A Biographical history of Darke County, Ohio : compendium of national biography, Part 19

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 806

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New York, and in 1842 became bishop of New York. In 1839 he founded St. John's College, at Fordham. In 1850 he was made archbishop of New York. In 1861-2 he was a special agent of the United States in Europe, after which he returned to this country and remained until his death, Jan- uary 3, 1864. Archbishop Hughes early attracted much attention by his controver- sial correspondence with Rev. John Breck- inridge in 1833-35. He was a man of great ability, a fluent and forceful writer and an able preacher.

RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES was the nineteenth president of the United States and served from 1877 to 1881. He was born October 4, 1822, at Delaware, Ohio, and his ancestry can be traced back as far as 1280, when Hayes and Rutherford wore two Scottish chieftans fighting side by side with Baliol, William Wallace and Robert Bruce. The Hayes family had for a coat of arms, a shield, barred and sur- mounted by a flying eagle. There was a circle of stars about the eagle, while on a scroll underneath was their motto, "Recte." Misfortune overtook the family and in 1680 George Hayes, the progenitor of the Ameri- can family, came to Connecticut and settled at Windsor. Rutherford B. Hayes was a very delicate child at his birth and was not expected to live, but he lived in spite of all and remained at home until he was seven years old, when he was placed in school. He was a very tractable pupil, being always very studious, and in 1838 entered Kenyon College, graduating from the same in 1842. He then took up the study of law in the office of Thomas Sparrow at Colum- bus, but in a short time he decided to enter a law school at Cambridge, Massachusetts, where for two years he was immersed in the

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study of law. Mr. Hayes was admitted to the bar in 1845 in Marietta, Ohio, and very soon entered upon the active practice of his profession with Ralph P. Buckland, of Fremont, Ohio. He remained there three years, and in 1849 removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where his ambition found a new stimulus. Two events occurred at this period that had a powerful influence on his after life. One was his marriage to Miss Lucy Ware Webb, and the other was his introduction to a Cincinnati literary club, a body embracing such men as Salmon P. Chase, John Pope, and Edward F. Noyes. In 1856 he was nominated for judge of the court of common pleas, but declined, and two years later he was appointed city solicitor. At the outbreak of the Rebellion Mr. Hayes was appointed major of the Twenty-third Ohio Infantry, June 7, 1861, and in July the regiment was ordered to Virginia, and October 15, 1861, saw him promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy of his regiment. He was made colonel of the Seventy-ninth Ohio Infantry, but refused to leave his old comrades; and in the battle of South Mountain he was wounded very severely and was unable to rejoin his regi- ment until November 30, 186z. He had been promoted to the colonelcy of the regiment on October 15, 1862. In the following December he was appointed to command the Kanawa division and was given the rank of brigadier-general for meritorious services in several battles, and in 1864 he was brevetted major-general for distinguished services in 1864, during which campaign he was wounded several times and five horses had been shot under him. Mr. Hayes' first venture in politics was as a Whig, and later he was one of the first to unite with the Republican party. In 1864 he was elected from the Second Ohio

district to congress, re-elected in 1866, and in 1867 was elected governor of Ohio over Allen G. Thurman, and was re-elected in 1869. Mr. Hayes was elected to the presidency in 1876, for the term of four years, and at its close retired to private life, and went to his home in Fremont, Ohio, where he died on January 17, 1893.

W TILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN became a celebrated character as the nominee of the Democratic and Populist parties for president of the United States in 1896. He was born March 19, 1860, at Salem, Illi- nois. He received his early education in the public schools of his native county, and later on he attended the Whipple Academy at Jacksonville. He also took a course in Illinois College, and after his graduation from the same went to Chicago to study law, and entered the Union College of Law as a student. He was associated with the late Lyman Trumbull, of Chicago, during his law studies, and devoted considerable time to the questions of government. He graduated from the college, was admitted to the bar, and went to Jacksonville, Illinois, where he was married to Miss Mary Eliza- beth Baird. In 1887 Mr. Bryan removed to Lincoln, Nebraska, and formed a law partnership with Adolphus R. Talbot. He entered the field of politics, and in 1888 was sent as a delegate to the state con- vention, which was to choose delegates to the national convention, during which he made a speech which immediately won him a high rank in political affairs. He declined, in the next state convention, a nomination for lieutenant-governor, and in 1890 he was elected congressman from the First district of Nebraska, and was the youngest member of the fifty-second congress. He cham- pioned the Wilson tariff bill, and served

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three terms in the house of representatives. He next ran for senator, but was defeated by John M. Thurston, and in 1896 he was selected by the Democratic and Populist parties as their nominee for the presidency, being defeated by William McKinley.

M ARVIN HUGHITT, one of America's famous railroad men, was born in Genoa, New York, and entered the railway service in 1856 as superintendent of tele- graph and trainmaster of the St. Louis, Al- ton & Chicago, now Chicago & Alton Rail- road. Mr. Hughitt was superintendent of the southern division of the Illinois Central Railroad from 1862 until 1864, and was, later on, the general superintendent of the road until 1870. He was then connected with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail- road as assistant general manager, and re- tained this position nntil 1871, when he be- came the general manager of Pullman's Palace Car Company. In 1872 he was made general superintendent of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. He served during 1876 and up to 1880 as general manager, and from 1880 until 1887 as vice-presi- dent and general manager. He was elected president of the road in 1887, in recog- nition of his ability in conducting the affairs of the road. He was also chosen president of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minne- apolis & Omaha Railway; the Fremont, Elk- horn & Missouri Valley Railroad, and the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railroad, and his services in these capacities stamped him as one of the most able railroad mana- gers of his day.

JOSEPH MEDILL, one of the most eminent of American journalists, was born in New Brunswick, Canada, April 6, 1823. In 1831 his father moved to Stark

county, Ohio, and until 1841 Joseph Medill worked on his father's farm. Later he studied law, and began the practice of that profession in 1846 at New Philadelphia, Ohio. But the newspaper field was more attractive to Mr. Medill, and three years later he founded a free-soil Whig paper at Coshocton, Ohio, and after that time jour- nalism received all his abilities. "The Leader," another free-soil Whig paper, was founded by Mr. Medill at Cleveland in 1852. In that city he also became one of the first organizers of the Republican party. Shortly after that event he removed to Chicago and in 1855, with two partners, he purchased the "Chicago Tribune." In the contest for the nomination for the presidency in 1860, Mr. Medill worked with unflagging zeal for Mr. Lincoln, his warin personal friend, and was one of the president's stanchest sup- porters during the war. Mr. Medill was a. member of the Illinois Constitutional con- vention in 1870. President Grant, in 1871, appointed the editor a member of the first United States civil service commission, and the following year, after the fire, he was elected mayor of Chicago by a great ma- jority. During 1873 and 1874 Mr. Medill spent a year in Europe. Upon his return he purchased a controlling interest in the " Chicago Tribune."

C LAUS SPRECKELS, the great " sugar baron," and one of the most famous representatives of cominercial life in Amer- ica, was born in Hanover, Germany, and emigrated to the United States in 1840, locating in New York. He very soon be- came the proprietor of a small retail gro- cery store on Church street, and embarked on a career that has since astonished the world. He sold out his business and went to California with the argonauts of 1849,

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not as a prospector, but as a trader, and for years after his arrival on the coast he was still engaged as a grocer. At length, after a quarter of a century of fairly prosperous business life, he found himself in a position where an ordinary man would have retired, but Mr. Spreckles did not retire; he had merely been gathering capital for the real work of his life. His brothers had followed hini to California, and in combination with them he purchased for forty thousand dollars an interest in the Albany Brewery in San Francisco. But the field was not extensive enough for the development of his business abilities, so Mr. Sprecklas branched out extensively in the sugar business. He suc- ceeded in securing the entire output of sugar that was produced on the Sand- wich Islands, and after 1885 was known as the "Sugar King of Sandwich Islands." He controlled absolutely the sugar trade of the Pacific coast which was known to be not less than ten million dollars a year.

C HARLES HENRY PARKHURST, famous as a clergyman, and for many years president of the Society for the Prevention of Crime, was born April 17, 1842, at Framingham, Massachusetts, of English descent. At the age of sixteen he was pupil in the grammar school at Clinton, Massachusetts, and for the ensu- ing two years was a clerk in a dry goods store, which position he gave up to prepare himself for college at Lancaster academy. Mr. Parkhurst went to Amherst in 1862, and after taking a thorough course he gradu- ated in 1866, and in 1867 became the prin- cipal of the Amherst High School. He re- tained this position until 1870, when he visited Germany with the intention of tak- ing a course in philosophy and theology, but was forced to abandon this intention on

account of illness in the family causing his early return from Europe. He accepted the chair of Latin and Greek in Williston Semi- nary, Easthampton, Massachusetts, and re- mained there two years. He then accom- panied his wife to Europe, and devoted two years to study in Halle, Leipsic and Bonn. Upon his return home he spent considerable time in the study of Sanscrit, and in 1874 he became the pastor of the First Congrega- tional church at Lenox, Massachusetts. He gained here his reputation as a pulpit ora- tor, and on March 9, 1880, he became the pastor of the Madison Square Presbyterian church of New York. He was, in 1890, made a member of the Society for the Pre- vention of Crime, and the same year be- came its president. He delivered a sermon in 1892 on municipal corruption, for which he was brought before the grand jury, which body declared his charges to be without suffi- cient foundation. But the matter did not end here, for he immediately went to work on a second sermon in which he substantiated his former sermon and wound up by saying, "I know, for I have seen." He was again summoned before that august body, and as a result of his testimony and of the investi- gation of the jurors themselves, the police authorities were charged with incompetency and corruption. Dr. Parkhurst was the author of the following works: "The Forms of the Latin Verb, Illustrated by Sanscrit," " The Blind Man's Creed and Other Ser. mons," "The Pattern on the Mount," and " Three Gates on a Side."

H ENRY BERGH, although a writer, diplomatist and government official, was noted as a philanthropist-the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. On his labors for the dumb creation alone rests his fame.

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Alone, in the face of indifference, opposition and ridicule, he began the reform which is now recognized as one of the beneficent movements of the age. Through his exer- tions as a speaker and lecturer, but above all as a bold worker, in the street, in the court room, before the legislature, the cause he adopted gained friends and rapidly in- creased in power until it has reached im- mense proportions and influence. The work of the society covers all cases of cruelty to all sorts of animals, employs every moral agency, social, legislative and personal, and touches points of vital concern to health as . well as humanity.

Henry Bergh was born in New York City in 1823, and was educated at Colum- bia College. In 1863 he was made secre- tary of the legation to Russia and also served as vice-consul there. He also de- voted some time to literary pursuits and was the author of "Love's Alternative," a drama; "Married Off," a poem; "The Portentous Telegram," " The Ocean Para- gon;" "The Streets of New York," tales and sketches.

H ENRY BENJAMIN WHIPPLE, one of the most eminent of American di- vines, was born in Adams, Jefferson county, New York, February 15, 1822. He was brought up in the mercantile business, and early in life took an active interest in polit- ical affairs. In 1847 he became a candidate for holy orders and pursued theological studies with Rev. W. D. Wilson, D. D., afterward professor in Cornell University. He was ordained deacon in 1849, in Trinity church, Geneva, New York, by Rt. Rev. W. H. De Lancey, D. D., and took charge of Zion church, Rome, New York, Decem- ber 1, 1849. In 1850, our subject was or- dained priest by Bishop De Lancey. In

1857 he became rector of the Church of the Holy Communion, Chicago. On the 30th of June, 1859, he was chosen bishop of Minnesota, and took charge of the interests of the Episcopal church in that state, being located at Faribault. In 1860 Bishop Whipple, with Revs. I. L. Breck, S. W. Mauncey and E. S. Peake, organized the Bishop Seabury Mission, out of which has grown the Cathedral of Our Merciful Savior, the Seabury Divinity School, Shattuck School and St. Mary's Hall, which have made Faribault City one of the greatest educational centers of the northwest. Bishop Whipple also became noted as the friend and defender of the North American In- dians and planted a number of successful missions among them.

E 'ZRA CORNELL was one of the greatest philanthropists and friends of education the country has known. He was born at Westchester Landing, New York, January 11, 1807. He grew to manhood in his na- tive state and became a prominent figure in business circles as a successful and self-made man. Soon after the invention of the elec- tric telegraph, he devoted his attention to that enterprise, and accumulated an im- mense fortune. In 1865, by a gift of five hundred thousand dollars, he made possible the founding of Cornell University, which was named in his honor. He afterward made additional bequests amounting to many hundred thousand dollars. His death oc- curred at Ithaca, New York, December 9, 1874.

IGNATIUS DONNELLY, widely known as an author and politician, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 3, 1831. He was educated at the public schools of that city, and graduated from the

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Central High School in 1849. He studied law in the office of Judge B. H. Brewster, and was admitted to the bar in 1852. In the spring of 1856, Mr. Donnelly emigrated to Minnesota, then a new territory, and, at Hastings, resumed the practice of law in partnership with A. M. Hayes. In 1857, and again in 1858, he was defeated for state senator, but in 1859 he was elected by the Republicans as lieutenant-governor, and re- elected in 1861. In 1862 he was elected to represent the Second district of Minnesota in congress. He was re-elected to the same office in 1864 and in 1866. He was an abolitionist and warmly supported President Lincoln's administration, but was strongly in favor of leniency toward the people of the south, after the war. In many ways he was identified with some of the best meas- ures brought before the house during his presence there. In the spring of 1868, at the request of the Republican national com- mittee, he canvassed New Hampshire and Connecticut in the interests of that party. E. B. Washburne about this time made an attack on Donnelly in one of the papers of Minnesota, which was replied to on the floor of the house by a fierce phillipic that will long be remembered. Through the inter- vention of the Washburne interests Mr. Don- nelly failed · of a re-election in 1870. In 1873 he was elected to the state senate from Dakota county, and continuously re-elected until 1878. In 1886 he was elected mem- ber of the house for two years. In later years he identified himself with the Popu- list party.

In 1882, Mr. Donnelly became known as an author, publishing his first literary work, "Atlantis, the Antediluvian World," which passed through over twenty-two editions in America, several in England, and was trans- lated into French. This was followed by

"Ragnarok, the Age of Fire and Gravel," which attained nearly as much celebrity as the first, and these two, in the opinion of scientific critics, are sufficient to stamp the author as a most capable and painstaking student of the facts he has collated in them. The work by which he gained the greatest notoriety, however, was "The Great Cryp- togram, or Francis Bacon's Cipher in the Shakespeare Plays." "Cæsar's Column," " Dr. Huguet," and other works were pub- lished subsequently.

S TEVEN V. WHITE, a speculator of Wall Street of national reputation, was born in Chatham county, North Carolina, August 1, 1831, and soon afterward re- moved to Illinois. His home was a log cabin, and until his eighteenth year he worked on the farm. Then after several years of struggle with poverty he graduated from Knox College, and went to St. Louis, where he entered a wholesale boot and shoe house as bookkeeper. He then studied law and worked as a reporter for the "Missouri Democrat." After his admission to the bar he went to New York, in 1865, and became a member of the banking house of Marvin & White. Mr. White enjoyed the reputa- tion of having engineered the only corner in Wall Street since Commodore Vander- bilt's time. This was the famous Lacka- wanna deal in 1883, in which he made a profit of two million dollars. He was some- times called " Deacon " White, and, though a member for many years of the Plymouth church, he never held that office. Mr. White was one of the most noted characters of the street, and has been called an orator, poet, philanthropist, linguist, abolitionist. astronomer, schoolmaster, plowboy, and trapper. He was a lawyer, ex-congress- man, expert accountant, art critic and theo-

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logian. He laid the foundation for a "Home for Colored People," in Chatham county, North Carolina, where the greater part of his father's life was spent, and in whose memory the work was undertaken.

TAMES A. GARFIELD, the twentieth president of the United States, was born November 19, 1831, in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and was the son of Abram and Eliza (Ballou) Garfield. In 1833 the father, an industrious pioneer farmer, died, and the care of the family devolved upon Thomas, to whom James became deeply indebted for educational and other advantages. As James grew up he was industrious and worked on the farm, at carpentering, at chopping wood, or anything else he found to do, and in the meantime made the most of his books.

Until he was about sixteen, James' high- est ambition was to become a sea captain. On attaining that age he walked to Cleveland, and, not being able to find work, he engaged as a driver on the Ohio & Penn- sylvania canal, but quit this after a short time. He attended the seminary at Ches- ter for about three years, after which he entered Hiram Institute, a school started by the Disciples of Christ in 1850. In order to pay his way he assumed the duties of janitor and at times taught school. After completing his course at the last named edu- cational institution he entered Williams Col- lege, from which he graduated in 1856. He afterward returned to Hiram College as its president. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1859. November 11, 1858, Mr. Garfield and Lucretia Rudolph were married.

In 1859 Mr. Garfield made his first polit- ical speeches, at Hiram and in the neighbor- hood. The same year he was elected to the state senate.

On the breaking out of the war, in 1861, he became lieutenant-colonel of the Forty- second Ohio Infantry, and, while but a new soldier, was given command of four regi- ments of infantry and eight companies of cavalry, with which he drove the Confeder- ates under Humphrey Marshall out of Ken- tucky. January II, 1862, he was commis- sioned brigadier-general. He participated with General Buell in the battle of Shiloh and the operations around Corinth, and was then detailed as a member of the Fitz John Porter court-martial. Reporting to General Rosecrans, he was assigned to the position of chief of staff, and resigned his position, with the rank of major-general, when his immediate superior was superseded. In the fall of 1862 Mr. Garfield was elected to congress and remained in that body, either in the house or senate, until 1880.

June 8, 1880, at the national Republican convention, held in Chicago, General Gar- field was nominated for the presidency, and was elected, He was inaugurated March 4, 1881, but, July 2, following, he was shot and fatally wounded by Charles Guiteau for some fancied political slight, and died Sep- tember 19, 1881.

INCREASE MATHER was one of the

1 most prominent preachers, educators and authors of early times in the New England states. He was born at Dorchester, Massa- chusetts, June 21, 1639, and was given an excellent education, graduating at Harvard in 1656, and at Trinity College, Dublin, two years later. He was ordained a min- ister, and preached in England and America, and in 1664 became pastor of the North church, in Boston. In 1685 he became president of Harvard University, serving until 1701. In 1692 he received the first doctorate in divinity conferred in English

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speaking America. The same year he pro- cured in England a new charter for Massa- chusetts, which conferred upon himself the power of naming the governor, lieutenant- governor and council. He opposed the severe punishment of witchcraft, and took a prominent part in all public affairs of his day. He was a prolific writer, and became the author of nearly one hundred publica- tions, large and small. His death occurred August 23, 1723, at Boston.

C OTTON MATHER, a celebrated minis- ter in the "Puritan times" of New England, was born at Boston, Massachu- setts, February 12, 1663, being a son of Rev. Increase Mather, and a grandson of John Cotton. A biography of his father will be found elsewhere in this volume. Cotton Mather received his early education in his native city, was trained by Ezekiel Cheever, and graduated at Harvard College in 1678; became a teacher, and in 1684 was ordained as associate pastor of North church, Boston, with his father, having by persistent effort overcome an impediment in his speech. He labored with great zeal as a pastor, endeavoring also, to establish the ascendancy of the church and ministry in civil affairs, and in the putting down of witchcraft by legal sentences, a work in which he took an active part and through which he is best known in history. He re- ceived the degree of D. D. in 1710, con- ferred by the University of Glasgow, and F. R. S. in 1713. His death occurred at Boston, February 13, 1728. He was the author of many publications, among which were " Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft," "Wonders of the Invisible World," "Essays to Do Good," " Mag- nalia Christi Americana," and " Illustra- tions of the Sacred Scriptures." Some of

these works are quaint and curious, full of learning, piety and prejudice. A well- known writer, in summing up the life and character of Cotton Mather, says: " Mather, with all the faults of his early years, was a man of great excellence of character. He labored zealously for the benefit of the poor, for mariners, slaves, criminals and Indians. His cruelty and credulity were the faults of his age, while his philanthro- phy was far more rare in that age than in the present."

W ILLIAM A. PEFFER, who won a national reputation during the time he was in the United States senate, was born on a farm in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, September 10, 1831. He drew his education from the public schools of his native state and at the age of fifteen taught school in winter, working on a farm in the summer. In June, 1853, while yet a young man, he removed to Indiana, and opened up a farm in St. Joseph county. In 1859 he made his way to Missouri and settled on a farm in Morgan county, but on account of the war and the unsettled state of the country, he moved to Illinois in Feb- ruary, 1862, and enlisted as a private in Company F, Eighty-third Illinois Infantry, the following August. He was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in March, 1863, and served successively as quartermaster, adjutant, post adjutant, judge advocate of a military commission, and depot quartermaster in the engineer department at Nashville. He was mustered out of the service June 26, 1865. He had, during his leisure hours while in the army, studied law, and in August, 1865, he com- menced the practice of that profession at Clarksville, Tennessee. He removed to Kansas in 1870 and practiced there until

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A Biographical history of Darke County, Ohio : compendium of national biography, Part 19

Author: Publication date: 1900 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 806

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 806