USA > Ohio > Richland County > A centennial biographical history of Richland county, Ohio > Part 21
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A native of Richland county, Mr. McBride was born in Monroe town- ship, August II, 1858, and is a son of Union and Nancy J. (Smart) McBride.
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C. E. McBRIDE.
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Union McBride was a son of Alexander and Ruth (Barnes) McBride, and his father was born in Staunton, Virginia, and in 1820 came to this county, locating on a farm in Monroe township, near the village of Lucas, where both he and his wife died at a ripe old age. Union and Nancy J. McBride had four children : our subject is the only survivor, the others having died in infancy.
Mr. McBride was educated in the country schools up to the age of sixteen years, spending his vacations on the home farm. In the fall of 1874 he entered the university at Wooster, Ohio, where he pursued a classical course and was graduated in 1879. On the 29th of August, that year, he married Miss Minnie Rhodes, a native of Ashland, Ohio, who was educated in the public schools of that city and at Perrysville Academy. Two daughters have been born to them,-Winona and Fay,-the former a graduate of the Mansfield high school and the latter just entering that institution.
The month following his marriage Mr. McBride began reading law in the office of Messrs. Burns and McBride, of Mansfield, the latter being his father's brother, Thomas McBride, now deceased. On the 7th of March. 1882, he was admitted to the bar on examination by commissioners appointed by the supreme court of Ohio. It was a very rigid examination where but seven passed in a class of fifteen. For two years he was engaged in practice at Mansfield with his uncle and former preceptor, the firm of Burns & Mc- Bride having been dissolved. In the fall of 1884 he formed a partnership with S. G. Cummings, which still exists. Their practice has been largely corporation work, and Mr. McBride is the trial lawyer of the firm, while his partner attends to the office practice. He has been in the employ of the Balti- more & Ohio Railroad Company as local and district counsel since 1884, and has been local and district attorney for the Big Four system since 1895. In this capacity he has tried many very complicated cases, usually with success.
Mr. McBride served one term as a member of the Mansfield city council, and largely through his efforts the Sherman-Heineman Park was added to the possessions of the city-a most beautiful resort. Its acquisition was hotly contested, and great credit is due Mr. McBride for the final success. During his term the franchise was granted establishing the city electric railway. He served six years as a member of the board of education of the city.
In the fall of 1893 Mr. McBride was elected by the Democratic party as a member of the lower house of the seventy-first general assembly of Ohio, and served on the judiciary and ways and means, or taxation, committees, representing the minority on both. During this term he introduced the Mc- Bride jury law, which provides for the abolition of the old jury system, 13
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whereby ward heelers and political hangers-on could succeed to places on the jury list, and provided that the common-pleas judge in each and every county in the state should appoint a non-partisan commission of four, or two from each political party, and that the names selected as jurors should be indorsed by at least three members of this commission. This became a law without a dissenting vote in either house or senate. Referring to this law, the presi- dent of the Ohio State Bar Association in his annual address said :
"I had given this subject much thought, and prepared some practical suggestion looking toward reform, when much to my delight, and no doubt to the gratification of our profession generally, an act of the legislature passed on the 23d day of April, 1894, provided for the appointment of a non-partisan jury commission of four suitable persons in each county, whose duty it is to select jurors for the ensuing year. Much may be expected from the improved jury system of the future. It is gratifying also to state that the measure was introduced in the house of representatives by Hon. Curtis E. McBride, of Mansfield, an active and honored member of our association. After passing the house, the bill was concurred in by the senate without a dis- senting vote. All honors to Brother McBride in this encouraging step in the direction of legal reform."
In the seventy-first general assembly Mr. McBride introduced a bill ex- tending the time from two to three years which law students must study preparatory to admission to the bar. This became a law, though it aroused the ire of many aspirants for easy honors in that direction. Another law which he secured upon the statute books is the law requiring "special findings" by a jury as well as a general verdict. If the special findings are inconsistent with the general verdict, the special findings govern. These were both passed in the session of 1894.
Mr. McBride was re-elected to the house in November, 1895, beginning his second term January 1, 1896. At this session he received the unanimous vote of his party for speaker, but his party being in the minority he was not elected, though he became floor leader of the minority during the seventy- second general assembly. During this session he was a member of the com- mittee on judiciary, taxation and rules, and secured the passage through the house, but without concurrence in the senate, of the McBride libel law. This provided that where a newspaper was sued for libel, the party bringing the suit must prove malice. It was very popular with the press, and a like measure was introduced at a subsequent session, meeting the same fate. Mr. McBride was appointed a commissioner to the Mexican Exposition, which failed to materialize. In September, 1898, he was appointed by Governor
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Bushnell a member of the Ohio centennial commission for the fourteenth congressional district. He received these two honorable appointments front a Republican governor, though an active and influential Democrat himself. He is the chairman of the transportation and fish committees in the centen- nial. On the Ist of January, 1900, Mr. McBride was appointed by the supreme court a member of the examining committee to examine applicants for admission to the bar, his appointment being for three years.
Socially he is prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity, being a member of the blue lodge, chapter and commandery of Mansfield; Ohio Con- sistory at Cincinnati; and Al Koran Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Cleveland. He is also a member of Mansfield Lodge, No. 56, B. P. O. E .; Madison Lodge, No. 26, K. of P .; Mansfield Lodge, No. 19, I. O. O. F .; Mohican Encampment, No. 13. I. O. O. F .; and the uniformed rank of the same,- the Patriarchs Militant. His wife is a member of the Round Table, a ladies' literary society, and also of the Presbyterian church and several socie- ties connected with it.
HON. SAMUEL S. BLOOM.
Samuel Stambaugh Bloom, a prominent citizen of Shelby, Ohio, was born in Waterford, Juniata county, Pennsylvania, March 11, 1834. He was the only child of George and Mary Ann (Stambaugh) Bloom, both of whom were from near Blaine, Perry county, Pennsylvania. His mother dying when he was only six days old, he became a member of the family of his grand- father, John Stambaugh, Sr. He began to receive his elementary education in his native state before the common-school system was established therein, and as soon as it was established he began attending district school and so continued until 1850. In 1851 he was chosen to teach his own district school, and after the term for which he was thus engaged he continued his education at the New Bloomfield Academy. After leaving this institution of learning he taught school every year, either in his native county or in Shelby, Ohio, until 1858.
At Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, December 25, 1855, he was married to Miss Anna Mary Stambaugh, of Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, a lady of his mother's name but not of her family. In March, 1856, he removed with his wife to Shelby, Ohio, she dying in August, 1857, and he took her remains back to Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, where she and their only son lie peacefully sleeping in the cemetery of that place. With the exception of a few years
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spent in Columbus, Ohio, he has lived in Shelby ever since, and is one of the very few that have lived there that length of time.
Mr. Bloom served as deputy postmaster from May, 1855, to 1860, and as postmaster from 1888 to March, 1890, being superseded by an appointee of President Harrison, because he was a Democrat. In 1857 he was elected township clerk, and soon afterward justice of the peace, and still later mayor of Shelby, serving in this latter office five years in succession, his series of terms in this office terminating in 1862, and holding his office at a time when the Republican party in his town was largely in the majority, which may be considered strong proof of his popularity and patriotism. In 1863, 1865, 1877 and 1879 he was elected to the state legislature as a representative from Richland county, thus serving eight years in the aggregate, and longer than has any other man thus represented the county. In 1880 he was his party's candidate for the position of speaker of the house, and was in fact the leader of the Democratic party during the last two years of his connection with the lower house.
February 29, 1864, he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of the state and subsequently in the circuit court and the United States district court at Cleveland, Ohio, and has been in continuous practice for thirty-six years. During the sessions of the legislature of 1878, 1879, 1880 and 1881, he was much occupied with the codification of the laws of Ohio, taking great interest in the work, having himself started the project fourteen years previously, during his first two terms of service in the legislature. While a member of the lower house he served on the committee on agriculture and was of great assistance to the Hon. Columbus Delano in perfecting the laws providing for the establishment of the Ohio Agricultural College, now the Ohio University.
Mr. Bloom introduced the first bill providing for the payment of the public debt of the state of Ohio by installments, he at the time being a member of the minority ; but the idea seemed of so great practical value that it was promptly adopted and put into operation by the majority. Since the measure became a law, the public debt of Ohio has been almost extinguished. Like most valuable discoveries in all departments of human thought, the idea was a very simple one. The state could not pay six million dollars in one year, but by dividing the bonds into installments, three hundred thousand dollars to be paid semi-annually, the payment of the debt became a comparatively easy task. During the several terms served in the legislature by Mr. Bloom he was the author of more than one hundred and fifty amendments to the
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laws of the state. In 1881 he was named as a suitable candidate for the office of governor, but he promptly declined to permit the use of his name in that connection, saying he was "too poor to run." He was also named as , a suitable candidate for delegate to the constitutional convention, but, the Hon. Barnabas Burns becoming a candidate, Mr. Bloom refused to make the canvass. While he was the chairman of the congressional district convention he was voted for as a candidate for congress, and had nearly sixty votes outside of his own county, but the delegation from his own county was so devoted to the regular candidate that neither was nominated. In 1896, at Shelby, he was again brought forward for congress, and for a time it seemed as though he would surely be named, but he promptly declined the honor for the reason that he could not fairly represent the views adopted in the platform on the silver question, and that he must be permitted to remain in the ranks of the party, instead of in the lead.
Years ago he served as a member of the Shelby school board and aided in the erection of the Central high-school building. He was also the pro- jector of the system of graduating pupils at the Shelby high school, a measure in which he has always taken great pride. He was also the projector of the first press in Shelby, the first paper in Shelby being the Pioneer, established in 1858, and subsequently the Gazette and Enterprise. Finally, on November 12, 1868, he established the News, with which he was con- nected until 1889, thus being for many years intimately connected with the press in his town, as well as having been the founder of the first paper.
On May 15, 1859, he married Mrs. Jennie M. Smiley, the widow of David Smiley, and the sister of the Hon. Harrison Mickey, now deceased. By this marriage Mr. Bloom had six children, viz .: Willis Perry; Lula J., the wife of Dr. M. T. Love; Ethel M., the wife of L. J. Dalie, now of Spring- field, Ohio; and three daughters that died in infancy and youth. Mrs. Dalie died June 12, 1899, and Mrs. Bloom died in Shelby, April 1, 1896. He has been heard to say that the birth of all his children and the death of his wives occurred within a circle of four hundred feet in Shelby and within the past forty-three years.
In 1891 Mr. Bloom moved his family to Columbus for the purpose of engaging in the practice of the law, but his youngest daughter married while there, and, his wife failing in health, he returned to Shelby, where he intends to pass the remainder of his days. Besides the editorial work performed by Mr. Bloom, mentioned above, he has published a number of books, among them being: "Why Are You a Democrat?" "Earth's Angels; or Hidden
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Oppression ;" "Why We Are Democrats;" "Popular Edition of the Laws of Ohio," containing nearly one thousand pages ; and finally, in 1900, "One Hun- dred Years of Platform Principles and Policies of the American Democracy."
In addition to the work outlined above Mr. Bloom carried through the legislature the insurance laws of the state, in 1865-8, which require state supervision, and he served as a member of the codification committee, twice on the judiciary committee, and on several special committees and conferences, among the latter the one creating the interest in forestry now so widely prev- alent, that on the investigation of the penitentiary and that relating to the publication of school-books. He was one of the organizers of the First Evangelical Lutheran church in Shelby, and also of the Monroe Avenue Lutheran church in Columbus. For more than twenty-five years he served as the superintendent of Sunday-schools, in Shelby and Columbus, and has been a Sunday-school worker for more than fifty years. In 1881 he estab- lished the first telephone exchange in Richland county, in Shelby, remaining its manager about seven years.
Thus it will be seen that his life has been not only a very busy one, but also a very useful one to his fellow men. During all these years as editor, publisher, author, business man, attorney and last, but not least, a farmer, he has been fully occupied, and even now, though sixty-seven years of age, he is by no means idle. But in 1881 he decided never again to be a candidate for public office, but has ever since remained an honored member of his party as well as an honored citizen of the state of Ohio. At the age of sixty-seven he considers himself as enjoying the best years of his life that have come to him, fully occupied with his business, having perfect health, possessed of his full mental vigor, and satisfied with his surroundings, even if not with the success with which he has met. But he can certainly reflect that the great majority of men have been and are much less useful and successful in life than himself, and few enjoy to a greater extent the confidence, respect and esteem of their neighbors and friends.
SETH G. CUMMINGS.
The subject of this sketch, who has attained distinction as one of the able members of the Mansfield bar, is now a member of the well known firm of Cummings & McBride. In this profession probably more than any other success depends upon individual merit, upon a thorough understanding of the principles of jurisprudence, a power of keen analysis, and the ability to
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present clearly, concisely and forcibly the strong points in his cause. Pos- sessing these necessary qualifications, Mr. Cummings is accorded a foremost place in the ranks of the profession in Richland county, and stands to-day one of the esteemed members of the Mansfield bar.
He was born in Crawford county, Ohio, October 31, 1839, a son of Isaac and Sylvia (Reed) Cummings, both natives of Maine, of which state his ancestors were early settlers. His paternal great-grandfather moved from Massachusetts to Maine at a very early day, establishing the family in Ken- nebeck county, where he was subsequently killed by the Indians. He was one of the defenders of the colonists in the Revolutionary war. The grand- father and his eldest son were soldiers of the war of 1812, and both died at Sackett's Harbor, New York, from disease contracted while in the service of that war. The Reed family, as represented by the mother of our subject, was early established in Oxford county, Maine. In tracing Mr. Cummings' genealogy we find that his ancestors were of Scotch and Irish descent and were residents of Massachusetts in the early part of the seventeenth century. His parents were married in Richland (now Crawford) county, Ohio, where the father cleared and developed a farm, making it his home from 1824 until his death, which occurred December 15, 1880. The mother died in February, 1865, leaving two sons, of whom our subject is the elder. Samuel is still liv- ing on the old home farm.
Mr. Cummings received a good common-school education, and at the age of twenty-two years commenced the study of law in Mansfield, being admitted to the bar in 1864. From April of that year until November, 1866, he was engaged in the mining business in Montana, and in 1867 took up the practice of his chosen profession in Galion, Ohio, where he remained until coming to Mansfield in October, 1884. Here he formed a partnership with Hon. C. E. McBride, which still exists, he being the office lawyer of this well known and successful firm. Since 1887 he has conducted at his office a thorough system of abstracting, having a complete set of abstract books of Richland county, and giving employment to two or three men in this depart- ment, which has become a profitable branch of his business. The firm have the largest and best selected law library in Mansfield, and do an extensive business as commercial lawyers and collectors, doing extensive trial business in various courts.
On the 24th of January, 1867, Mr. Cummings was united in marriage with Miss Sarah G. Ruhl, a daughter of Jacob and Sarah Ruhl, of Galion, where she was born, reared and educated. One son was born of this union,
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Glenn M., now a young man of twenty-seven years, who is employed in his father's business. He attended the public schools of Galion and Mansfield, and was graduated at Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio. In June, 1899, he was admitted to the bar as an attorney. He married Miss Almena Got- wald, of Springfield.
Politically Mr. Cummings is a Democrat, and has always taken an active interest in political affairs. While a resident of Crawford county, he served as prosecuting attorney two terms. Socially he is a member of the Masonic order, being a Master Mason, and religiously is a member of the English Lutheran church, to which his family also belong.
DAVID OZIER.
David Ozier is engaged in the banking business at Shiloh. The institu- tion with which he is connected, the Exchange Bank, is regarded as one of the reliable financial concerns in this part of the county, owing to the well known business ability of the proprietor.
Mr. Ozier was born in Mansfield September 24, 1832, and when three years of age accompanied his parents on their removal to Mifflin, Ashland county. After a short time spent there, however, the family returned to Richland county, where our subject was reared until his sixteenth year, acquiring his education in the common schools. At the age of sixteen he started out in life on his own account and has since depended upon his own resources for all that he has acquired and enjoyed of this world's goods. Going to West Unity, Ohio, he served a six-months apprenticship at the shoemaker's trade and then returned to Richland county, locating at Olives- burg, where he worked for three years as a farm hand. Subsequently he devoted a year to shoemaking and then entered into partnership with his brother Nelson for the purpose of dealing in cattle and other live stock. They disposed of their stock in the New Jersey markets and conducted a stock farm at Rome, in Blooming Grove township. For thirty years the business relations between the brothers was continued with excellent success. They handled between eight and fifteen thousand sheep each summer and also sold large numbers of cattle. The enterprise proved very successful and brought the partners an excellent financial return. For three years he walked from here to New Jersey driving sheep. These trips required sixty days to make the trip with the sheep. He also put in two winters driving hogs from here to Buffalo. These trips required forty-two days. He received for this service fifty cents per day.
DAVID OZIER AND FAMILY.
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In 1873 Mr. Ozier removed to Shiloh, but continued in the stock busi- ness until 1888, when he went into partnership with John Smith and estab- lished the Exchange Bank of Shiloh. Four years later he purchased Mr. Smith's interest and has since carried on banking alone.
On the 12th of August, 1859, occurred the marriage of Mr. Ozier to Miss Catherine Snapp. They have two children: Charles E., who is a member of the Independent Oil Company, of Bloomington, Illinois ; and Cora, the wife of Frank Armstrong, with whom and their four children she made, in 1900, a tour of the European countries. Mr. Ozier is a Republican who believes firmly in the principles of protection, expansion and in the gold standard. His success in business indicates his accurate and reliable methods and demonstrates the possibilities that lie before men who have the will and dare to do.
JOHN F. CULLER, M. D.
In no profession does advancement depend more upon knowledge or upon individual effort than in the medical; and when one has attained a posi- tion of prominence it is an indication of marked ability. Dr. Culler is known as one of the leading physicians and surgeons in this part of Rich- land county. He was born in Mifflin township. Ashland county, Ohio, December 23, 1857, and is one of the eleven children of Samuel and Sarah (Blust) Culler. The father, a native of Maryland, was born November 17, 1809, and was the son of Philip Culler, who also was a native of that state. The great-grandfather of our subject was a commissioned officer in the Revolutionary war. He, too, was probably a native of Maryland, but the family was founded in New England at an early date. Philip Culler carried on agricultural pursuits, and when his son was fourteen years of age hie removed to Ohio, taking up his abode in what is now Mifflin town- ship. Ashland county, where he purchased land and followed farming until his death.
There Samuel Culler was reared to manhood, and after he had attained his majority he purchased land and began farming on his own account, his place adjoining the old homestead. Throughout an active business career he devoted his energies to the cultivation of his fields. He died at the advanced age of eighty-four years, being called to his final rest on the 22d of March, 1893. In his political views he was a Republican, earnest in his advocacy of the party's principles, and for more than twenty years he served
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as a justice of the peace, discharging his duties with strict impartiality. On various other occasions he held township offices and was ever true and faithful to the trust reposed in him. He held membership in the Lutheran church and for many years filled church offices. In his business affairs he was very successful and became the owner of four hundred acres of rich land. He wedded Miss Sarah Blust, a native of Mansfield, Ohio, and a daughter of John and Christina (Beck) Blust, both of whom were natives of Germany. Coming to America in early life, they located in Lancaster, where they were married, and there Mr. Blust followed the tailor's trade, which he had learned in early life. His daughter, Mrs. Culier, is still living, residing on the home place in Ashland county, Ohio. Of her eleven children all yet survive.
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