USA > Ohio > Butler County > A history and biographical cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio, with illustrations and sketches of its representative men and pioneers. Vol. 2 > Part 50
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When twenty-one years of age he became a member of the Masonic fraternity, and was one of the charter members of the lodge of Odd Fellows in Oxford when it was organized, having previously been a member of the Brookville, Indiana, lodge. In addition to his pro- fessional activity, Dr. Keely has taken the warmest interest in every thing pertaining to the well-being of his native town. City improvements, the grading of the streets, the embellishment and adornnient of the city parks and college-campus, improvement of public build- ings, etc., have in him a sure promoter and active worker ; while the several educational institutions-Miami University, of which he is a trustee; Oxford Female Institute, Oxford Female College, and Western Female . Seminary-have ever a warm place in his heart, and. to their advancement he has contributed liberally of both mental and manual effort and pecuniary means.
The doctor is a man peculiarly social in his nature, a skillful and intelligent practitioner, kind and indulgent in his pleasant household, and a warm and sympathizing companion and friend, having a high place in the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens.
Isaac Iddings Keely, son of John, was born on the twenty-fourth day of August, 1809. In the latter part of 1817 his parents moved to Oxford, with the intention of making it a permanent home, for the benefit of their growing family in the way of schools. Isaac was then a lad of seven years of age. He attended the first session of the first school ever taught on the university grounds, and he made the first speech at the first exhibition ever given in that school. At the proper age he began to work at the bricklaying trade with his father, and soon became a very expert and rapid workman. To show the rapidity of his movements, we mention one instance. There had been some talk as to how many bricks he couldl lay in a day. One thousand bricks were considered a day's work in an ordinary wall. He made a wager that he could lay one thousand bricks in two hours. The place was on a wall in a building in Oxford, where the corners were raised and where one hundred bricks made one course. So his wager was that he could lay ten courses in two hours. He began about 10 o'clock in the morning and completed his task in just one hour and thirty-one minutes, having taken into his hands and laid in the wall, smoothing the joints on the outside, one thousand bricks in one hour and thirty-Que minutes. Up to that time no one in that part of the country had ever done so well or handled so many bricks in the same time.
In very early life he developed into a trader, and be- gan to deal in cigars. watermelons, and indeed any thing that he could handle in the way of trade. When very young, not more than twenty, he took charge of the busi- ness, relieving his father of the trouble and vexation of the management. It was not long before he had all the family employed and quite a number of men at work for him. He built more houses in Oxford than any other one man. He spent some two or three years in peddling clocks. From this he drifted into the mercantile busi- ness. Here he handled dry goods, groceries, boots, shoes, and hats, and all kinds of notions; also, lumber and shingles; and all the time engaged in building and in trading real estate. "He was a wholly unselfish man. He would sacrifice every thing for his friends. He would confide in and trust men to any reasonable amount, and had that confidence most shamefully abused by those whom he had befriended the most.
About the year 1844 or 1845 he began to lecture on animal magnetism or mental electricity. He claimed for it that it was a science, and he applied it to the curing of various diseases that prey upon mankind in this world. He did succeed in curing many afflicted people to such an extent that it excited the wonder and astonishment of the communities in which he lectured. Being possessed of strong will and energy, he knew no such word as fail. The late well-known George D. Prentice, then editor of the Louisville, Kentucky, Journal, in his daily of January 15, 1848, said of him :
"We never before saw such a crowd at the Odd Fellows' Hall as was assembled there last night. It was supposed that nearly a thousand persons were present. No great political orator, no popular Methodist preacher, no powerful actor, has ever been able to draw such multitudes together in this city as are now drawn nightly by Mr. Keely. The experiments last night were won- derful, and we presume that none who saw them doubted that they were precisely what they seemed to be."
He was compelled to ce se lecturing on account of the fearful strain on his nervous system. In 1850 he went to Edinburg, Indiana, and began to build houses, and buy and sell real estate. At one time he sold to the Junetion Railroad Company real estate to the value of $18,000, taking in pay their stock, two-thirds of which was a total loss. Here he built a great many houses, bought and sold and engaged in general trade. He had the ability to make a great deal of money, but failed to save his earnings. He did not seem to be able to ac- cunmilate or save money, so that after years of toil he died comparatively poor. He commenced to operate in Indianapolis about 1854, but did not remain there long. His health began to fail him at Edinburg.
Eady in 1857 he with his wife and child returned to Oxford. He was broken in health, and his end was evidently near. Here among his friends he spent his last days. He was cheerful and hopeful. His mother.
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brother, and sister in turn tenderly nursed him during the last weary months of his life. His disease was laryngitis. He died on the eighteenth day of August, 1857, lacking six days of being forty-eight years of age. The following is from the pen of one who knew him long and intimately :
" A man has recently fallen in our midst whose brief career and sudden demise should prove a profitable les- son, calling our thoughts to the solemn warning, Be ye also ready.' Isaac I. Keely, who departed this life on the evening of the 18th inst., of laryngitis, lacking a few days of being forty-eight years old, was a man of pecul- iar character. His ambition and energy were as un- bounded as his benevolence, neither failing till means and health failed. We knew him from his youth up --- from the time he entered college and delivered the first speech ever made in old Miami University, and recited his algebra lessons, till the day the solemn tones of its bell announced his journey to the tomb-and of him we have had but one opinion, and that is, a noble soul im- prisoned in a feeble casket. We have often known him to perform deeds of charity to the sick widow and orphan that would have astonished Bishop Heber or the monks of St. Bernard, not letting his right hand know what the left was doing. He was ardently devoted to parents, brothers, and sisters, and all who were allied by consan- guinity. Being the oldlest of the boys, much devolved on him in educating and settling in life the younger members, and he met this responsibility with a liberality surprising his neighbors.
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" A more unselfish man never lived. He gave to his friends beyond endurance. This trait of character caused him to go out as he came into this world-but a few feet different. Nor was his charity confined to those only. He had a heart to feel for human woe and a hand to help in time of need.
" His enterprise was not confined to one State; he built houses in different States for posterity to enjoy. This community will bear us witness when we say that I. I. Keely did more to make this town what it is than any other one man that ever lived in Oxford. As a re- ligionist lie was doubtless misunderstood by many. He was no sectarian -- liberal and ardent, but sincere in his opinions.
"As a defender of the science of animal magnetism or mental electricity as a curative agent, he was often denounced by ministers and other good men as a charl- atan, a mountebank, an infidel in collusion with Beelze- bub. This had a natural tendency to sour his mind against all sects. He reverenced the Deity, believed in Jesus Christ as the only Savior of sinners, and trusted in his merits for salvation. He believed in the efficacy of prayer; and when he could only whisper he said to an old friend, ' When you pray remember me.' He grate- fully received the daily visits of the Rev. Mr. Spencer during his last hours. He had many friends to follow
his remains to the grave, and was honored with a Ma- sonic procession, of which fraternity he was an accepta- ble member."
Glover Laird, Jr., lives near College Corner, Ohio. He is a native of Ireland, being born in the city of Dublin, March 16, 1827. The father, Glover Laird, came to this country, with his wife and four children, in 1830, and located on the farm now occupied by his son. The family afterwards was increased by the birth of six other children, all of whom are still living, but scattered abroad in neighboring townships in Ohio and Indiana. Mr. Laird was married March, 1852, to Miss Caroline Shaffer, a native of Lancaster, Ohio, born September, 1836. To these have been born three sons, of whom one still resides with the parents, one is at Camden, Ohio, and another is in Indiana. . Mr. Laird holds his Church connection with the Methodist society, and in his politi- eal associations is a Republican. The farm upon which he was reared, and now makes his home, is about half a mile south-east of College Corner, in the extreme north- west section of the township.
William L. Lane, a native of Butler County, was born in Hanover Township, April 26, 1832. He is a son of Harmon J. and Isabella (Long) Lane, the former being a native of New Jersey, and the latter a native of Hamilton County. Mr. Lane, Sen., was a mason by trade, and came to Cincinnati when a young man, and prosecuted his craft a number of years. After his mar- riage, in 1818, he settled on the farm in Hanover Town- ship, now owned by Charles Beck, which he improved, and on which he continued to reside until his decease, in 1842. His wife survived him a few years, and died in 1848. They had a family of eight children, five of whom are now living: Ella married Jackson James, row a resident of Missouri ; Sallie married Dr. C. P. Dennis ; Susan married William McCoy, the latter two now reside at Portsmouth, Ohio; William L., of Oxford, and Cor- nelius W., of Hanover Township.
William L. Lane was raised on the farm in Hanover Township and continued actively engaged in farming a number of years. He conducted the Darrtown Mills ten or twelve years in connection with farming. He married, in 1864, Miss Louise, daughter of Jamies S. and Mary (Stackpole) Smiley, who came from Pennsyl- vania and settled in Hanover Township in 1826, where they continued to reside until 1867, when they removed to the village of Oxford. Mr. Smiley engaged in bank- ing, which he continued until his deeease, which occurred in 1878. His wife died in 1873. Three children sur- vived him-Mrs. Lane, Mary J., and Auna M. Mr. Smiley was an active and respected citizen of his day and left a valuable estate. The Smiley residence is a bandsome property, located at the south-west corner of High and East Streets. At the decease of Mr. Smiley. Mr. Lane succeeded him as president of the Citizens' Bank, and has since continued in charge. He is a care-
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ful, successful business man, and a quiet, unostentatious but useful citizen.
Horace M. Logee, M. D., was born in Douglass, Mas- sachusetts, September 10, 1834. He is descended from the Huguenots who left their native country during the thirty years' war. His ancestor fled to England, and after a little time made his way to the United States, in company with others, and settled in the northern part of the new State of Rhode Island. From this head de- scended Joseph H. Logee, the father of Dr. Logee, who was born in January, 1804. The mother, Prudence F. Paine, was of English ancestry. It is a family tradition that her grandfather was one of a family which num- bered twenty-eight children, all of one parentage. She was born in January, 1804, and died in February, 1857, her native place being in Cumberland Township, Rhode Island. Dr. Logee, after obtaining a common-school ed- ucation, entered and passed through the curriculum of Lawrence Academy. Not long after this he came West and spent several years in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, first as a book-keeper, then as a student in medicine in ·the office of Professor T. P. Wilson, and afterwards as matriculant of the Homeopathic Medical College of that city, from which he graduated in the Spring of 1862. Shortly after he commenced practice in Linesville, Craw- ford County, Pennsylvania. In November, 1855, he was married to Miss Harriet E. Martin, of Worcester, Mas- sachusetts, and to them were born one son and a daugh- ter, both of whom are living. Mrs. Logee died January 15, 1861. While resident at Linesville the doctor was once or twice elected mayor of the city. In November, 1866, Ife was married to Miss Charlotte A. Hamilton, a native of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, who was born December, 1842.
About 1874 Dr. Logee removed from Linesville to Ox- ford, Ohio, and here established himself in the practice of his profession, in which he has continued with great success from that time until the present, taking a front rank among the practitioners of the town. Since resid- ing here he has often taken active part in the local politics of the day as a Republican, and has twice been made a member of the council. While living in Penn- sylvania he was an active member in professional organ- izations, and was in 1870 vice-president of the State Homeopathic Medical Society, and since coming to Ohio he has manifested the same earnest zeal in the advancing of his chosen profession and encouragement of organized effort among its members. As a member of the Ohio State Homeopathie Society he was made its secretary in 1878, aud its president in 1880 and 1881. The doctor is also a member of Oxford Lodge, No. 108, I. O. O. F., aud of Encampment No. 119; also of Oxford Lodge A. O. U. W., No. 74. Of medium stature and well knit frame, he is a person of great activity and nerve force, doing with his might what may be the present work in hand. Of quick adaptation and ready in re-
sources, scholarly judgment and skilled professional at- tainments, he has the make up of one who should be. and evidently is, a successful physician and esteemed citizen in the village of his adoption. Mrs. Logee dis- plays in her studies and efforts in art manifest native genius and talent. Her sketches and crayons, as also her work in colors, evince decided merit, and serve to beautify and adorn their pleasant home.
Richard Martindell was born in New Jersey, May 10, 1791, and about the year 1816 came to Ohio, arriving in Cincinnati without a dollar. He soon found work, however, and became acquainted with and married Nancy Wallace, March 17, 1817. She was born in Hamilton County, October 5, 1798, and was the daughter of James Wallace and Charity Bevis. He then rented a farm in Butler County, in Stillwell's Corners, remaining there for eight years. At the end of this time he traded two horses and a wagon for fifty acres of land, known now as the Dr. Roll farm. On this he lived three years, and then sold it for five hundred dollars, and purchased one hundred and seventy-two acres for a thousand dollars. On this farin he lived some thirty years, when he sold out and moved to Oxford Township, where he died Novem- ber 8, 1862. His widow removed to Hamilton and after- wards to Oxford, where she now resides at the advanced age of eighty-three years. . Of their family there were fifteen children. Their names were Mahlon, Charlotte, Mary Ann, Harriet, John, Miranda, Martha Ann, Frank- lin M., David W., Nancy, Richard, Elizabeth F., Louisa M., Alice, and Janics KK. P. Mahlon, Louisa M., Alice, and Martha Ann are dead. Charlotte is now Mrs. John Thompson, Mary Ann is the widow of James Adams, Harriet is Mrs. Adam Miller, Miranda is Mrs. Charics Miller, Nancy is Mrs. James Harter, and Frances is Mrs. George H. Kingwood. John Martindell was born Oeto- ber 14, 1824, and lived at home till the Spring of 1848, when he went to California and miued two years. He went by the overland route, but returned by water. He was married February 19, 1851, to Sarah J. MeChesuey, daughter of John and Flora (Patterson) McChesney. She was born in Warren County, September 26, 1829. There are now living, descended from John Martindell, Sen., eleven children, thirty-two grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren.
Some time about the year 1800 Aaron Matson, whose birth and foriner home had been in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, came to Ohio, and located in Milford, Clermont County. He married for his wife Miss Eliza -_ beth Gateh (who came from Virginia), about 1808 or 1809, and to theni two sons and three daughters were born, among them Philip D. Matson. He was born in that town October 2, 1814. In boyhood he was a pupil in the common school of the place until about twelve years old, afterwards for several Summers working either upon his father's farm or with his nucie, Thomas Gateh. attending school in the Winters. When about seventeen
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years old he went to the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, whither his parents afterwards removed, and there apprenticed himself in the tinsmith's trade to Sykes & Robeson, with whom he remained for nearly three years. Leaving Cin- cinnati in the Spring of 1834, he came to Oxford and entered the employment of Mr. J. Ferguson, then en- gaged in the tinsmith and hardware business. Not long after, however, the two formed a copartnership in trade, and continued the business until November, 1868, some thirty-four years of a harmonious and very successful career, at which time Mr. Matson retired from the firm to private life.
May 5, 1835, shortly after coming to Oxferd, Mr. Mat- son was married to Miss Catharine H. McGhee, whose parents eame from Ireland, Mrs. Matson herself being a native of Pennsylvania, but a resident of Oxford at the time of her marriage. To these were born one son, who lived only eight years, and five daughters, all of whom are married. The mother dying in October, 1866, it has been the privilege of these daughters successively to aet as housekeepers for their father, and at the present writ- ing he is finding a pleasant home in his advancing years with the son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Shera.
When but ten years of age Mr. Matson united with the Methodist Church of his native place, changing his relations from that to other Churches of the same faith as his home was changed, his last membership being with the Methodist Episcopal Church of Oxford, with whom he united in 1834. It being Mr. Matson's nature to do whatever his hands found to do with his might, his con- neetion with that Church has proved a life of earnest Christian activity in every department of Church work where his eounsel, co-operation, or effort could assist in the advancement of the work. He has held the office of Sunday-school superintendent for over forty consecutive years, a most unparalleled instance of faithful continu- ance in well-doing. Especially has Mr. Matson's influ- ence been felt and usefulness shown in his position as chairman of the committee of his Church to whom was committed the task of the raising of funds and superin- tending the erection of the fine and commodious church in which the society has been permitted, for the last seven or eight years, to worship. The burden of the un- dertaking was upon his shoulders and heart, and most nobly has it been performed.
Not alone in his business relations and Christian work has Mr. Matson been honored. He has been called upon to occupy many offices of trust, among them having been repeatedly elected to the council and trustee of the town- ship. He has also been a school trustee and member of the board of education. He was one of the first committee on builling of the Oxford Female Institute.
The family of David M. Magie is of Scotch origin, the grandfather coming over and settling in New Jersey. Here Benjamin was born in 1760, and was married to Miss Sarah Brown, who was born in New Jersey, 1762.
To these were born three sons: Josiah, Benjamin, Jr., and David M. When the latter was about two years of age the family emigrated to the Ohio Valley, and first settled on a farm at Walnut Hills, near Cincinnati. There they stayed but a short time, and removed to Leb- anon, Warren County, remaining a few years, and then took up their home on a farm near Monroe. The family consisted of six sons and two daughters, of whom three only are still living : David, Mrs. Rhoda Elliott, of Paris, Illinois, and William, residing at Middletown, Ohio. The father, Benjamin, died January, 1842. David M., in boyhood, enjoyed similar advantages to other youth in his day and locality, but while thus obtaining the rudi- ments of an education in the schools he was an apt scholar in the practical education of his farm life. Feb- ruary 22, 1842, he was united in marriage to Miss Han- nah Maria Young, who was born July 22, 1821. The newly married couple for the first three years made their home with Mrs. Magie, then in recent widowhood, and David took the oversight of the farm; then they changed to the farm of Mrs. Magie's father for a couple of years. From here, in the Spring of 1847, Mr. Magie removed with his wife and daughter, Laura Belle, born December 4, 1845, to and occupied a farm about one mile north of Oxford.
As early as 1837 Mr. Magie had turned his atten- tion to the raising of hogs as a special branch of hus- bandry, and then began the careful study of the animal, and experiments in the improvement of the several breeds in the introduction and crossing of foreign strains with the native variety, which resulted in the origin and propagation of what has become the famous. " Magie breed" of hogs, and which are now in such great de- mand for breeding purposes that from the stock which the firm of Magie & Kumler carry they sell from 500 to 700 head annually, and these are sent not only all over the States and Territories, but many go to fill orders from foreign countries, some even as far as Australia. Sonie years of attention have been given by Mr. Magie to the raising of choice breeds of cattle, particularly short-horn Durhamis, and with much success, as also the breeding and raising of fine horse stock, yet his main reliance has been in the specialty of a first-class breed of hogs.
Mr. and Mrs. Magie have two daughters. Laura Belle, who was married to Mr. Theophilus R. Kumler, of Oxford, May 15, 1866, and Sallie Maria, born July 26, 1847. The son-in-law is Mr. Maggie's partner in conducting the stock farm, both residing in the village of Oxford, to which place Mr. Magie removed in October, 1859, with his family, and in which place the firm have their office. Mr. Magic has for many years been an active and earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Oxford, and a thorough and ardent Republi- can in his political preferences. Naturally a man of fine physical powers, constant and earnest application to the duties of his calling have made some inroads upon his
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general health, and for the past year he has been a suf- ferer from a complication of bodily diseases. He still has the care and oversight of his extensive business, assisted by his son-in-law, Mr. Kumler.
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Jolin C. McCraeken, limber dealer, is a native of Oxford, and a son of the Rev. S. W. MeCracken, who was a native of Kentucky, And a graduate of Miami University, and also occupied the chair of mathematics a number of years subsequently. He was ordained a minister of the United Presbyterian Church, and spent a number of the later years of his life in pastoral work. His decease ocenrred at Hopewell in 1859. Jolin C. MeCracken was born in Oxford in 1833, and attended the university in his youth, but on account of feeble health, did not graduate. He taught at various points, and followed teaching a number of years. In 1856 he engaged in merchandising, and continued in that business at different points until 1863, when being advised that his health depended on out-door exercise, he purchased a farm near Oxford, and continued farming until about three years since, when he became interested in the lumo- ber trade of Oxford, and is now the principal operator in that line of business. He married, in 1860, Miss Jane E. Wilson, of Shelby County. They have two children, George H. and Frank S. Mr. McCracken's office and yard are conveniently located on Beach Street near High. He is an active, successful business man, an active mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church, and has been for fifteen years past one of Oxford's most substantial and useful citizens, identified with public activities.
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