A Biographical history of Darke County, Ohio : compendium of national biography, Part 26

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

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RUSSELL SAGE, one of the financial giants of the present century and for more than an average generation one of the most conspicuous and celebrated of Ameri- cans, was born in a frontier hamlet in cen- tral New York in August, 1816. While Rus- sell was still a boy an elder brother, Henry Risley Sage, established a small grocery store at Troy, New York, and here Russell found his first employment, as errand boy. He served a five-years apprenticeship, and then joined another brother, Elisha M. Sage, in a new venture in the same line, which proved profitable, at least for Russell, who soon became its sole owner. Next he formed the partnership of Sage & Bates, and greatly extended his field of operations. At twenty-five he had, by his own exertions, amassed what was, in those days, a consid- erable fortune, being worth about seventy- five thousand dollars. He had acquired an influence in local politics, and four years later his party, the Whigs, elected him to the aldermanic board of Troy and to the treasuryship of Rensselaer county. In 1 848 he was a prominent member of the New York delegation to the Whig convention at Philadelphia, casting his first votes for Henry Clay, but joining the " stampede " which

nominated Zachary Taylor. In 1850 the Whigs of Troy nominated him for congress, but he was not elected-a failure which he retrieved two years later, and in 1854 he was re-elected by a sweeping majority. At Washington he ranked high in influence and ability. Fame as a speaker and as a polit- ical leader was within his grasp, when lie gave up public life, declined a renomination to congress, and went back to Troy to de- vote himself to his private business. Six years later, in 1863, he removed to New York and plunged into the arena of Wall street. A man of boundless energy and tireless pertinacity, with wonderful judg- inent of men and things, he soon took his place as a king in finance, and, it is said, during the latter part of his life he con- trolled more ready money than any other single individual on this continent.

ROGER QUARLES MILLS, a noted United States senator and famous as the father of the "Mills tariff bill, " was born in Todd county, Kentucky, March 30, 1832. He received a liberal education in the com- mon schools, and removed to Palestine, Texas, in 1849. He took up the study of law, and supported himself by serving as an assistant in the post-office, and in the offices of the court clerks. In 1850 he was elected engrossing clerk of the Texas house of rep- resentatives, and in 1852 was admitted to the bar, while still a minor, by special act of the legislature. He then settled at Cor- sicana, Texas, and began the active prac- tice of his profession. He was elected to the state legislature in 1859, and in 1872 he was elected to congress from the state at large, as a Democrat. After his first elec- tion he was continuously returned to con- gress until he resigned to accept the posi- tion of United States senator, to which he

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was elected March 23, 1892, to succeed Hon. Horace Chilton. He took his seat in the senate March 30, 1892; was afterward re-elected and ranked among the most use- Iul and prominent members of that body. In 1876 he opposed the creation of the elec- toral commission, and in 1887 canvassed the state of Texas against the adoption of a prohibition amendment to its constitution, which was defeated. He introduced into the house of representatives the bill that was known as the "Mills Bill," reducing duties on imports, and extending the free list. The bill passed the house on July 21, 1888, and made the name of "Mills" famous throughout the entire country.

H AZEN S. PINGREE, the celebrated Michigan political leader, was born in Maine in 1842. Up to fourteen years of age he worked hard on the stony ground of his father's small farm. Attending school in the winter, he gained a fair education, and when not laboring on the farm, he found employment in the cotton mills in the vicinity. He resolved to find more steady work, and accordingly went to Hopkinton, Massachusetts, where he entered a shoe fac- tory, but on the outbreak of the war he en- listed at once and was enrolled in the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. He partici- pated in the battle of Bull Run, which was his initial fight, and served ereditably his early term of service, at the expiration of which he re-enlisted. He fought in the battles of Fredricksburg, Harris Farm, Spottsylvania Court House and Cold Har- bor. In 1864 he was captured by Mosby, and spent five months at Andersonville, Georgia, as a prisoner, but escaped at the end of that time. He re-entered the service and participated in the battles of Fort Fisher, Boyden, and Sailor's Creek. He

was honorably mustered out of service, and in 1866 went to Detroit, Michigan, where he made use of his former experience in a shoe factory, and found work. Later he formed a partnership with another workman and started a small factory, which has since become a large establishment. Mr. Pin- gree made his entrance into politics in 1889, in which year he was elected by a surpris- ingly large majority as a Republican to the mayoralty of Detroit, in which office he was the incumbent during four consecutive terms. In November, 1896, he was elected gov- ernor of the state of Michigan. While mayor of Detroit, Mr. Pingree originated and put into execution the idea of allowing the poor people of the city the use of va- cant city lands and lots for the purpose of raising potatoes. The idea was enthusiast- ically adopted by thousands of poor families, attracted wide attention, and gave its author a national reputation as "Potato-patch Pin- gree."

THOMAS ANDREW HENDRICKS, an

eminent American statesman and a Democratic politician of national fame, was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, Septem- ber 7, 1819. In 1822 he removed, with his father, to Shelby county, . Indiana. He graduated from the South Hanover College in 1841, and two years later was admitted to the bar. In 1851 he was chosen a mem- ber of the state constitutional convention, and took a leading part in the deliberations of that body. He was elected to congress in 1851, and after serving two terms was appointed commissioner of the United States general land-office. In 1863 he was elected to the United States senate, where his dis- tinguished services commanded the respect of all parties. He was elected governor of Indiana in 1872, serving four years, and in

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1876 was nominated by the Democrats as candidate for the vice-presidency with Til- den. The returns in a number of states were contested, and resulted in the appoint- ment of the famous electoral commission, which decided in favor of the Republican candidates. In 1884 Mr. Hendricks was again nominated as candidate for the vice- presidency, by the Democratic party, on the ticket with Grover Cleveland, was elected, and served about six months. He died at Indianapolis, November 25, 1885. He was regarded as one of the brainiest men in the party, and his integrity was never ques- tioned, even by his political opponents.

G ARRETT A. HOBART, one of the many able men who have held the high office of vice-president of the United States, was born June 3, 1844, in Mon- mouth county, New Jersey, and in 1860 en- tered the sophomore class at Rutgers Col- lege, from which he graduated in 1863 at the age of ninetcen. He then taught school until he entered the law office of Socrates Tuttle, of Paterson, New Jersey, with whom he studied law, and in 1869 was admitted to the bar. He immediately began the active practice of his profession i 1 the office of the above named gentleman. He became interested in political life, and es oused t e cause of the Republican party, and in 1865 held his first office, serving as clerk for the ground jury. He was also city counsel of Paterson in 1871, and in May, 1872, was elected counsel for the board of chosen frecholders. He entered the state legislature in 1873, and was re-elected to the assembly in 1874. Mr. Hobart was made speaker of the assembly in 1876, and and in 1879 was elected to the state senate. After serving three years in the same, he was elected president of that body in 1881,

and the following year was re-elected to that office. He was a delegate-at large to the Republican national convention in 1876 and 1880, and was elected a member of the national committee in 1884, which position he occupied continuously until 1896. He was then nominated for vice-president by the Republican national convention, and was elected to that office in the fall of 1896 on the ticket with William McKinley.

W TILLIAM MORRIS STEWART, noted as a political leader and senator, was born in Lyons, Wayne county, New York, August 9, 1827, and removed with his par- ents while still a small child to Mesopota- mia township, Trumbull county, Ohio. He attended the Lyons Union school and Farm- ington Academy, where he obtained his ed- ucation. Later he taught mathematics in the former school, while yet a pupil, and with the little money thus earned and the assistance of James C. Smith, one of the judges of the supreme court of New York, he entered Yale College. He remained there until the winter of 1849-50, when, at- tracted by the gold discoveries in California he wended his way thither. He arrived at San Francisco in May, 1850, and later en- gaged in mining with pick and shovel in Ne- vada county. In this way he accumulated some money, and in the spring of 1852 he took up the study of law under John R. McConnell. The following December he was appointed district attorney, to which office he was chosen at the general election of the next year. In 1854 he was ap- pointed attorney-general of California, and in 1860 he removed to Virginia City, Ne- vada, where he largely engaged in early mining litigation. Mr. Stewart was also in- terested in the development of the "Com- stock lode," and in 1861 was chosen a

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member of the territorial council. He was elected a member of the constitutional con- vention in 1863, and was elected United States senator in 1864, and re-elected in 1869. At the expiration of his term in 1875, he resumed the practice of law in Nevada, California, and the Pacific coast generally. He was thus engaged when he was elected again to the United States sen- ate as a Republican in 1887 to succeed the late James G. Fair, a Democrat, and took his seat March 4, 1887. On the expiration of his term he was again re-elected and be- came one of the leaders of his party in con- gress. His ability as an orator, and the prominent part he took in the discussion of public questions, gained him a national rep- utation.

G EORGE GRAHAM VEST, for many I years a prominent member of the United States senate, was born in Frank- fort, Kentucky, December 6, 1848. He graduated from Center College in 1868, and from the law department of the Transyl- vania University of Lexington, Kentucky, in 1853. In the same year he removed to Missouri and began the practice of his pro- fession, In 1860 he was an elector on the Democratic ticket, and was a member of the lower house of the Missouri legislature in 1860-61. He was elected to the Con- federate congress, serving two years in the lower house and one in the senate. He then resumed the practice of law, and in 1879 was elected to the senate of the United States to succeed James Shields. He was re-elected in 1885, and again in 1891 and 1897. His many years of service in the National congress, coupled with his ability as a speaker and the active part he took in the discussion of public questions, gave him a wide reputation.

H ANNIBAL HAMLIN, a noted American statesman, whose name is indissolubly connected with the history of this country, was born in Paris, Maine, August 27, 1809. He learned the printer's trade and followed that calling for several years. He then studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1833. He was elected to the legislature of the state of Maine, where he was several times chosen speaker of the lower house. He was elected to congress by the Demo- crats in 1843, and re-elected in 1845. In 1848 he was chosen to the United States senate and served in that body until 1861. He was elected governor of Maine in 1857 on the Republican ticket, but resigned when re-elected to the United States senate the same year. He was elected vice-presi- dent of the United States on the ticket with Lincoln in 1860, and inaugurated in March, 1861. In 1865 he was appointed collector of the port of Boston. Beginning with 1869 he served two six-year terms in the United States senate, and was then ap- pointed by President Garfield as minister to Spain in 1881. His death occurred July 4, 1891.

ISHAM G. HARRIS, famous as Confed- 1 erate war governor of Tennessee, and distinguished by his twenty years of service in the senate of the United States, was born in Franklin county, Tennessee, and educated at the Academy of Winchester. He then took up the study of law, was ad- mitted to the bar, and commenced practice at Paris, Tennessee, in 1841. He was elected to the state legislature in 1847, was a candidate for presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1848, and the next year was elected to congress from his dis- trict. and re-elected in 1851. In 1853 he was renominated by the Democrats of his

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· district, but declined, and removed to Mem- phis, where he took up the practice of law. He was a presidential elector-at-large from Tennessee in 1856, and was elected gov- ernor of the state the next year, and again in 1859, and in 1861. He was driven from Nashville by the advance of the Union armies, and for the last three years of the war acted as aid upon the staff of the com- manding general of the Confederate army of Tennessee. After the war he went to Liverpool, England, where he became a merchant, but returned to Memphis in 1867, and resumed the practice of law. In 1877 he was elected to the United States senate, to which position he was successively re- elected until his death in 1897.

N TELSON DINGLEY, JR., for nearly a quarter of a century one of the leaders in congress and framer of the famous "Dingley tariff bill," was born in Durham, Maine, in 1832. His father as well as all his ancestors, were farmers, merchants and mechanics and of English descent. Young Dingley was given the advantages first of the common schools and in vacations helped his father in the store and on the farmn. When twelve years of age he attended high school and at seventeen was teaching in a country school district and preparing him- self for college. The following year he en- tered Waterville Academy and in 1851 en- tered Colby University. After a year and a half in this institution he entered Dart- mouth College and was graduated in 1855 with high rank as a scholar, debater and writer. He next studied law and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1856. But instead of practicing his profession he purchased the " Lewistown (Me.) Journal," which be- came famous throughout the New England states as a leader in the advocacy of Repub-

lican principles. About the same time Mr. Dingley began his political career, although cver after continuing at the head of the newspaper. He was soon elected to the state legislature and afterward to the lower house of congress, where he became a prominent national character. He also served two terms as governor of Maine.

O LIVER PERRY MORTON, a distin- guished American statesman, was born in Wayne county, Indiana, August 4, 1823. His early education was by private teaching and a course at the Wayne County Seminary. At the age of twenty years he entered the Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, and at the end of two years quit the college, began the study of law in the office of John New- man, of Centerville, Indiana, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1847.

Mr. Morton was elected judge on the Democratic ticket, in 1852, but on the passage of the "Kansas-Nebraska Bill" he severed his connection with that party, and soon became a prominent leader of the Re- publicans. He was elected governor of In- diana in 1861, and as war governor became well known throughout the country. He received a paralytic stroke in 1865, which partially deprived him of the use of his limbs. He was chosen to the United States senate from Indiana, in 1867, and wielded great influence in that body until the time of his death, November 1, 1877.

J JOHN B. GORDON, a brilliant Confeder- ate officer and noted senator of the United States, was born in Upson county, Georgia, February 6, 1832. He graduated from the State University, studied law, and took up the practice of his profession. At the be- ginning of the war he entered the Confederate service as captain of infantry, and rapidly

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rose to the rank of lieutenant-general, commanding one wing of the Confederate army at the close of the war. In 1868 he was Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia, and it is said was elected by a large majority, but his opponent was given the office. He was a delegate to the national Democratic conventions in 1868 and 1872, and a presidential elector both years. In 1873 he was elected to the United States senate. In 1886 he was elected governor of Georgia, and re-elected in 1888. He was again elected to the United States senate in 1890, serving until 1897, when he was succeeded by A. S. Clay. He was regarded as a leader of the southern Democ- racy, and noted for his fiery eloquence.

TEPHEN JOHNSON FIELD, an illus-

trious associate justice of the supreme court of the United States, was born at Haddam, Connecticut, November 4, 1816, being one of the noted sons of Rev. D. D. Field. He graduated from Williams College in 1837, took up the study of law with his brother, David Dudley Field, be- coming his partner upon admission to the bar. He went to California in 1849, and at once began to take an active interest in the political affairs of that state. He was elected alcalde of Marysville, in 1850, and in the autumn of the same year was elected to the state legislature. In 1857 he was elected judge of the supreme court of the state, and two years afterwards became its chief justice. In 1863 he was appointed by President Lincoln as associate justice of the supreme court of the United States. During his incumbency, in 1873, he was appointed by the governor of California one of a com- mission to examine the codes of the state and for the preparation of amendments to the same for submission to the legislature.

In 1877 he was one of the famous electoral commission of fifteen members, and voted as one of the seven favoring the election of Tilden to the presidency. In 1880 a large portion of the Democratic party favored his nomination as candidate for the presidency. He retired in the fall of 1897, having served a greater number of years on the supreme bench than any of his associates or predecessors, Chief Justice Marshall coming next in length of service.

JOHN T. MORGAN, whose services in the United States senate brought him into national prominence, was born in Athens, Tennessee, June 20, 1824. At the age of nine years he emigrated to Alabama, where he made his permanent home, and where he received an academic education. He then took up the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1845. He took a leading part in local politics, was a presi- dential elector in 1860, casting his ballot for Breckenridge and Lane, and in 1861 was a delegate to the state convention which passed the ordinance of secession. In May, of the same year, he joined the Confederate army as a private in Company I, Cahawba Rifles, and was soon after made major and thenlieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Regiment. In 1862 he was commissioned colonel, and soon after made brigadier-general and as- signed to the command of a brigade in Vir- ginia. He resigned to join his old regiment whose colonel had been killed. He was soon afterward again made brigadier-gen- eral and given command of the brigade that included his regiment.

After the war he returned to the prac- tice of law, and continued it up to the time of his election to the United States senate, in 1877. He was a presidential elector in 1876, and cast his vote for Tilden and Hendricks.

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He was re-elected to the senate in 1883, and again in 1889, and 1895. His speeches and the measures he introduced, marked as they were by an intense Americanism, brought him into national prominence.

W ILLIAM MCKINLEY, the twenty-fifth president of the United States, was born at Niles, Trumbull county, Ohio, Jan- uary 29, 1844. He was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and received his early education in a Methodist academy in the small village of Poland, Ohio. At the outbreak of the war Mr. Mckinley was teaching school, earning twenty-five dollars per month. As soon as Fort Sumter was fired upon he en- listed in a company that was formed in Poland, which was inspected and mustered in by General John C. Fremont, who at first objected to Mr. McKinley, as being too young, but upon examination he was finally accepted. Mr. Mckinley was seventeen when the war broke out but did not look his age. He served in the Twenty-third Ohio Infantry throughout the war, was promoted from sergeant to captain, for good conduct on the field, and at the close of the war, for meritorious services, he was brevetted major. After leaving the army Major Mc- Kinley took up the study of law, and was admitted to the bar, and in 1869 he took his initiation into politics, being elected pros- ecuting attorney of his county as a Republi- can, although the district was usually Demo- cratic. In 1876 he was elected to congress, and in a call upon the President-elect, Mr. Hayes, to whom he went for advice upon the way he should shape his career, he was told that to achieve fame and success he must take one special line and stick to it. Mr. Mckinley chose tariff legislation and he became an authority in regard to import duties. He was a member of congress for

many years, became chairman of the ways and means committee, and later he advo- cated the famous tariff bill that bore his name, which was passed in 1890. In the next election the Republican party was overwhelmingly defeated through the coun- try, and the Democrats secured more than a two thirds majority in the lower house, and also had control of the senate, Mr. McKinley being defeated in his own district by a small majority. He was elected gov- ernor of Ohio in 1891 by a plurality of twenty-one thousand, five hundred and eleven, and two years later he was re-elected by the still greater plurality of eighty thou- sand, nine hundred and ninety-five. He was a delegate-at-large to the Minneapolis Re- publican convention in 1892, and was in- structed to support the nomination of Mr. Harrison. He was chairman of the con- vention, and was the only man from Ohio to vote for Mr. Harrison upon the roll call. In November, 1892, a number of prominent politicians gathered in New York to discuss. the political situation, and decided that the result of the election had put an end to Mc- Kinley and Mckinleyism. But in less than four years from that date Mr. Mckinley was nominated for the presidency against the combined opposition of half a dozen rival candidates. Much of the credit for his suc- cess was due to Mark A. Hanna, of Cleve- land, afterward chairman of the Republican national committee. At the election which occurred in November, 1896, Mr. McKinley was elected president of the United States by an enormous majority, on a gold stand- ard and protective tariff platform. He was. inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1897, and called a special session of congress, to which was submitted a bill for tariff reform, which was passed in the latter part of July- of that year.

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C INCINNATUS HEINE MILLER, known in the literary world as Joaquin Miller, "the poet of the Sierras," was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1841. When only about thirteen years of age he ran away from home and went to the mining regions in California and along the Pacific coast. Some time afterward he was taken prisoner by the Modoc Indians and lived with them for five years. He learned their language and gained great influence with them, fight- ing in their wars, and in all modes of living became as one of them. In 1858 he left the Indians and went to San Francisco, where he studied law, and in 1860 was ad- mitted to the bar in Oregon. In 1866 he was clected a county judge in Oregon and served four years. Early in the seventies he began devoting a good deal of time to literary pursuits, and about 1874 he settled in Washington, D. C. He wrote many poems and dramas that attracted consider- able attention and won him an extended reputation. Among his productions may be mentioned " Pacific Poems," " Songs of the Sierras," "Songs of the Sun Lands," " Ships in the Desert, " " Adrianne, a Dream of Italy," " Danites," "Unwritten History," "First Families of the Sierras " (a novel), " One Fair Woman " (a novel), "Songs of Italy," "Shadows of Shasta," "The Gold- Seekers of the Sierras," and a number of others.

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A Biographical history of Darke County, Ohio : compendium of national biography, Part 26

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