A centennial biographical history of Crawford County, Ohio, Part 3

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 886

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"Whilst on the bench, Judge Scott's position was characterized by the highest degree of learning and accuracy. His published judicial opinions are found in the Ohio State Reports, from volume V to volume XXI inclusive, and the first series of volumes containing the decisions of the commission, and they take rank with the best ever announced from the bench. In preparing a brief, when a lawyer finds a decision of Judge Scott on the subject, it always affords pleasure and relief. His analysis is so complete and his reasoning so conclusive and easily understood that one almost wonders why the question should ever have been involved in doubt. It is also a notable feature of the Ohio State Reports that there are few, if any, dissenting opinions in cases where the decisions were announced by Judge Scott. He left his impression upon the jurisprudence of Ohio as distinctly as any other figure in the his- tory of our courts, and his opinions are not only sound, but instructive.

"He was an earnest believer and professor of the truths of the Christian religion, whose holy precepts he practiced in the whole course of his life. It may safely be asserted that he never in his life, in his business, in his pro-

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fession, in court or elsewhere, did or conceived a dishonorable act, and his life teaches us that without professional uprightness and integrity there can be no enduring success. Judge Scott always regarded it as a duty, not only to his client and himself, but a higher and more important one to his country, which bestows on a lawyer important privileges and requires of him important services, to discourage groundless and unlawful litigation, and to present his client's case truthfully and fairly. Sad, indeed, would be the thought, when such a man is gone from earth, were all his learning and wisdom gone, too. But all of such men cannot die. While his body slumbers in the earth his words of wisdom and his example of purity will shed their lustre as a beacon to guide those who succeed him."

LAWRENCE W. HALL came from Cuyahoga county in the spring of 1844 and commenced the practice of law in Bucyrus. For six years from October, 1845, he held the office of county prosecuting attorney : was elected judge of the common-pleas court in 1851 and held the office until 1857 ; was elected a member of the house of representatives of the thirty-fifth congress, and then resumed the practice of law. He was a brilliant, able lawyer, and as a political and partisan leader possessed even still greater ability. In the last years of his life his course was less commendable. The opposition to the war of the Rebellion, developed in Bucyrus and vicinity, attracted the attention of the government, and in 1862 Judge Hall was arrested and nominally held for several weeks a political prisoner. at Camp Mansfield, and finally discharged without further action. In consequence of ill health, largely on account of drink, he was on parole, and required to report .- only as it suited his con- venience. He died at Bucyrus, January 18, 1863.

JOSIAH S. PLANTS, born in Pennsylvania in 1820, died in Bucyrus, Au- gust 23, 1863, of wounds received by the accidental discharge of a gun. He was educated in Ashland (Ohio) Academy, studied law under the preceptor- ship of Judge Josiah Scott, and was admitted to the bar and began practice at Bucyrus, in 1844. He rose very rapidly in the profession, and, in 1858 was elected judge of the common-pleas court; and while in office he was dis- tinguished for industry, honesty of purpose, devotion to his friends, fidelity to his clients and earnestness and force as a public speaker. His career at the bar and on the bench was such as to justify the highest expectations of his friends had his life been prolonged.

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ALONZO M. JONES, deceased, was a native of Berkshire county, Massa- chusetts, born April 4, 1811. His parents were Ludwig and Mary ( Hale) Jones. They removed to the Western Reserve in the spring of 1817 and settled in Lorain county, where their son was reared. He had gained a limited education when, at the age of fourteen, he lost his father in death, and thereafter, until twenty-one, the care and support of his family fell upon him. He began the study of medicine, in the spring of 1832, at La Grange, in the office of Dr. E. W. Hubbard. A year later he attended lectures at the medical school in Worthington, Ohio, graduating in July, 1834. He came to Bucyrus, in December, 1835, and thereafter continued his profession with scarcely an interruption until 1843. For some seven years thereafter Dr. Jones operated a woolen mill, and then, selling his interest in the mill to a partner, he engaged in the real-estate business, for several years with success. In 1866, in com- pany with three other gentlemen, Dr. Jones embarked in the manufacture of hubs, spokes and bent work. He was a competent business man and a worthy citizen.

In 1838, he married Elizabeth Norton, a daughter of Samuel Norton, an early pioneer of the county, and the original proprietor of the land on which the village of Bucyrus was first laid out. Of the eight children born unto the marriage, five died in infancy and childhood. The other three were Mary L., wife of Col. W. C. Lemert, Lorenzo E. and Volney W.

DR. GEORGE KELLER, deceased, was one of the most eminent and skillful physicians and surgeons that ever graced the medical profession in Crawford county. He was a native of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, the date of his birth being November 24, 1826. He was three years old when his father re- moved to Ohio and settled at Dalton, where Dr. Keller spent his youth and was educated. When only fifteen he began the study of medicine, under a practi- tioner of Dalton, and until he was prepared to practice, both studied medicine and taught school. At DeKalb, Ohio, he began the practice and after some time spent there he went to Cleveland to further prepare himself for the pro- fession by attending medical lectures during the sessions of 1846 and 1847.

Returning to Dalton, he practiced there until March, 1850, when he be- came physician for a party of two hundred and forty people, who were travel- ing overland to California, this journey covering a period of one hundred and eight days and fraught with some accidents and fatal occurrences, nine men being killed by the Indians on Pitt river. On July 4, 1850, they reached their destination, arriving at a point on the Sacramento river. For six months Dr.

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Keller practiced in Yuba City and Marysville. Returning to Ohio, in May, 1851, he located at West Liberty, where he remained about three years, and, graduating, in the spring of 1853, from the Cincinnati Medical College, he was then located for a short time at Bluffton, Indiana, but in 1861 became a resi- dent physician of Bucyrus, where he continued until the time of his death, with an interruption of about two years spent at Churubusco, Indiana.

In 1877 and 1878 he was a member of the faculty of the Fort Wayne Medical College. He was well educated and of varied knowledge and skill in his profession. He was noted for his literary ability and extensive knowl- edge of various subjects. Some ten years ago death closed his useful and exemplary career. In 1848 he married Mary J. English, of Canton, Ohio, who survives him and still resides in Bucyrus.

JAMES S. McCARRELL, one of the best known older citizens of Bucyrus, was born in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, February 16, 1836. His par- ents were James and Nancy ( Shearer) McCarrell. He was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools until fourteen years of age, when he was sent to an academy at Hookstown, Pennsylvania, where he studied for three years, after which he spent six years in teaching school. When aged twenty-four years he entered a dental office at New Brighton, Pennsylvania, where he was a student of dentistry for three years. After a further stay of two years in New Brighton he came to Ohio and located in Bucyrus, and began the practice of dentistry, in which he has been so successful as to estab- lish a high reputation for himself.

January 16, 1867, Dr. McCarrell married Mary Matthews, of San- dusky, Ohio.

ASA HOSFORD was among the early settlers of Crawford county. He was born in Richfield, Massachusetts, in 1799, and lived to a ripe old age, spending an active and fruitful life. When he was six years of age his par- ents became residents of Jefferson county, New York, where they spent four- teen years and then removed to Ontario county, New York. He was reared on the farm, and when he became twenty-one years of age, and having a strong desire to see Ohio, he and his brother went by steamboat to Cleveland, and then started out on foot for the interior of the state. This was in the fall of 1819, and in Huron county Mr. Hosford remained all winter, and was joined in the spring by his parents, who with him located in Crawford county, where he worked for several years to earn his first one hundred dollars, with

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which he entered eighty acres of land near Galion. In the year 1824 he opened the first hotel in the neighborhood. It was located within the present site of Galion, and for eight years he was its proprietor, and then sold it for six hundred dollars, and purchased forty-three acres of land, which was situ- ated where the heart of Galion is to-day. It was his intention to lay out a town on it, but finally sold the land to Michael and Jacob Ruhl, who laid out the town of Galion, September 10, 1831. Mr. Hosford, in 1832, purchased the mill property in Polk township, which he operated for more than fifty years.

In 1825 Alta Kent became his wife, who bore him three children, viz .: Rebecca, Eri and Stephen.

JOHN RUHL, the father of Michael and Jacob Ruhl, who laid out the town of Galion, September 10, 1831, came from York county, Pennsylvania. direct to Crawford county. His family consisted of his wife and his children. -Michael, Jacob, Levi, Henry, Peter and Rebecca. He was possessed of considerable means in land and money, and his sons became important factors in the development of Polk township, and the town of Galion. His grand- son, Alexander A. Ruhl, son of Jacob and Sarah (Daws) Ruhl, served as auditor of the county four years from 1859, and was elected clerk of courts in 1879. Alexander A. Ruhl was born in Shrewsbury, York county, Penn- sylvania, April 4, 1828; was well educated; married, in 1853, Aurelia MI. Shanke, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

CHARLES G. RUPP, son of Peter and Hellena ( Earnst ) Rupp, was born February 3, 1822, in York county, Pennsylvania. Gottleib Rupp, his grand- father, was a native of Germany, came to America late in the eighteenth cen- tury and settled in York, Pennsylvania, where he was a butcher : he had four sons and two daughters. The marriage of Peter Rupp and Hellena Earnst was blessed with four sons and two daughters. The father died at York. Pennsylvania, in 1825, while the mother survived him many years, dying at Wapakoneta, Ohio, in 1878, aged ninety-three years.

Charles G. Rupp received a limited education, became a clerk at the age of eleven, at his native town, and was thus employed for ten years. In 1843 he came to Ohio by stage and canal, remained only a short time in Galion. then went to Leesville, where he kept store for three years, and then re- moved to Bucyrus, in 1848, and was employed as a clerk for four years. He then engaged in business for himself, with partners, for a short time and was 2

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compelled to retire on account of ill health ; but later he became a clerk again. Upon the failure of the Bucyrus Machine Works he became the assignee and settled up the business, which required some three years. In 1873 he bought a stone quarry at Leesville, which was a profitable investment. He was post- master of Leesville during the administration of President Polk. In politics he was first a Free-soiler and then a Republican. He was married, in 1848, to Margaret J. Ruhl, of Galion. To the marriage were born four children, -Annie, Clara. Maggie and Lincoln, who grew to maturity, while five died in childhood.

HORACE EUGENE VALENTINE.

In the affairs of state, as taken aside from the extraordinary conditions of warfare, there are demanded men whose mental ken is as wide and whose gen- eralship is as effective as those which ensure successful maneuvering of armed forces by the skilled commanders on the field of battle. The nation's welfare and prosperity may be said to hang as heavily upon individual discrimination and executive ability in the one case as the other. It requires master minds to marshal and organize the forces for political purposes and produce the best results by concerted effort. One of the honored Democratic political leaders of Crawford county is Hon. Horace Eugene Valentine, who served for two terms as state senator from the thirty-first senatorial district. and his public record reflects credit upon his constituents and district which he represented. He is also an active man-of-affairs in business circles, being the cashier of the First National Bank of Bucyrus, which position he has occupied since 1898.

Mr. Valentine is one of the native sons of Crawford county, his birth hay- ing occurred in the village of Benton in Texas township, April 8, 1859. He represents an old New York family, his ancestors having come from the Em- pire state. His father, James Valentine, removed to Crawford county from the city of Syracuse, New York, about 1830, his wife and his parents coming with him. He secured a tract of land in Texas township and there devoted his energies to agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in the year 1861. His wife bore the maiden name of Angeline Clark. She was born near Syracuse, New York, and was a daughter of Edward Clark, who served in the New York Militia in the war of 1842. Mrs. Valentine was called to her final rest in 1866. They had four sons, the eldest being Edward, who enlisted for service in the Civil war and died in Libby prison: Jabez Clark,

HEvalentina

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deceased ; George B., deceased, and Horace Eugene. There was one daughter, Emily, now deceased.

Throughout his entire life Horace Eugene Valentine has been a resident of Crawford county. His preliminary education, acquired in the common schools, was supplemented by study in the Ohio Normal University, at Ada. Ohio, where he was graduated in the class of 1888. The following year he was elected county surveyor of Crawford county and was re-elected in 1892, serving continuously until 1895, covering a period of nearly seven consecutive years. Before his retirement from that office he was elected, as a Democrat, to the position of state senator to represent Crawford, Seneca and Wyandot counties, or the thirty-first district. He served for four years and filled the position so creditably that in 1897 he was re-elected. He was one of the active working members of the senate and gave to each question which came up for consideration earnest thought and study and left the impress of his individ- uality upon the legislation of the two terms served by him. He was the author of the anti-trust law of Ohio, known as the Valentine Anti-Trust Law. It was declared constitutional by the state supreme court and if enforced would effectually do away with injurious and unlawful trusts. His labors were untiring in behalf of the people and his record is creditable to the district which honored him.

In 1889 Mr. Valentine was united in marriage to Miss Josephine Nedry, of Texas township, a daughter of Joseph Nedry, one of the pioneer settlers and native sons of Crawford county, who is now seventy-five years of age. His father came to Ohio from Pennsylvania at a very early period in the development of the state. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Valentine have been born two children, Allen Gladstone, and Florence Emily.

Mr. Valentine is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and on the political stage such is his popularity and such his personal magnetism that his appearance to address the people is the signal of due en- thusiasm. He is a sturdy American character and a stalwart patriot, and has ever had the strongest admiration for our free institutions, being ever ready to make any personal sacrifice for their preservation.

CYRUS W. FISHER.

Colonel Cyrus W. Fisher, who for many years was a prominent pro- moter, constructor and operator of railroads in the west, has for the past decade been a leading and influential citizen of Bucyrus. He was born in

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Waynesville, Warren county, Ohio, on the 22d of September, 1835. His father, a prominent physician of Waynesville, removed to Indiana in 1839 and in 1844. accompanied by his family, went to Illinois. The following year he became a resident of Monroe county, Wisconsin, and in 1846 set- tled in Rock county, that state, from which place Cyrus W. Fisher was sent to Ohio in 1848 to attend school at Waynesville. In 1849 his parents returned to Ohio, locating in Lebanon, Warren county, at which place our subject completed his academic studies in 1851. Soon afterward he joined a corps of engineers engaged in making surveys of several railroads centering in Cincinnati. He was thus employed until 1854, when he entered the service of the Ohio & Indiana Railroad Company, which was constructing its line between Crestline, Ohio, and Fort Wayne, Indiana, serving in various capacities with that company, in shops, offices and in running trains upon the road until July, 1856. Next he entered the employ of the Bee Line Railroad as conductor, running between Crestline and Indianapolis. In Feb- ruary, 1857, he accepted a position in the office of John Canby, superintend- ent of the same road, at Bellefontaine, Ohio, and continued in that capacity until 1861.

When President Lincoln issued his first call for seventy-five thousand troops Mr. Fisher entered the army and was chosen first lieutenant of his company, which reported at Camp Chase, Columbus. It was mustered into the United States service for three years as Company F, Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The field and staff officers of the regiment were: \V. S. Rosecrans, colonel: Stanley Mathews, lieutenant colonel ; Rutherford B. Hayes, major ; Cyrus W. Fisher, adjutant ; and Skiles Gardner, quartermas- ter. The regiment was sent to West Virginia, in July, 1861. and partici- pated in the battles, marches and hardships of the campaign of that summer and fall which resulted in clearing West Virginia of Rebels. In November, 1861, Mr. Fisher was appointed major of the Fifty-fourth Ohio Infantry, and joined that regiment at Camp Dennison, Ohio. In February. 1862, his command was sent to Paducah, Kentucky, and was one of the regiments form- ing the division first commanded by Brigadier General W. T. Sherman. In November of the same year Mr. Fisher was promoted to lieutenant colonel of his regiment, which remained with that division that afterward became the nucleus of the Fifteenth Army Corps, and thus took part in many battles and sieges until the close of the war. His promotions are an indication of his ability as a military leader and of his unquestioned loyalty and fidelity to duty.

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In Bellefontaine, Ohio, on the 15th of December. 1859, Colonel Fisher had been united in marriage to Miss Sallie M. Dunham, who died September 25, 1860, and on the IIth of August, 1864, he was again married, his second union being with Miss Martha I. Hetich, of Crawford county, Ohio, by whom he had three children-Cyrus, John and Sallie, but the second is now deceased.

In March, 1865, accompanied by his wife. Colonel Fisher removed to Oskaloosa, Iowa, and purchased the Oskaloosa Herald, of which he was pro- prietor and editor-in-chief until February, 1868. During his residence in Bellefontaine, Ohio, he had studied law under the instruction of the Hon. Benjamin Stanton, who was for a number of years the member of congress from that district. In July, 1864, Colonel Fisher was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of Ohio, and after selling the Herald in 1868 he opened a law office in Oskaloosa, lowa, but threatened pulmonary troubles com- pelled him to seek the dryer climate of the Rocky mountains.

Having been tendered the position of superintendent, general freight and ticket agent of the Denver Pacific Railroad, he accepted the appointment in November, 1869, being the first to hold those offices, on any railroad in Colo- rado. He acted in those capacities until the road was purchased by the Kan- sas Pacific Railway in 1873. In the summer of 1870 the Kansas Pacific Railroad was completed to Denver and he was tendered the position of super- intendent of the Denver division, which he accepted in September of that year, thus serving until July 15. 1878. He was also superintendent of the Colorado Central Railway for a few months until Mr. Loveland again assumed control of the road in 1875. In the summer of 1878 he was made superin- tendent of the mountain division of the Union Pacific Railway, and assumed the duties of that office on the 15th of July, remaining there until February 7, 1879, when he resigned to accept the position of general superintendent of the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railway, of which he was also chosen a director and second vice-president in January, 1880. Upon the purchase of the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad by the Union Pacific he left that employ in September, 1882, and became general manager of the New Orleans & Denver Railroad Company, of which he was elected president and general manager in 1883. In 1884-5 he was lessee and general manager of this road, but resigned in March, 1886, to acept the position of general manager of the Rock Island lines west of the Missouri river, a position which he held until 1888, building and putting into operation thirteen hundred miles of railroad during that time.

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Colonel Fisher's wife, a sufferer from rheumatism, died at Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1888, and the Colonel then resigned his position and spent six months traveling in Europe, after which he returned to Denver. In 1889 he brought his children to Bucyrus, where he established a home for them. In 1891 he married Mrs. Mary D. Beer, and has since continued his residence in Bucyrus.

In politics Colonel Fisher has ever been a stalwart Republican, and has done mnuch active service in behalf of the Grand Old Party. In the cam- paign of 1896 he effectively supported William McKinley, who was his comrade in the Civil war, and in order to lessen the silver "craze" in Colo- rado he went to that state to do service for the party of sound money doctrine. While he was in Denver the Denver, Cripple Creek & Southwestern Railroad Company was organized, and Colonel Fisher was elected president of the company, acting in that capacity for two years, when the road was sold to the Colorado Southern. The Colonel has been identified with the Masonic fraternity since 1857, and is now a thirty-second-degree Mason. He is the present commander of the Grand Army post at Bucyrus, and is also identified with the Knights of Pythias lodge. His has been a very active and useful career, in which he has advanced steadily to positions of importance and responsibility. His prosperity has resulted entirely from his own efforts, and his promotions have come to him in recognition of his worth and merit. He is widely known in railroad circles throughout the country, and his repu- tation in business circles is above reproach, while in social life he is known as a genial, courteous gentleman who enjoys the warm regard of many friends.

JUDGE JAMES C. TOBIAS.

Judge James C. Tobias was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, on the IIth of November, 1856, a son of William B. and Catherine ( Mills) Tobias. The father was born near Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsyl- vania, October 1, 1815, and was a son of Benjamin and Sarah ( Clouse) Tobias. William B. Tobias resided on a farm until he was fifteen years of age, receiving but three months' schooling, and that at a night school. He then went to Carlisle, where he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker to learn the trade, serving four and a half years. Then, after working about six months as a journeyman, he went to Greencastle. Franklin county, Pennsylvania, about the year 1836, there opening a shop, and worked at his trade for about three

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years. His health failing, he closed his shop and took up farming in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, farming and residing in that county until 1864, when he came to Crawford county and settled in Liberty township, removing to Holmes township some four years later. In the latter township he continued his residence until 1877, when he sold his farm and removed to Bucyrus, where he spent the remainder of his life in retirement from active business affairs. He died in Bucyrus, in 1882, at the age of sixty-seven years. In 1841 he mar- ried Catherine Mills, a native of Franklin county, Pennsylvania. She is now. in 1901, residing in Bucyrus, and is eighty-four years of age. She bore her husband the following children who reached mature years: William F., Jane C., Elizabeth, John L., James C. and Daniel M.

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A centennial biographical history of Crawford County, Ohio, Part 3

Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 886

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 886