From A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, OH:
"Francis M. Bookwalter, who is now living virtually retired in hisbeau tiful home at Springfield, has been a prominent figure in theindustria l, commercial and civic affairs of this city, and as a manof thought a nd action has regulated his life to effective service,the while substa ntial success has attended his varied and importantactivities.
Mr. Bookwalter was bom in a pioneer log cabin near Rob Roy, FountainCo unty, Indiana, on the 29th of April, 1837, and is a son of DavidBuchwa lter, who was bom in Berks County, Pennsylvania, in 1804, andwho event ually changed the orthography of the family name to theEnglish form, B ookwalter....
Francis M. Bookwalter was reared under the conditions and influencesma rking the pioneer period in the history of Indiana, and he aided inthe w ork of the home farm and the mills operated by his father. Thediscipli ne which he acquired in the local schools was supplemented byone year o f study in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, thedeath of his f ather having caused him to retum home. For a time hehad charge of the o ld home farm and the saw mill, the flax-raisingenterprise having so wa ned as to stop the operation of the oil mill.The crude machinery of th e old-time mills had peculiar fascinationfor Mr. Bookwalter and tended t o spur his natural aptitude formechanics and his interest in mechanica l science. He finally built agrist mill on the old home farm and in op erating the same he finallylearned of the Leffel water wheel, an impro ved power device thenbeing manufactured at Springfield. In 1865 his br other John W. cameto Springfield to make personal investigation of the w heel and totransact other business. He became interested in the Leffel w heel andalso, of major importance, in the daughter of Mr. Leffel. He f inallymarried the daughter and also acquired an interest in the manufacturing business. In 1867 Francis M. Bookwalter joined his brother inS pringfield and for about a year thereafter he had charge of the millwh ich the two acquired on Buck Creek. They sold this property in 1868and F rancis M. then became shipping clerk for the firm of JamesLeffel & Co. , in which he later assumed charge of the water-wheelcorrespondence. I n 1876 John W. Bookwalter became the owner oftwo-thirds interest in th is manufacturing enterprise and in 1879 thesole owner. In 1876 Francis M . Bookwalter was made general manager ofthe business, in which he acqu ired an interest in 1890 and of whichhe continued the general manager u ntil 1900, when he retired, thoughstill retaining his financial intere st. For forty-eight years andeight months John W. and Fran-
cis M. Bookwalter were associated with the important businessconducted u nder the original title of James LefFel & Co., and thedeath of John W. o ccurred in 1915.
Francis M. Bookwalter, who has passed the eighty-fifth milestone onthe j ourney of life, has gained high reputation as an inventor, andhe obtai ned patents on several improvements which he made on theLeffel water w heel. He has traveled extensively, both in this country
and abroad, is a man of fine intellectual ken, and he had madesomewhat o f a hobby of precision in mechanics. Years ago, in thememory of old re sidents, he developed and installed what was thefirst semblance of a t own clock in Springfield, and the same waslooked upon to regulate all t hings. He has been for many years aclose student of mechan-
ics and astronomy and his interest in wireless telegraphy has beenshow n in his installing a complete wireless outfit in his home. Mr.Bookwai ter issued in 1917 a most interesting and valuable bookletentitled "Th e Pocket Performance of Fine Watches Exhibited byCritical and Systemat ic Time Service Records," a work now in itsfifth edition. From the tex t of this booklet the initial paragraph isreproduced herewith :
"The writer has for many years been interested in the subject ofcorrec t time service, as a diversion from the arduous exactions of anactive b usiness career. Thirty-nine years ago he furnished to theCity of Sprin gfield, Ohio, a system of time signals similar inseveral respects
to the present practice of the telegraph company. His privateastronomi cal observatory contained a high-class fixed transitinstrument, and a c ombined clock of his own arrangement, with twodials and one pendulum, w hich kept both mean sidereal and mean solar,or local, time. The sidere al clock was corrected at frequentintervals by observing at
night the transit of nautical almanac fixed stars, which are tabulatedb y the Washington and Greenwich observatories for navigators. Thesolar t ime dial could be corrected by the transit of the sun acrossthe meridi an, but it was more convenient and pleasant to utilize thestars
by night for the necessary corrections. The combined clock wasarranged e lectrically and mechanically to strike automatically thebell of the ce ntral station of the fire department, located ahalf-mile distant. Thes e signals were adopted by factories and othersas their local standard t ime."
From 1872 to 1900 Mr. Bookwalter produced all the descriptive andpromo tive literature of James Leffel & Company and the splendidsuccess of t he corporation is thus to be attributed in large measureto his able ef forts. From 1890 to 1900 he was vice president,treasurer and
general manager of the corporation. He has been liberal andprogressive a s a citizen, is a staunch republican, and in the Masonicfraternity has r eceived the thirty-second degree of the ScottishRite, besides being af filiated with the Mystic Shrine.
In 1868 Mr. Bookwalter married Miss Mary Elizabeth Croft, and theybeca me the parents of three children, the second of whom, Lulu J.,died at t he age of twenty-two months; May Louise was the wife ofGeorge R. Prout , who died in March, 1922, and of whom individual
mention is made on other pages; and John A. died in 1917 at the age off orty-three years."
Among his patents were:
- 257,462 on May 9, 1882 for a "Power-Converter"
- 465,812 on December 22, 1891 for a "Water-Wheel" (Assignor to "JamesL effel & Company", of Springfield, Ohio.)
- 553,097 on January 14, 1896 for a "Hurdy-Gurdy Water-Wheel"
- D26,774 on March 16, 1897 for a "Design for a Hurdy-GurdyWater-Wheel "
- 579,418 on March 23, 1897 for a "Hydraulic Nozzle"
