A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 112

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1156

USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio > Part 112

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ance to the law passed by the legislature, what are known as the city and county boards were created. Under that law the power of appointment by the city board was vested in the mayor of Columbus, and that of the county board in the secretary of state, and the term of the members is four years. In the year 1897 this was amended so that the board appointed by the mayor has charge of the entire county. This gives each incumbent of the mayoralty the appointment of two members of the board, one a Democrat and one a Re- publican. The board is non-partisan, consisting of four members divided equally between the two leading parties. No election machinery has ever had the confidence of the people more than the existing board, and no organiza- tion has ever been so free from the supposed double dealing in the manage- ment of the suffrage. In campaigns where party spirit runs riot the contention of partisanship stops at the door of the board of elections, and the decisions have been given with honesty and due consideration of the rights of all. The first president of the board was Colonel Poston, who served from 1887 until 1890. Since his retirement he has served as a member of the Democratic city executive committee, the county executive committee, and is now the secretary of the Democratic county committee.

Colonel Poston was married in Hocking county, Ohio, to Miss Sarah Clark, a daughter of George Clark, one of the pioneers of that locality. They attend the Presbyterian church and are prominent in the community, having a wide acquaintance and enjoying the high regard of many friends.

DANIEL HEADLEY.

Among the prominent pioneer families of Franklin county is that to which our subject belongs. Great changes have been wrought since the first representative of the name came to Ohio, finding here large tracts of uncul- tivated land, forests which stood in their primeval strength and a few cabins to indicate the progress of civilization. Daniel Headley was born on the farm where he now resides April 20, 1838, his parents being William and Mary ( Havens) Headley. The father was a native of Sussex county, New Jersey, born July 31, 1787, and in the east he was reared. His father was the first of the name to emigrate westward, and William Headley and five of his brothers afterward came to Ohio, the latter being Peter, Samuel, Lewis, Usual and Charles Headley. They made the journey from New Jersey by wagon. William Headley, however, rode on horseback, carrying with him a small willow switch, which he used as a riding whip. On his arrival he stuck the branch into the ground, where it took root, and to-day by the side of the residence stands a very large willow tree, which is a memento of his journey. Of the brothers, Peter and Lewis entered land in Licking county. near Jersey, while Usual located near Zanesville, and William and Samuel took up their abode in Jefferson township, Franklin county. In the follow- ing year they acquired land on the four corners since known as Headley's Corners. For several years they also conducted a saw and gristmill in part-

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nership, but afterward William Headley purchased the brothers' interest in the sawmill and lands, and Samuel then removed to Licking county. The old mill, did duty for many years, but was finally washed away in a flood many years ago. As the years passed William Headley prospered in his busi- ness undertakings, and at the time of his death he owned five hundred acres of valuable land, all acquired through industry and good management. He was the first postmaster of Headley's Corners, and held the office for many years, dispensing the mail from his residence. Throughout his entire life he was a stanch Democrat, and for several years he served as constable of his township. He was never a member of any church, but believed in the Univer- salist faith and contributed quite liberally to religious work. He died August I, 1862. His wife, who was born in Sussex county, New Jersey, March 10, 1799, came with her parents to Franklin county when a child. By her mar- riage she had twelve children, of whom six are yet living, namely: William, who is now living retired in Columbus; Ezekiel, a farmer of Holt county, Missouri; David and Daniel, twins, the former a retired resident of Colum- bus; Mary, the wife of H. J. Edgel, of South Haven, Michigan; and Electa, the wife of Thomas Hull, of Maysville, DeKalb county, Missouri.

Daniel Headley early became familiar with the work of the home farm as he followed the plow across the fields and planted and cultivated the crops. His education was obtained in the common schools. On reaching their twenty- first year he and his twin brother took charge of the home farm, which they cperated on shares until the father's death, after which the estate was settled, Daniel Headley and his brother continuing their farm work in partnership. Their share of the estate was three hundred and fifty acres, and their business was conducted in common until 1876, when they dissolved partnership and our subject went to the west, where he engaged in farming and in buying and shipping stock. He was there in partnership with his brother Ezekiel, of DeKalb county, Missouri. They also purchased two or three tracts of grazing land, and for some years bought and shipped cattle on an extensive scale, meeting with good success, but in 1883 Daniel Headley returned to Franklin county and took charge of his farm, which he had rented while in Missouri. He has since resided upon this place, his attention being given to agricultural pursuits. Thoroughly familiar with the work in all its depart- ments from boyhood, he carries on his farm in a most progressive manner, and the highly cultivated fields yield to him a golden tribute.

On the 23d of May, 1891, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Headley and Mrs. Lucinda J. Wagoner, widow of William Wagoner and a daughter of John Daily, one of the pioneers of Franklin county. By her former mar- riage Mrs. Headley had three children, of whom two are now living, namely : Ollie, the wife of George Strait, of Plain township; and Dora, wife of Stacey D. Trumbo, of Jefferson township. Although giving an unfaltering support to the Democracy, Daniel Headley has never been an office-seeker, his atten- tion being fully occupied by his business affairs. His religious belief is in harmony with the doctrines of the Universalist church, and he contributes

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freely to promote moral, intellectual and material interests in the community. He is widely known for his probity, his fidelity to duty, his upright principles and his genuine worth of character.

JAMES McCLOUD.

A life of industry and of uprightness, a good name won by good methods in the business world, a memory of a kind husband and an indulgent parent -- these are a part of the legacy left by James McCloud at his death, which occurred December 4, 1898, and they are cherished by his children and his friends who remember him for what he was and did. The late James Mc- Cloud, of Columbus, Ohio, was born in 1840 where the old east graveyard was later laid out and where is now the east park, at the corner of Livingston and Eighteenth streets. His father, George McCloud, was brought to Colum- bus about 1809, from Pennsylvania, where he was born about two years before, and he died in this city in 1864. His mother, Elizabeth (Stombaugh) Mc- Cloud, also a Pennsylvanian by birth, was brought to Columbus at about the age of two years. by her father, James Stombaugh, in 1812, and died in 1899, aged eighty-nine years.

James McCloud was educated in the school near his father's farm and in schools in Columbus. In 1863 he married Miss Isabel McKelvey, of Columbus, who came from near Dublin, Ireland, where she was born. After his marriage he lived three years in Illinois, but returned to Columbus in 1866 and for some time was a traveling salesman. Subsequently he was for six years a farmer and then moved into Columbus and engaged in the grocery trade at Rich street and Grand avenue, where he did business twelve years or until his removal to High street, near Town, where he remained un- til 1888, when he closed out his grocery business and became a contractor of street paving. He put down the brick on Rich street and on a number of the other streets of Columbus and carried out successfully many contracts in New York and Pennsylvania, becoming well known in his line of business and amassing a considerable fortune.

Mr. McCloud survived his first wife twenty-four years. She died in 1874, leaving two daughters, Emma Belle and Charlotte May. The latter is the wife of Charles H. Bartow, of Columbus. Mr. McCloud's second wife was Miss Angie Carroll, daughter of the Rev. Andrew Carroll, who died in 1885, leaving a son, James McCloud, who is a well known coal and wood dealer at Columbus, with yards on the west side. Mr. McCloud was fond of home and wife and children and was seldom absent except on business. He was a thorough man of affairs and his good judgment was apparent in every important change he made. He attended and was a liberal supporter of the Westminster Presbyterian church. Though having no taste for prac- tical politics, he had pronounced views upon every public question and was never at a loss to give a reason for his opinion.

JAMES McCLOUD.

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GEORGE W. CONDIT.

George W. Condit is now living a retired life in Westerville. He was for a long period connected with farming interests in Ohio, but in December, 1900, he put aside business cares and took up his abode in the place where le now resides, enjoying a well-merited rest. His father, Isaac Condit, was born in Essex county, New Jersey, about 1798, was there reared to manhood and learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed in his native state until 1836, when he came to Ohio, accompanied by his wife and their five children. In Harrison township, Licking county, he purchased a farm of one hundred and one acres. It was covered with timber, and in the midst of the forest he erected a log cabin, in which the family lived in true pioneer style, while he was engaged in clearing the place and preparing it for the plow. At inter- vals he also worked at the carpenter's trade, following it to a greater or less extent throughout his entire life. His sons, Mathias and William, took great delight in the use of tools in boyhood, and in later years the father worked with them along the line of that industry. He died in his eightieth year, his death being occasioned by an accident, a locomotive striking him as he was walking beside the track. He was at that time living on the farm of his son, Mathias. In early life he was a Jacksonian Democrat, but afterward he and all of his sons voted the Republican ticket, and he did everything in his power to advance the growth and secure the success of his party. He was one of the pioneer members of the Presbyterian church in his district, and often went eight miles to attend services. He established the first Sab- . bath-school in his district, and was largely instrumental in securing the erec- tion of the first Presbyterian church in this vicinity. His noble Christian life and his upright example made him a man whom to know was to esteem and honor. He married Jane R. Dobbins, who was born in Essex county, New Jersey, about 1801. She was a woman of strong personality, and her influence did much in molding her husband's character and in making him the splendid specimen of manhood which he was known to be. Their example and precept also had much to do with shaping the lives of their children, none of whom ever used tobacco or liquor in any form, and who have ever been a credit to an untarnished family name. The mother passed away in her seventy-sixth year, about a year prior to her husband's demise. Of their ten children, five are yet living, namely: Mary A., deceased, the widow of Isaac Cain, of Licking county, Ohio; George W .; Mathias C., who is also living in Licking county ; Bertan J., of Logan county ; and Sarah E., wife of Louis Mills, of Stella, Nebraska.

George W. Condit spent the days of his youth upon his father's farm, and in the winter season and when his services were not needed in the fields he pursued his education in the common schools. His opportunities in that direction, however, were somewhat meager; but, realizing the need of edu- cation in the practical affairs of life, he spent three winter terms in school after attaining his majority, and also pursued his studies in the Granville high 58

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school. He was then granted a certificate to teach, and through two winter seasons he devoted his time to following that profession and to study. In this way he gained a thorough comprehension and practical knowledge. Dur- ing the summer months until his thirty-first year he worked for his father upon the home farm. On the Ist of October, 1857, Mr. Condit was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Young; a native of Fairfield county, Ohio, and a daughter of Joseph and Rebecca ( Lyle) Young. Her father was born in Pennsylvania, and with his parents went to Fairfield county, Ohio, when a youth of seventeen years, his father, John Young, being one of the first set- tlers in that locality. The mother was born in Kentucky, and when four years of age was brought to Franklin county, Ohio, by her father, John Lyle, who entered from the government a tract of land upon which the Ohio State University now stands. A portion of the farm is still in possession of the Lyle family. For three years after his marriage Mr. Condit continued the operation of the old family homestead, and also cultivated sixty-six and two- thirds acres of land which he had purchased in connection with his father. At the time of his marriage his father gave him a deed to that property. When three years had passed our subject sold his land to a younger brother and purchased a farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres in Plain town- ship, Franklin county, where he spent three years. On the expiration of that period he once more disposed of his land and purchased a farm better improved, comprising one hundred and seventy acres in Jersey township, Licking county. Seventeen years were there passed, and he next became the owner of his present farm of one hundred and two acres in Blendon township, Franklin county, where he carried on agricultural pursuits until December, 1900, when he retired from active business life. He also retains possession of his farm in Licking county. He owns town property in Westerville, where he is now living.

In his political views Mr. Condit is a stanch Republican, unswerving in support of the principles of his party. Since his fourteenth year he has been a member of the Presbyterian church, and is now serving as one of its elders, while for fourteen years he was a teacher in the Sunday-school. He does all in his power to promote the work of the church and its various branches, and withholds his support and co-operation from no movement or measure that is calculated to prove of general good.

SYLVESTER M. SHERMAN, M. D.

Among the representatives of the medical fraternity of Columbus who have attained prominence and prosperity by reason of superior skill and ability is Dr. Sylvester Morrill Sherman. He is one of the native sons of the city, born on the 23d of December, 1842. The grandfather of our subject, Amos . Sherman, was a drum major in the war of 1812, and on the expiration of his first term re-enlisted. He died of diphtheria at Fort Meigs. His wife

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bore the maiden name of Miss Whitham, and was from the vicinity of Wheel - ing, West Virginia.

Levi H. Sherman, the Doctor's father, was born near Wheeling, March 1 , 1809, and having arrived at years of maturity married Lydia G. Morrill, a daughter of Moses and Millie ( Merion) Morrill. The latter is a sister of William Merion. The mother of our subject is a native of Ohio and is still living, at the age of eighty-two years. About 1838 Levi H. Sherman arrived in Columbus, where, in connection with his twin brother, William, he estab- lished a comb factory, which became one of the leading industries of the city. He manufactured high and side combs on an extensive scale, his business assuming large proportions. In 1849 he joined a company of Columbus men, under the leadership of John Walton, and went to California. His death occurred near Stockton, that state, in 1850. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Sherman were born three children : Cynthia A. is the wife of Oliver Merion, a son of William Merion and a resident of Chicago, Illinois; Levi William married Pauline Rickle and is living in Columbus.

Sylvester M. Sherman, the subject of this review, and the other member of the family, acquired his literary education in the public schools of Colum- bus, and his professional training was received in the Eclectic Medical Insti- tute at Cincinnati. However, in the meantime, upon the field of battle he had demonstrated his loyalty to the Union, having enlisted in 1864 in the One Hundred and Thirty-third Ohio Infantry for one hundred days' service. He ivas an orderly sergeant under the command of Captain Fisher and Colonel Innis. Our subject published a history of his regiment in 1896.

After his return from the war the Doctor engaged in teaching school in Franklin county for nine years; but, abandoning educational work, he turned his attention to the medical profession, and in 1875 was graduated at the Eclectic Medical College, of Cincinnati. He then began practice at Garrett, Indiana, where he remained for nine years, intimately associated with Wash- ington Cowan, who laid out the town for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. While living there the Doctor took an active part in politics as a supporter of the Republican party, and served as a member of the school board. In 1883 he returned to Columbus, and with excellent equipment gained in a thorough college course and through broad and varied experience he began practice in his native city, establishing an office at the corner of Mount Vernon and Twentieth streets, where he has since been located. He has given his attention strictly to his professional duties, and has secured a large and constantly growing practice.

In 1865 the Doctor married Miss Lemira Ann Shoemaker, a daughter of Christopher and Sarah Ann (Belknap) Shoemaker. In connection with Theodore Leonard and Mr. Atcheson, Mr. Shoemaker was engaged in the manufacture of brick in Columbus from 1840 until 1870, carrying on an exten- sive business. He was a well-known and prominent citizen, and his loss was mourned throughout the entire community when he passed away in 1891, at the age of seventy-one years. His widow died April 27, 1901. Unto

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the Doctor and his wife have been born the following children: Rose E. is the eldest and is the wife of Isaac Humphrey, an attorney at Zanesville, Ohio. Christopher Elias, who married Miss Eleanora Bruning, a daughter of H. Bruning, of Columbus, is a graduate of the Ohio State University in the class of 1894, and is now associate professor of civil engineering in that institu- tion. Edward Charles, who married Miss Ada Hance, a daughter of John WV. Hance, of Columbus, is a graduate of the Ohio Dental College, of Cin- cinnati, and is now practicing in this city. Oliver Clinton is a graduate of a business college of Columbus. Cynthia Ellen, better known as Nellie, is a graduate of an art academy in Cincinnati. Lydia Grace is a graduate of the high school and normal school of Columbus. John King graduated in civil engineering at the State University in 1901. James Gar- field is a graduate of the high school of Columbus, and is now attending medi- cal college. Sylvester Morrill and Sarah Ruth are both attending the high school, and Lemira Ann is a student in the grammar school.

The Doctor has provided his children with excellent educational privileges, thus preparing them to fill important positions in life. He is a member of Wells Post, G. A. R., and is a Royal Arch and Knight Templar and thirty- second-degree Mason, belonging to Mount Vernon Commandery, No. I. He holds membership in the Congregational church, and is active in his co- operation in all movements tending to promote the intellectual, social, material and moral welfare of the community. In his profession he has gained a posi- tion of due relative precedence, and an excellent business now rewards his ability and close application.

FRANK B. CAMERON.

Frank Bedford Cameron, of Columbus, Ohio, the subject of this sketch, comes of a family of editors and printers. His grandfather Cameron pub- lished a newspaper in Butler county, Ohio, in 1826. His father was a pioneer editor and printer in Iowa, and he has himself edited and published several newspapers, and several of his uncles and cousins in both branches of his family are editors and publishers of newspapers in Nebraska, South Carolina and Iowa and in other states.

Mr. Cameron has two bound volumes of the old paper published by his grandfather in Butler county, Ohio, in 1826 and later, and often refers to them with great interest. His father, Anderson Chenault Cameron, was born in Butler county, Ohio, and removed to Lucas county, Iowa, in 1848, and there Frank Bedford Cameron was born, November 30, 1855. In 1853 Ander,- son C. Cameron established the first newspaper at Osceola, Iowa, which was also one of the earliest in that part of the state. From there he went to Sheridan, Iowa, where he was interested with S. D. Ingersoll in the publica- tion of the Sheridan Patriot, a Democratic paper which supported Stephen A. Douglas for the presidency. and it should be added that Mr. Cameron established the first bookbindery in all the northwest part of the United States

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west of Burlington, Iowa. In 1861 he enlisted as a lieutenant in Company B, Third Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with which he saw two years service in the war of the Rebellion. In 1864 he was appointed to a clerkship in the postoffice department at Washington, D. C., and held the position until his death in 1872. He established the Postal Directory, now the Postal Guide, to which he had more than six thousand subscribers at the time of his death.

Frank B. Cameron's grandfather in the paternal line married Miss Maria Ingersoll, a sister of the father of the late famous orator. Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll. Anderson C. Cameron, the father of the subject of this sketch, married Emily C. Van Boost, a daughter of Francis V. Van Boost, who came with his family from near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and settled in Indiana, whence he removed to Iowa. At the time she met Mr. Cameron she was a student at Howe Academy at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Her mother was a Coryell of the old Pennsylvania family of that name.

Frank B. Cameron began his experience as a printer in Washington, D. C., and in 1876 joined the typographical union in that city and has since been an active member of that organization, having been a member of its executive committee, a delegate in 1892 to the international convention at Philadelphia and a delegate to the Ohio Federation. In January, 1900, and again in July, the same year, he was elected president of the Columbus Trades and Labor Assembly, which is composed of seven delegates from each labor organ- ization in the city and represents about eight thousand local workers at dif- ferent trades and is a practical affiliation of organizations for the purpose of bringing different kinds of labor together to make common cause against opposing interests.

Mr. Cameron came to Columbus in 1884. From 1885 to 1887 he pub- lished and edited the Urbana Sun and the Trade Ledger, a daily labor paper at Columbus. From 1893 to 1896 he filled the office of justice of the peace, to which he was elected by a larger majority than was ever given to any other candidate for that responsible position in Columbus. He was a Knight of Pythias, and has filled all chairs in the local organization of Red Men. He married Miss Sarah E. Crabill, of Champaign county, Ohio, who was a teacher in the public schools there. Mrs. Cameron has borne her husband two daugh- ters, named Lula May and Hazel C.

JOHN H. KOEHL.

John H. Koehl, who occupied the position of secretary of the Democratic county central committee in the year 1900, was born in Columbus in 1876, and is a son of Charles' Koehl, a native of Bavaria, Germany, who on crossing the Atlantic to the new world in 1854 came direct to Columbus. Soon he began farming in Hamilton township, following agricultural pursuits until 1872, when he returned to the city and engaged in business here for about twenty-four years. He was very successful in his undertakings and in 1896

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A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 112

Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1156

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1156