee;)

 

Philip Sharer

2026 | Hall of Fame

Philip Sharer
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Philip Sharer (ca 1811-1889)

Class of 2026 – Business

Philip Sharer, founder of the Sharer family in the old village of Freedom, was a native of Germany.  Born about 1811 and orphaned at age 5, he migrated to America in 1837 at the age of 27.  He landed at New York after a sea voyage of 68 days.  He sought employment for 4 weeks after arrival, but New York was much affected by the Panic of 1837.  He left his trunk as security for a board bill and started on foot for Pittsburgh.  For 6 weeks he begged his way through NJ and PA.  Finally at Adamsburg in Westmoreland County, PA he got carpenter’s work at 37.5 cents per day, working 14 to 16 hours a day.  He worked there 4 years, marrying Mary Magdalene Hoffman in 1841.  Sharer then started out on foot again, this time accompanied by his wife and bringing tools and a few household pieces on a small one horse wagon.  On Oct. 1, 1841, he reached the village of Freedom, now part of the city of Alliance, and he started a cabinet shop.  He continued in that business, adding furniture and undertaking, until 1882 when he retired.  The oldest continuously operating business in the city is now known as Sharer-Stirling-Skivolocke Funeral Home.

Mr. and Mrs. Sharer had ten children: John H. (1842-1908), William Sharer (1844-?), Sophia (1847-?), Elizabeth (1848-1935), Mary (1851-?), Frances (?-?), George (1855-1940), Emma (1858-?), Frank F. (1861-1934), and Hallie (1864-1931).  Sharer died in 1889.

[Sources: Heald, Magrath, newspaper obits, SSS website]