Judson A. JAQUA, cashier of the Citizens Bank of Portland and for many years regarded as one of the leading factors in the commercial life of Jay county, was born in Portland and has been a resident of that city all his life. Mr. JAQUA was born on March 3, 1861, and is a son of James B. and Eliza J. (AVERY) JAQUA, who had located at Portland in 1853 and whose last days were spent there. James B. JAQUA, who for years was one of the leading members of the bar of the Jay Circuit Court, as is set out elsewhere in this work, was born in Darke county, Ohio, in 1820, and was a son of Judson and Lucinda (BRAFFET) JAQUA, the latter of whom was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of James BRAFFET, who was a native of Massachusetts, a member of an old colonial family. Judson JAQUA also was a member of a colonial family, his father, Gamaliel JAQUA, a New Yorker, having been a soldier of the Revolution. James B. JAQUA was reared on a farm and his schooling was completed in the old academy at Centerville, Ind .[Wayne Co.] For four or five years thereafter he taught school, meanwhile pursuing the study of law under careful preceptorship, and in 1852, three or four years after his marriage, was admitted to the bar at Hamilton, [Butler Co.] Ohio. Upon his admission to the bar Mr. JAQUA cast about for a likely place in which to open an office for the practice of his profession and in 1853 located at Portland, where he spent the remainder of his life, one of the leaders of the bar and a helpful influence in all good works, the organizer of the Citizens Bank and in other ways influential in the development of the city's cultural and commercial activities. A few years after coming to Jay county he was appointed school examiner for the county and served in that capacity for several years. When the Civil war came on he was appointed draft commissioner for this county arid rendered impartial service in his administration of that trying position. Mr. JAQUA not only was a good lawyer but a prudent business man. He acquired large land interests in the county and was one of the most active builders in the county seat town, in addition to his banking interests having interests in a mill) a hotel and several commercial buildings. It was in 1848 that James B. JAQUA was united in marriage to Eliza J. AVERY, who was born in Nashville, [Davidson Co.] Tenn., a daughter of Daniel AVERY, and who died in Portland in 1871. Of the nine children born to that union six lived to maturity, those besides the subject of this sketch being Alonzo L. JAQUA, of whom further mention is made elsewhere; Genevra I., who married Nathan B. HAWKINS, who was for many years one of the foremost figures in the general commercial life of Portland, and Minnie "L., Carl W. and Frank B. JAQUA. Reared at Portland, Judson A. JAQUA received his schooling in the schools of that city and as a young man for several years studied law in the office of his father. His inclinations, however, favored commercialism rather than the law and in 1878 he entered the Citizens Bank, which had been organized by his father in 1875, and as a clerk in that institution gave his whole thought to the banking business, in which he ever since has been engaged. In due time Mr. JAQUA was made assistant cashier of the bank and in May, 1908, was elected cashier, the position he since has occupied and during which time the interests of the bank have been largely increased. In his political views Mr. JAQUA is "independent." He is a member of the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Portland. In 1884 Judson A. JAQUA was united in marriage to Addie C. COOLEY, daughter of Charles R. and Catherine COOLEY, and to this union two sons have been born, Charles A., now a resident of Indianapolis, [Marion Co.] who married Geneva MARTIN and has two children, Byron and Janet, and Paul C. JAQUA, assistant cashier of the Citizens Bank of Portland, who married Vera M. SPOHN and has two children, John and Catherine.