USA > Ohio > Butler County > A history and biographical cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio, with illustrations and sketches of its representative men and pioneers. Vol. 1 > Part 76
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Mr. and Mrs. Sohn have had nine children, three sons and six daughters, all of whom, save two named here- after, are living. Caroline, the eldest, is married to Cap- tain William C. Margedant, of the firm of Bentel, Marge- dant & Co., manufacturers of the Universal Wood-worker mentioned above. The house does a large business. Wilhelmina, the second child, is the wife of Frederick Beutel, of the same firm. Angusta, the third, was the wife of William F. Doepke, a prominent dry goods ther. chant of Cincinnati, bat died in February, 1881. Will- iam G. P. Sohn, the fourth child, is the husband of Charlotte Slarb, and is now living in Hamilton. He is a successful tamber. Charles E. is the fifth, and Chris- tian Solta is the sixth. He has received a collegiate education in Germany, and is my living in California. Adelheid died in 1879. Oconora and Alma are living with their parents in Hamilton.
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Mr. Sohn is a Republican, and has been a leader of the party for many years. During the war he vigor- ously advocated its prosecution. His first vote was cast for Martin Van Buren, and he. adhered to the Demo- cratic party till the war. Since then he has been a staunch supporter of the unity of the nation. His first political office was that of member of the city council. He was a member of the school board that introdueed the union school system in Hamilton, and supported the measure with all his ability. In the two bodies last mentioned he has frequently been a member. In 1849 he was elected county commissioner, and held the office for three years. In 1872, in common with many other Republicans, he became dissatisfied with the conduct of affairs by General Grant and his friends, and he saw the imperative need there was for a change. The supporters of Horace Greeley nominated Mr. Sohn for the position of member of Congress, and that nomination was indorsed by the Democracy, although he had for many years bcen opposed to them. Unfortunately, he was defeated.
Since his arrival here he has been the leading Ger- man citizen of the town. Few public enterprises have been begun in which he has not taken part, and of nearly all those in which the Germans are concerned he has been the originator. He was instrumental in organizing the first benevolent society of his countrymen in Cincinnati, in 1836, which is still in existence. The first German singing society which was organized in Cincinnati was begun by him. It served for many years as the choir of St. John's Church, and helped much to promote the ac- quaintance of members with each other. He was its first president. For many years he has been president of the United German Society, which has done much to aid and improve those who come here from the Rhine and the Danube.
Mr. Sohn is still busily experimenting in matters tending to promote the prosperity of the human race. For the last five years he has been testing the effects of sov.ing grain in heaped up ridges, answering the same purpose that hilling corn does. It increases the produc- tion, renders cultivation more easy, and checks the inju- ries both of drought and flood. In addition to the thing itself, he has discovered the way to do it. A machine invented by him drops the grain and makes the furrow and ridge at the same operation. He truly deserves the eredit to be given to him " who makes two spears of grain to grow where one grew before." The principle is that the sced is planted in raised up ridges of mellow earth. Under the ordinary plan the seed is planted near the hard pan, and low down. In wet weather the water ae- cumulates and soaks upon it, and in dry weather it is the place soonest dry and most liable to be affected in drought. Under the new and improved system invented by Mr. Sohu the plant germinates in soft and kindly soil. The roots reach out in every direction, unaffected by hard clods of earth or by hard pan. The earth is por-
ous and allows the greater portion of the rain to be drained immediately off, while its cellular condition, like that of a sponge, retains a very considerable portion of moisture, even in the dryest season. The sun and air strike the soil, and as the greatest portion of plant food is derived from the atmosphere, progress can not fail to be rapid. Experiments tried on farms in this neighbor- hood prove that increased crops are gained, varying in corn from five to twenty-five bushels per acre, and in proportion in wheat, barley, and other grains.
THE LIBERTY PARTY.
At a meeting of the Liberty men of Butler County, on the 20th of September, 1847, Doctor W. H. Scobey was placed in the chair and John Thomas appointed sec- retary. It was resolved that they regarded the Missouri Compromise as a wicked sacrifice of principle, and that they looked on the proposition of Secretary Buchanan to extend that compromise as a base treachery of the prin- ciples of liberty, and the man as a fit tool for the aris- tocracy of the South.
Subserviency to the slave-holding aristocracy of the South ruled, they declared, even in the legislative bodies of the free States, and they desired to vote for men who would stand firm to truth in a time of need.
The number of buildings erected in Hamilton for the four years ending in 1849 was as follows: 1846, 45; 1847, 43; 1848, 85; and 1849, 130.
Ludwick Betz, auditor of Butler County, died in Sep- tember, 1847. Mr. Betz was an honest, upright citizen and a faithful public officer.
Pursuant to previous notice, a large meeting of the Ger- mans of the towns of Hamilton and Rossville, together with many English-speaking citizens, was held at the court-house on Friday evening, April 14, 1848, for the purpose of expressing their sympathy for the gallant . French who had just cast off the yoke of despotism and proclaimed republicanism in France. The meeting was organized by electing John W. Sohn president; William Beckett, vice-president; John Baughman and Franklin Stokes, secretaries.
A committee of six was appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of the meeting in regard to the movements then making throughout Europe to establish free governments, consisting of the following gentlemen : W. C. Howells, T. E. Lemond, Thomas Reed, C. Hipp, P. Rife, R. Fisher.
Doctor Fisher addressed the meeting in the German language, and his remarks were received with applause by the German portion of the audience.
Mr. Hipp, from the German portion of the committee, reported a series of resolutions, which were adopted with enthusiasm, and Mr. Howells reported a set of resolutions which were unanimously adopted.
They hailed with the most unfeigned delight the great movements in human progress made by France in her
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late revolution and change of government, and had abid- ing confidence in the success of her effort to free herself.
A committee of four was appointed to communicate these proceedings to our minister in France, Mr. Rush. The following gentlemen were appointed the committee: Doctor A. Fisher, John W. Sohn, John B. Weller, and W. C. Howells.
The president of the meeting was authorized to ap- point a committee to raise funds to aid the movements in progress in Germany towards the establishment of a re- publican government.
The Germans of Hamilton and Rossville also held a meeting at the court-house on the 30th of April, 1847, at early candle-light, to adopt measures for the relief of the suffering and destitute Germans and the families of the political prisoners of that country. Dr. Ciolina, a gentle- man who had, according to his own account, been for many years a physician to crowned heads in Europe, ad- dressed the meeting.
The proprietors of the omnibus which had in 1848 lately been established between Hamilton and Cincinnati had extended the line on to Eaton. They had put a large and commodious vehicle on the road between this place and Eaton, and took passengers through from that point to Cincinnati without any night travel. No rail- roads were yet in existence. Terms of fare from Eaton south per omnibus to Camden, 25 cents; Somerville, 373 cents; Hamilton, 75 cents; from Hamilton to Cincinnati, 50 cents, making the fare through to Cincinnati 81.25.
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The Junto of Enquiry, at its regular meeting in the" school-house in Rossville, on Thursday evening, January 3, 1850, discussed the propriety of abolishing the credit system in all business transactions. Henry Traber was the sceretary.
It was some years after the beginning of telegraphing before any attempt was made to connect Hamilton with the outside world. Henry O'Reilly, still living in great old age in the city of New York, was the principal man in the combination that first reached this place. Work was begun in 1849, and the live from this place to Cin- cinnati was to be completed by the 20th, or at farthest the 25th of December. Messrs. Kent & Co. informed the editors of the Telegraph that the posts would all be laid down in three or four days after November 29th, by which time they would have an effective force at work setting them. The route was by Springfield, Carthage, and Mount Auburn. Operations had begun also on the Cincinnati and St. Louis line, west of Hamilton, in the neighborhood of Darrtown: The line went by Oxford, Connersville, Indianapolis, Terre Haute, etc. The busi- ness would pass over the Hamilton line to Cincinnati, thus greatly enhancing the value of the stock. Two thousand miles of telegraph lines were wow in actual op- eration in Ohio. Of these 1,400 belonged to what was called the Morse, and 600 to the O'Reilly liues.
The agent of the O'Reilly telegraph line published a
card in the papers, in which he said their company had already in operation from the lakes to Dayton (connect- ing with the National Road and Wabash and Miami Valley towns) a line now extended through Germantown, Middletown, and Hamilton, to Cincinnati, which would be completed in a few weeks. " An office has been secured at Middletown by the requisite subscription of stock, and undoubtedly will be at Germantown. At Hamilton an office will also be opened, giving direct communication with every point upon this extensive line, and connecting at all its terminations with O'Reilly lines to any part of the Union. The line now constructing by Messrs. Kent & Co., from Hamilton to Cincinnati, is in violation of Morse's contract with O'Reilly, and will be regarded and treated as such by Mr. O'Reilly. It will be opposed in every legitimate way. The citizens of Hamilton are respectfully invited to consider the matter, and to subscribe to the stock of the O'Reilly 'Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois' line, which will furnish them supe- rior telegraphic advantages, and be a safe investment.
" A subscription paper is in the hands of Mr. James Blair, at the Hamilton Hotel, to whom those favorably disposed are referred."
In an issue soon after, the Telegraph said the office of Kent & Co.'s telegraph was to be in the Odd Fellows' building of Rossville. The office of O'Reilly's line would be in Campbell's Row, Hamilton. James Blair had re- ceived the appointment of agent, and would have the management of the office of O'Reilly's line.
On the 31st of January, 1850, the Morse telegraph line was in full operation, the laying on of the wire having been completed, a couple of days before The office was in Campbell's building, and Mr. J. L. Wilkins was ready to send and receive messages.
The first advertisement of Dr. Howells that we have noticed was in the Telegraph, of January 9, 1845. Ic is as follows :
H. C. Howells, Surgeon Dentist, Hamilton, Ohio. Room over Joseph Howell's Drug Store, formerly occupied as Cor- win & Smith's Law Office.
R. E. Duffield informed his friends and the public generally, says a paper of 1845, that he had removed to his new shop and wareroom on Pearl Street, adjoin- ing the office of the Hamilton Intelligencer, where he intended to carry on the cabinet-making business in all its different brauches. A variety of finished work was constantly on hand and for sale at the most reasonable . prices, and work would be made to order at the shortest possible notice. He was prepared to serve on funeral occasions with hearse, ete., at his former prices.
Henry Traber had just opened an entire new stock of dry-goods, hardware, queen's-ware, etc., fresh from the Eastern cities, which he offered very low for cash, on the 29th of April, 1847. All kinds of produce would be taken in exchange for goods. Store one door below Smith's drug store, north side of Main Street, Rossville.
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A mass meeting of the friends of free soil and free men, of free labor, and the free principles of the Jeffer- sonian ordinance of 1787, in opposition to southern pol- iticians and northern doughfaees; would be held at the court-house, in Hamilton, Ohio, Saturday, July 29, 1848, to appoint delegates to the Buffalo convention, which would meet in Buffalo, New York, on the 9th of Au- gust, following, to nominate candidates for President and Vice-president of the United States, who would pledge themselves to carry out the principles of the Wilmot Proviso as applied to the free Territories lately acquired from Mexico. The friends of these nicasures were re- spectfully asked to participate in the proceedings. Some of the best publie speakers in Ohio had been invited to attend.
Valentine Chase, who little foresaw the bloody end of his own life, when a member of the Ohio Legislature introduced a bill on the subject of the immigration of colored persons, which we reproduee as showing that the prejudices of a century ago were still in existence thirty years since. The editor of the Telegraph approved the proposed enactment, and thought that there were enough negroes in Ohio. "If the black race continues to in- crease among us as it has done for the past few years, there will hardly be room for us."
A BILL to prevent the further Immigration of Black and Mulatto Persons into the State.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, that from and after the passage of this act, it shall not be lawful for any black or mulatto person to come into this State for the purpose of residing or remaining therein, and if any such black or mulatto shall hereafter, iu violation of the provisions of this act, come into this State and remain or reside therein, he or she shall, so long as he or she shall so remain in the State, he incapable of acquir- ing or holding any property, real or personal, therein ; and shall, moreover, apon satisfactory proof thereof being made before any justice of the peace of the proper county, as hereinafter provided, be removed and taken out of this State upon the warrant of the said justice of the peace, which warrant it is hereby made the duty of said justice to issue ; and it is hereby further made the duty of any constable to whom such warrant may be directed to serve and return the same according to the command thereof.
SEc. 2. It shall be the duty of every constable within this State, as soon as it shall come to his knowledge that any black or mulatto person has, contrary to the provisions of the first section of this act, come into this State, and is re- siding therein, forthwith togive notice thereof to some justice of the peace of his county, and the said justice of the peace shall cause notice of such information or complaint to be given to such black or mulatto person, and it said black or mulatto shall not, within ten days from the service of the said notice, either remove out of this State, or appear before the said justice of the peace, and by his own oath or other. wise satisfy the said justice that he or she is not remaining in this State in violation of the provisions of the first see- tion of this act, the said justice shall cause the said black or mulatto person to be proceeded against according to the provisions of the first section of this act. Provided. that
nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prevent any black or mulatto person from coming into this State for teur- porary purposes merely, and not with the intention of re- maining thereiu.
SEc. 3. The said justice shall subpoena such witnesses as the party may require, and if upon hearing the testimony the said justice shall be of opinion that the said black or mulatto person is remaining within this State contrary to the intent and meaning of this act, he shall so adjudge, and shall issue his warrant as directed by the first section of this act.
SEC. 4. The justices and constable shall receive the same fees that they would receive for like services in criminal cases.
SEC .. 5. If any justice of the peace or constable shall will- fully neglect or refuse to perform any duty required by this act, he shall, on conviction thereof by indictment, be fined in any sum not less than twenty nor more than one hundred dollars, and shall, moreover, forfeit his office.
In a notice of the Miami Paper Mill, in 1849, it was said that this establishment was built upon the Hami !- ton and Rossville Hydraulic, in the northern part of the town, and spoke volumes in favor of the industry and enterprise of its proprietors, Messrs. Beckett, Martius & Rigdon. The main building was seventy feet by forty, and two and a half stories high, above the basement- in which were four rag engines, and rag eutting and dress- ing machinery, driven by a water-wheel thirteen feet in diameter, with twenty feet buckets. The paper machine and finishing rooms were in a wing ninety-four by thirty- eight feet, and one story high. The paper machine was F of Fourdrinier's pattern, built by Messrs. Goddarl & Rice, of Worcester, Massiehusetts. It combined all the modern improvements in paper-making, and was a fine piece of mechanism. The mill was capable of turning out from one thousand seven hundred to two thonsml pounds per day. The buildings were sufficient for au- other machine and four additional engines.
JOHN L. MARTIN.
John L. Martin, a native of Chittenden County, Ver- mont, emigrated to Ohio in 1837, and located at Hamilton, Butler County, in the Spring of 1846. He descends, ou his father's side, from a Seoteh family, who emigrated to Vermont-then disputed territory as between New York and New Hampshire -- about the year 1770. ITis father, James Martin, born in 1772, was a captain in the Ver- mont volunteers at the battle of Plattsburg. September 11, 1814. The Vermonters, on that occasion, were, strictly speaking, volunteers, for the then governor of the State, Martin Chittenden, was such a determined Feder- alist that he refused to issue his executive proclamation ordering out the State militia. But the hardy sons of Vermont, despite the governor's opposition, shouldlered their muskets, crossed the lake in sloops and batteaux to the scene of conflict, and were largely instrumental in achieving the victory which practically settled the con- troversy as to the supremacy of Lake Champlain. His
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mother was from a Conneetient family of the name of Campbell, somewhat conspicuous in Revolutionary anuals. The head of the family was one of the three hundred defenders of " Fort Forty," at Wyoming, Pennsylvania, nearly all of whom were massacred by Tories and Indians, under the Tory leader, Colonel John Butler, in 1778.
The subject of this sketch was born at Burlington Falls, now Winooski City, Jannary 4, 1814. He en- joyed the usual educational advantages furnished by the district schools of that day, until after having served an apprenticeship at millwrighting he entered a school of mathematies and civil engineering at Burlington, under the tuition of John Johnson, Esq., then the surveyor- general of the State of Vermont. Here he remained one year. At the expiration of that time-the Spring of 1837-Edwin F. Johnson, son of the above, who then hell the office of chief engineer of the State of New York, organized a corps of engineers for the survey of the New York and Erie Railroad, which, even at that early day, had been projected and State aid voted by the Legislature. Young Martin was to have had a subordi- nate place in that corps, but before the surveys were act- ually commenced the financial embarrassments of that memorable period came suddenly upon the country, re- sulting in universal bank suspensions, and paralyzing every public enterprise. But the growing West was an inviting field of adventure, and thither he went.
After a stay of a few months at Cleveland, he en- gaged in the service of the State on the Ohio Canal south of Columbus. From 1839 until he came to Hamilton, in 1846, he was engaged in building flouring-mills through the eentral portion of the State, from Toledo to Ports- mouth. His first engagement here was the rebuilding of the Erwin, Hunter & Erwin Mill, after its partial de- struction by fire, in the Spring of that year. In the Fall following he went to Wisconsin to locate a hydraulic im- provement on the Milwaukee River, north of that eity. Re urning from Wisconsin, he engineered the repairs to the old toll-bridge, which was well-uigh swept away by the great flood in the Miami, January 1, 1847. "The old bridge" was one of the earliest public improvements in Butler County, and was finally washed away by the great flood of 1866. In the Fall of 1847 he contraeted for the building and equipment of a steam flouring-mill in the city of New Orleans, of the capacity of one hundred and fifty barrels per day. The engines and cast-iron ma- chinery for the mill were built in Cincinnati; the wood and timber, ready-worked and in readiness to be set up in the large warehouse for which they were designed, were prepared at Hamilton, the whole outfit loaded on barges at Ciueinuati and towed to New Orleans. Within ten weeks from the time of reaching its destination the mull was in complete and successful operation, and the xkilled workmen employed in its construction were home- ward bound. In the Winter of 1848-9 Mir. Martin con-
traeted with Calvin Riley to build and equip-furnishing all machinery and materials -- the paper-mill now owned and operated by Messrs Beckett & Laurie. Mr. Riley had previously had some experience in the manufacture of paper at Cuyahoga Falls. While the mill was being built, under that contraet, Riley engaged in produce speculations, in the northern part of the State, which were attended with heavy losses, consequent on the de- elining markets in the Spring of 1859, and he was thereby compelled to abandon the enterprise. Meantime the contractor had gone forward with the work, incurring an expenditure of over six thousand dollars, no part of it having been advanced by Riley. All he could do was to transfer his interest in the property. Thereupon the firm of Beekett, Martin & Rigdon was instituted, and the mill carried forward to an early completion. Shortly after the mill went into operation a disastrous flood swept away the hydraulic head-gates and long lines of embankment. More than two months' time was expended in repairing the works, during which time all the mills were idle. The following Summer Mr. Martin sold his interest in the mill to his partner, William Beckett. In Jannary, 1849, he was married to Sarah Ann Potter, youngest daughter, and only child of a second mar- riage, of Samuel M. Potter, a well-known and highly respected citizen, who resided in the vicinity of Trenton, Butler County, from about the year 1805 until the time of his death, in 1842.
In the Spring of 1852 the Middletown Hydranlic was projected. The State had just then contracted for the building of a new feeder dam at the old site, two miles north of the village. This, together with the rights re- served to Abner Enoeh, the original proprietor, as far back as 1826, when the eanal was located -- which rights the Hydraulie Company secured by purchase-rendered the creation of valuable water power at that point at onee practicable. Mr. Martin became at once identified with the development of the works. In the Spring of 1853 he formed a partnership with Joseph Sutphin. Thereupon they seeured a lease of power from the Hy- draulic Company with the exchisive privilege, for a term of years, of erecting a flouring-mill at that point The firm continued in the joint ownership of the maill till 1873. They were also engaged in the manufacture of paper with the Messrs. Wreuns, now Sutphin & Wrenn. The flouring-mill firm is now Joseph Sutphin & Son.
In 1858 Mr. Martin received the Republican nomina- tion for the State Board of Public Works. He was elected to that office in October of that year, and his term of office expired in February, 1862. The division of the public works assigned specially to his charge was the Miami aud Erie Canal, and, for a part of his termi, the National Road, or that portion of it in Ohio which many years before had been ceded by the general government to the State. In June, 1861, the entire public works of the State were leased to a private company by authority
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