A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 31

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 31

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Mrs. Cooke is a lady of prominence, fearless, sincere and earvest in what- ever she champions. She is loyal to the defenders of her country, and her chief pleasure is to perpetuate in the minds of the young the gratitude and honor which is so justly deserved by those who followed the starry banner upon the battle-fields of the south. Her husband died October 28, 1886, hav- ing been confined to his bed eleven years, and his sickness and death resulting from his army experience. His was a record of a noble and useful life, consistent with the right, and wherever he was known he was held in the highest regard. In many respects his career was worthy of emulation, and among the representative men of Franklin county he well deserves mention.

WILLIAM EDGARDSON MEYER.

This is embphatically an age in which the young man is prominent. He is a leader in business, in the professions, in religious works and in politics. Columbus, Ohio, has a good representation of young men, and not the least popular of them is the well-known young Republican whose name is above.

William Edgardson Meyer is a son of Charles and Louise (Bowman) Meyer, and was born near Steubenville, Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1867. and at the age of thirteen was brought to Columbus by his parents, who took up their residence here in 1880. Mr. Meyer began his education at Steubenville and finished it at Columbus. He began his active career in the shops of the Columbus Buggy Company, where he learned carriage paint- ing in all its branches, and for several years he has been a contractor for house painting and as such has won deserved success.

From boyhood Mr. Meyer has taken an interest in politics. At the age of sixteen he was a drummer for the Southside Republican Club, which won a banner for being the best drilled Republican club in the state. Before he was twenty-one he painted the Thirteenth ward Republican banner. He lias been a delegate to state and county conventions of his party, a member of the Republican county executive committee, secretary of the First Ward

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Republican Club, the captain of its drum corps, a member of the Buckeye Republican Club, and the Young Men's Republican Club. For three years he held a clerkship in the office of the recorder of Franklin county, and October 1, 1899, he was appointed to his present responsible position as the superintendent of the court-house.

Mr. Meyer is an Odd Fellow, a Mason, a Red Man and a member of the order of the Helping Hand, and in all relations with his fellow citizens has won the highest esteem. He was married in Columbus to Miss Mary Duce, a daughter of Franklin Duce, who with his wife came from Germany many years ago, and is an old and respected resident of Columbus. Mrs. Meyer is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

GEORGE WATT.

George Watt, who is numbered among the native sons of Blendon town- ship, was born September 30, 1832, and is of Scotch lineage. His grand- father, Hugh Watt, was a native of Scotland, and married Elizabeth Reed, who was born in Ireland and came with her parents to the new world when a child. The voyage was an unusually long one, so that the supply of pro- visions became exhausted and the family, with all on board, suffered for the want of food. The father of our subject was John Watt, who was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1804. His father died in that county and the mother afterward came with the children to Franklin county. After resid- ing in Franklinton for a short period they took up their apode in Blendon township, on the farm now owned by Vos Schrock. The grandmother sub- sequently removed to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to make her home with her daughter. John Watt was reared under the parental roof, and in early man- hood wedded Lorena Billington, who was born in Delaware county, Ohio, about 1811, and was a daughter of John Billington, who came to Franklin county at an early day, settling upon a farm adjoining the Watt homestead. Later he removed to La Porte, Indiana, where both he and his wife died. An ancestor of John Billington came with his family to the new world on the Mayflower in 1620. Mrs. Watt passed away about 1841, and the father afterward wedded Miss Hannah Cooper, a daughter of William Cooper, who came to Franklin county, Ohio, in 1809. By the first marriage there were two children,-George and Charles. After his first marriage John Watt took up his abode upon the home farm, where he resided for five years, when he purchased the farm that was afterward occupied by our subject, there continuing to reside until September, 1849, when his life's labors were ended in death.

George Watt attended the common schools of the neighborhood in his youth and also worked upon the farm, assisting in the labors of field and meadow. He was only seventeen years of age at the time of his father's death, and as he was the eldest son the management of the farm devolved upon him. Later he and his brother operated the farm in partnership until the marriage of George Watt, in 1855, when the property was divided. our subject becoming the owner of the north half of the place. To this he added

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from time to time until he owned one hundred and seventy acres of rich land under a high state of cultivation. Throughout his business career he carried on agricultural pursuits and stock-raising, and was very successful in his work, becoming one of the substantial men of the county.

It was on December 5. 1855. that Mr. Watt was united in marriage to Miss Clarissa Dill. a native of Mifflin township, Franklin county, and a daughter of David and Mary ( Turney ) Dill. Her father was born in Nova Scotia in 1809, and some years afterward took up his abode in Mifflin town- ship, where he engaged in farming until his death, in 1850. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Watt was blessed with four children, all of whom are yet living, namely : Mary L. and Carrie, both at home; Alice D., the wife of Arthur C. Adams, a farmer of Blendon township, by whom she has two daughters, Willma and Marian; and John E., who is still on the homestead farm. Mr. Watt belonged to the Presbyterian church, and in politics he was a Republican. While he never neglected his duties of citizenship and supported men and measures for the general good, his time and attention were largely given to farming, which he made the means of livelihood for himself and family. His labors resulted in bringing to him a good income, and he was numbered among the well-to-do residents of Blendon township at the time of his death, which occurred on the 4th of April, 1901.

JOHN HAYWOOD.

The work of the teacher is one which demands ability, integrity and the love of humanity, and to have grown old as a teacher, always busy, always successful, is an honor more to be prized than riches. The subject of this sketch is the oldest teacher now living of Otterbein University, long a promi- nent educational institution and one of the landmarks in the history of Franklin county, Ohio.

John Haywood. LL. D., was born at Stockton, New York, March 16, 1825. James Haywood, his father, was born at Jaffrey, New Hampshire, October 7. 1790. and there learned the blacksmith's trade. About 1815 he removed to Chautauqua county, New York, where he was among the early settlers. He worked for a time as a blacksmith, but eventually became a merchant, opening the first small store in a log building at Stockton. He closed out that business about 1839, and removing to Brockton, New York, resumed blacksmithing, at which he was employed until late in life, when he engaged in the grocery trade. He died August 22, 1872. He was a self-made man, who acquired a good education. Always active and enter- prising. he was fairly successful in life. Politically he was a Whig, and iater he was a Republican, but he was not a practical politician and took little part in political work. Benjamin Haywood, the grandfather of Dr. John Haywood, was a native of New England, and risked his life for the cause of the colonies in the Revolutionary war. The original American ancestor of the family was John Haywood, who came from England in the seven- teenth century. James Haywood married Tryphena Byam, June 19, 1814.

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Mrs. Haywood, who was born at Chelmsford, Massachusetts, February 20, 1793, and died November 8, 1876, bore her husband ten children, named as follows in the order of their nativity: Sarah, April 2, 1815, died February 4. 1847; Martha, March 14, 1817, died June 29, 1896; Mary, June 3, 1819, died January 2, 1900; James B., January 1, 1822, died March II, 1876; William, May 4, 1823, died October 12, 1886; John; George B., February 3. 1828. died February 5, 1895; Byam, who died in infancy; Joseph, Feb- ruary II, 1831, died January 3, 1842; and Melinda J., December 5, 1833, died February 7, 1868.

Dr. Haywood attended the public schools near his home in western New York, learned the blacksmith's trade of his father and assisted the latter until he was about twenty-one years old. He then entered Oberlin College, at Oberlin, Ohio, and was graduated in the class of 1850. After his grad- uation he taught a private academic school for two terms. In March, 1851, he came to Westerville, Franklin county, Ohio, to teach an institution which later became known as Otterbein College, which was then a small school under the auspices of the United Brethren church, employing only two teachers. The school prospered, and about a year after Dr. Haywood took up his work there a faculty was organized and he was called to the profes- sorship. of mathematics and sciences, and he served in that capacity, with distinguished success, until 1862, when he resigned to become the principal of the academy at Kingston, Ross county, Ohio. In 1867 he returned to Otterbein College and was a prominent member of its faculty until 1896, when his hearing became impaired and he found it advisable to retire.

Miss Sylvia Carpenter, a teacher also of Otterbein University. born August 17, 1828, at Liberty, Ohio, became the wife of Dr. Haywood, and died October 24, 1886. They had six children, three of whom died in child- hood. Joseph died at the age of twenty-three years and John when nine years of age. Eliza Jane married L. O. Miller, who is a business agent of the United Brethren publishing house at Dayton, Ohio. Dr. Haywood's pres- ent wife was Eliza Carpenter, a sister of his first wife.

GEORGE P. SCHWARTZ.

One of the leading agriculturists of Truro township, George P. Schwartz, owns and operates a valuable farm of one hundred and twenty-six acres, whose neat and thrifty appearance well indicates his careful supervision. Sub- sequent improvements enhance the value of well-tilled fields, and all the acces- sories and conveniences of a model farm are there found.

The family to which our subject belongs was founded in Franklin county by his paternal grandfather, Schwartz, who located here about 1818, becom- ing one of the first settlers of Hamilton township, where he purchased a tract of land, built a log cabin. and with the help of his older sons com- menced to clear and improve his property.

Peter Schwartz, our subject's father, is a native of Germany, and was about eleven years of age when he came to the United States with his par-

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ents and settled in this county. Throughout his active business life he has engaged in farming and stock-raising in Hamilton township, where he is numbered among the prominent and influential citizens. He has served as a director of his school district, and is a trustee of the cemetery association, having filled the latter position for a number of years. Politically he is a stanch Democrat, but at township and county elections votes for man and not party. Religiously he is a liberal supporter and active member of the German Lutheran church. In Hamilton township, Mr. Schwartz married Miss Elizabeth Keoble, and to them were born thirteen children, namely : Jacob, Michael, Mary, Malinda, Samuel, Joseph, George P., Lydia, Lewis, Emma, Frank, Calvin and Flora, eleven of whom are still living, Calvin and Frank having passed away.

George P. Schwartz, our subject, was born in Madison township, Frank- lin county. February 9, 1865, and was reared to agricultural pursuits upon the home farm. For the past eight years he has occupied his present farm in Truro township, and in its operation has met with excellent success. He was married March 21, 1888, to Miss Annie Bevilheimer, a native of Colum- bus. Her father, Rebben Bevilheimer, was born in Pennsylvania, and at an early day came with his parents to Franklin county, Ohio, becoming one of its oldest settlers. He now makes his home at No. 1444 Bryden Road, Columbus. Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz are the parents of four children, three sons and one daughter, as follows: Frank R., born October 13, 1889; Clyde E., June 17, 1892; George R., March 8, 1894; and Catherine, June 25. 1899.

Mr. Schwartz holds membership in the Lutheran church and is a liberal supporter of the same. He has ever taken an active and commendable interest in public affairs, and never withholds his aid from any enterprise which he believes will prove of public benefit. He was elected a school director of district No. I, where he now lives, and held that office for two terms, and also efficiently served as road supervisor of Madison township for two terms. At national elections he supports Democratic principles, but votes for whom he considers the best man for county and township offices regard- less of party lines.

JOHN T. WRIGHT.

John T. Wright is the owner of a valuable farm of one hundred and forty-seven and a half acres in Madison township, Franklin county. and the modern methods which he follows in caring for his property and cultivating his fields are well worthy of emulation and cannot fail to bring success unless circumvented by circumstances over which man has no control. Mr. Wright is a native of the township in which he yet resides, his birth having occurred on the 14th of November. 1837. His father, John Wright, was born in Madison township. Franklin county, about 1805. the family being among the honored pioneer settlers who aided in laying broad and deep the foun- dation for the present prosperity and progress of this portion of the state. He married Nancy Whims, who was a native of Virginia, and during her

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early girlhood came to Ohio with her parents. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Wright were born four sons and five daughters: Eliza, John T., Jane, David, Dan- iel, Jonathan, Emily, Laura, and Martha. Of this number, Eliza and Jona- than are now deceased. By a former marriage the father had one daughter, Sarah.

In taking up the personal history of John T. Wright we present to our readers the life record of one who has spent his entire days in Franklin county and who is well known to her citizens. His early education was acquired in the schools of Madison township, and he remained upon his father's farm throughout the period of his minority, working in field and meadow and assisting in all the labors which go to make up the lot of the agriculturist. At the age of twenty-two years, on the 4th of January, 1859, he was united in marriage to Miss Lucinda Painter, a daughter of Joseph and Sarah ( Fisher) Painter. Mr. and Mrs. Wright began their domestic life upon a farm of one hundred and twenty-eight acres, which was a part of his father's old homestead. Part of it was covered with a native growth of timber when he took possession, but before the sturdy strokes of his axe the monarchs of the forest fell, and as he cleared and cultivated the land it yielded to him a golden tribute. All of the improvements upon the place stand as monuments to his enterprise and thrift. As the years have passed he has added to his original possessions a tract of one hundred and thirty- nine acres, and his large farm is now a very desirable property.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Wright have been born four children, two sons and two daughters, but only one is now living, Joseph, who occupies a farm of one hundred and nineteen acres owned by his father. He married Rebecca Ann Motts, a daughter of Benival Motts, who is a farmer of Truro town- ship. They also have one child. Joseph Russell. The son now carries on the farm, while Mr. Wright, of this review, has practically retired from active business life and is enjoying a well-earned rest. He has contributed lib- crally toward the support of churches and to all worthy movements for the benefit of his fellow men. In politics he is a Democrat on questions which affect the weal or woe of the nation, but is an independent voter in town- ship and county elections. He owes his success to his energy and industry, and his life record proves that prosperity is not a matter of genius or results from a fortunate combination of circumstances, but may be acquired through individual effort when directed along lines of honorable endeavor.

WEBSTER P. HUNTINGTON.

In the promotion and conservation of advancement in all the normal lines of human progress and civilization there is no factor which has exer- cised a more potent influence than the press, which is both the director and mirror of public opinion. Columbus has been signally favored in the char- acter of its newspapers, which have been vital. enthusiastic and progressive, ever aiming to advance the interests of this favored section of the Union, to aid in laying fast and sure the foundations of an enlightened common-

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wealth, to further the ends of justice and to uphold the banner of Ohio. In a compilation of this nature, then, it is clearly incumbent that due recogni- tion be accorded the newspaper press of the state.

Prominent among the representatives of the journalistic interests of Ohio stands Webster Perit Huntington, who resides in the capital city, where his birth occurred on the 20th of February, 1865. He is a son of Pelatiah Webster and Jane Nashee ( Deshler) Huntington. In the common schools of Columbus the subject of this review acquired his preliminary education, and at an early age went to Keene, New Hampshire, where he continued his studies. After pursuing the study of law for two years he bacame the editor of the Cheshire Republican, a Democratic newspaper, and later he established the Keene Evening Tribune, now the Sentinel, the first daily newspaper in southwestern New Hampshire. In 1891 he returned to Colum- bus to become an associate editor of the Columbus Evening Dispatch. One year later he was made the editor-in-chief of the Columbus Post; and upon the consolidation of the Post with the Press Mr. Huntington was made an associate editor of the Press-Post. Subsequently he became the managing editor, which position he resigned in March, 1899. He organized, and is now the president of, the Ohio Newspaper Syndicate. He has a wide acquaintance among newspaper men of his native state, as well as in New England, and is recognized as one of the leading representatives of journalism in Ohio. He has also been active in politics, although never a candidate for office, and was both the temporary and permanent chairman of the Demo- cratic state convention of 1900.

On the IIth of May, 1886, in Keene, New Hampshire, Mr. Huntington was united in marriage to Miss Anna Harlow, and they have three children.

JOSEPH OLDS.

Joseph Olds, a lawyer, was born in Circleville, Pickaway county, Ohio, April 15, 1832, son of Edson Baldwin and Anna Maria (Carolus) Olds. His father, Dr. Edson B. Olds, studied at Transylvania College in Ken- tucky, and was graduated at Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia. He was a prominent and leading Democrat in Ohio, the speaker of the Ohio senate in 1846-7, and a member of congress for three terms from March, 1849, to March, 1855, when he was defeated by the Know-nothing move- ment. While in congress he was distinguished and influential, and was for two terms the chairman of the committee on postoffices and post-roads. The counties of Pickaway, Fairfield, Licking, Franklin, Madison and Fay- ette were represented by him in congress, his district having been changed while he was a member. Dr. Olds was an able debater and eloquent speaker. He was a man of unusual strength of character and of strong convictions, which he at all times fearlessly maintained. He was born June 3, 1802, and died January 25, 1869. Anna Maria Olds was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and was a granddaughter of Peter Shaffer, who served first

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as ensign and afterward as captain in the Pennsylvania troops during the Revolutionary war. She was noted for her kindness, charity and piety. She was born March 7, 1805, married Dr. Olds at Circleville June 18, 1824, and died December 22, 1859.

Joseph Olds was educated by private instruction at home until he entered the freshman class at Yale College, in September, 1849. He was graduated at Yale with high honors in 1853. He then studied law for a year at Circleville with his uncle, Chauncey N. Olds, who had been a member of the senate of Ohio, and was afterward attorney-general of the state, and died in 1890. Chauncey N. Olds was a highly educated man, a cultured and courteous gentleman, a polished and persuasive orator, one of the foremost lawyers in Ohio for many years, and a prominent member of the Presby- terian church. He was graduated at the Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, and studied and practiced law at Circleville, with his older brother, Joseph Olds, who was a distinguished and leading lawyer in Ohio from an early day in the history of the state, until his death in 1846. Joseph Olds, the younger, in September, 1854, entered the Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, where he was graduated, and received the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1856. He was admitted to the bar by the district court at Chilli- cothe, Ohio, the same year. In 1857 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Pickaway county, and served two terms. He afterward practiced law with Jonathan Renick, of Circleville, until the death of Mr. Renick in 1863, and then alone until May, 1868. He had a large practice in Pickaway and ad- jacent counties. In April, 1868, he was elected, in Pickaway, Franklin and Madison counties, a judge of the fifth judicial district of Ohio, and served as such from May, 1868, to May, 1873. During his term of office he held all the courts of common pleas in Pickaway and Madison counties, held court in Columbus about five months in each year, and attended all the sessions of the district court in the nine counties of the district. He resided at Circleville until May, 1878, and then changed his residence to Columbus and re-entered the practice of law, in partnership with Richard A. Harrison. He has ever since resided in Columbus, and practiced law with Judge Harrison, as a mem- ber of the successive firms of Harrison & Olds, Harrison, Olds & Marsh, and Harrison, Olds & Henderson. Their practice in important litigation, in- volving large amounts of money or property, in the federal and state courts, has been of the most extensive character. Judge Olds is devoted to his pro- fession. He has always been a stanch and pronounced Democrat, but has not, since he left the bench, desired public office of any kind, and has repeat- edly declined to accept office.

Judge Olds was married at Circleville, on December 18. 1866, to Miss Mary Anderson, of Pickaway county. She was born at Glen Mary. near Chillicothe, Ohio, on November 5. 1846. She is the daughter of William Marshall and Eliza ( McArthur) Anderson. Her father. William Marshall Anderson, was a son of Colonel Richard C. Anderson and a brother of Gen- eral Robert Anderson, of Fort Sumter fame, of Colonel Charles Anderson,

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a former governor of Ohio, and of Larz Anderson, deceased, of Cincinnati. Colonel Richard C. Anderson served throughout the Revolutionary war, first as captain, then as major and finally as lieutenant-colonel in the Virginia continental troops. After the war he was selected by his brother officers as the first principal surveyor of the Virginia military lands. William Marshall Anderson was born June 24, 1807, at his father's home, "Soldier's Retreat," near Louisville, Kentucky, and died at Circleville, Ohio, on January 7, 1881. He studied at Transylvania University and was admitted to the bar, but practiced law only for a few years. He moved to Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1835 and resided there until 1854, when he changed his residence to Pickaway county. He was a man of remarkable erudition and great scientific attain- ments and of most agreeable address and manners. While on a visit to Mexico in 1865, he was commissioned by Maximilian to examine and report upon the agricultural and mineral resources of northern Mexico, and was engaged in that service when Maximilian fell.

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A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 31

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