M. A. VanNess was born in Napoleon, Ohio, February 8, 1867, the son of Comfort and Priscilla (Lee) VanNess. He was reared in Napoleon and attended school there. He then was engaged as a clerk for three and a half years, and then went to Denver, Colorado, and two months later to Black Hills, Utah, where he spent four months. He then returned to Montmorenci, Indiana, where for three years he was engaged in burning brick and tile. Returning to Napoleon, he worked in a grocery store over a year and then went to Toledo, Ohio, where he spent seventeen years, being engaged on the road in setting up hot air furnaces. After his marriage in 1889 he went into the undertaking business in Toledo, in which he was engaged about nine and a half years. He was for twelve years a member of Company F, Sixteenth Regiment Ohio National Guard, and with that command took part in the Spanish-American war. In the fall of 1900 he came to Ridgeville Corners and until June, 1905, he drove a team, at that time taking rural mail route No. 1, the only one running from the Corners. Fraternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, being clerk of the local camp, and of the Catholic Knights of Ohio.