The Wagoner Family

“The Industrious Wagoner Family”
(from the “Biography and Family History of Floyd R. Wagoner” by Gerald C. Wagoner and
conversations with Carl Wagoner)
Three Wagoner brothers have led fruitful lives along the National Road. Their names are
very familiar to residents of this area. Carl Wagoner, the eldest, owns and operated Wagoner’s
Store at 324 South Union Road which celebrated 50 years of service in 2006. Middle son Gerald
helped Carl with the store in the early years but later ran a shoe repair business in the rear of
14 West National Road. The youngest son, Glen, operated Wagoner’s Landscaping and Nursery
on U.S. Rt. 40 for decades – now the business concentrates on power equipment.
The family traces its origins to Pyrmont, Germany where a possible ancestor, Phillip
Waggoner may have lived. Family tradition says that he immigrated to Pyrmont, Ohio. When
others moved to Carroll County, Indiana, they set up a new community which they promptly
called “Pyrmont.” Somewhere along the way, the second “g” was dropped in the surname and
the family became known as the Wagoner’s.
Floyd Raymond Wagoner, the father of Carl, Gerald and Glen, was born in Pyrmont,
Indiana near the middle fork of Wildcat Creek on September 30, 1898 to Emanuel and Eva
Hufford Wagoner. Floyd had two brothers, Artus and Alva. Their grandfather Leonard also lived
nearby. Leonard’s father, John, Jr. had emigrated from Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio in
about 1828. Before that John’s family had lived in Huntington Co., Pennsylvania.
Floyd married Mary Cecil Denlinger on December 17, 1921. Cecil, as she was called, was
born one mile south of Englewood on November 11, 1900. After her marriage, her father Allen
purchased an 87-acre farm 2-1/2 miles west of Englewood on the National Road (some may
remember this in later years as the Caylor farm). They made this their first home. To
supplement their farm income, Floyd and Cecil sold produce in Dayton. They would load their
wagon with meat, butter, chickens, eggs, vegetables and fruits and sell it at their stand, first on
St. Clair Street and then on Jefferson Street. They continued this for about fifteen years until
the markets closed during WWII.
In 1929, Cecil and Floyd bought the 80-acre farm on Union Road originally owned by
Samuel L. Herr. The large brick house had been built in 1868 and the barn about ten years
later. Floyd and his sons farmed while daughter Mildred helped her mother. They survived the
Depression by working hard, selling at market and living frugally. Beginning in the 1940s, Floyd
and his sons also farmed for Jesse Low, Howard Evans, Harry Motter, Ezra Cassell, Elwood
Nolan and Charles Wenger. All these farms now are housing developments or shopping centers.
Carl built the Brethren clothing store in front of the barn in April 1956 and he and his wife Hazel
continued to live in the old brick house after the parents moved to a new house just south of
Fairview Cemetery. By 1967 the store had been expanded and the barn was being used as a
factory to sew suits and trousers. Eventually, only hats were made on site.