J. P. Van Nest

Historical Documents

• Annual Business Review of Wayne County (1887)
  • 1887 - General Insurance Agency

Mr. Van Nest, the proprietor of this popular agency, is a native of this state. On October 5th, 1862, he enlisted in Co. F, 120th Regt. O.V.I., and on April 17th, 1864, was promoted to first sergeant; December 28th, 1864, was promoted to second lieutenant, and as the war was about to close, he resigned June 18, 1865. For a period of 13 years he has been engaged in his present business here, and for four years was a member of the City Council, holding the presidency of that body for one term. The companies represented by him are well known, among which we mention the following: Niagara, of New York; Lancashire, of England; Connecticut, of Hartford, Conn.; Springfield Fire and Marine, of Boston; Ohio of Dayton, O.: Cooper, of Dayton, O.; Firemen's, of Dayton, O., and others. Mr. Van Nest hold prominent official positions in secret orders of wide popularity; he is supreme marshal of the order of Chosen Friends, and is acting supreme counsellor for Ohio and West Virginia. He also holds positions of Supreme Trusteein the Order of the Iron Hall and is Pas Regent of the Royal Arcanum, and it was mainly through the efforts of Mr. Van Nest the first G.A.R. Post was organized here, of which he was the first commander. Mr. Van Nest has also obtained some celebrity as the author of work entitled " Van Nest's Burlesque Degree, or Initiation of a Candidate into the Mysteries of the Order," which has been dramatized and received with marked favor.