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 8
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Cincinnati and engaged with Rockwell's Amphitheater, on the site where the Gazette office now is. Here he sang and played nightly in the saw-dust of the arena, under the cover of burnt cork. This was his last ap- pearance in public in this capacity. He resumed the peneil, and returned for a season to his native village, where he painted cabinet heads of all who would sit, at five and ten dollars a head. He returned to Cineinnati in 1847, and took rooms in the Apollo Building, at the corner of Fifth and Walnut, which was at that time the retreat of several meritorious artists, amongst whom we might name Beard, Brannon, Miller, Eaton, Duncanson, Whittridge, Johnson, Tom Jones, the sculptor, and others. Mr. White had as his room-mate W. L. Sonti- tag, the landscape painter, who is now living in New York City .. The first picture which Mr. White ventured to place before the public was a half-length portrait of Julia Dean, the celebrated actress, afterward known as Julia Dean Hayne. She was then the city's favorite, and her picture attracted wide attention. She was rep- resented as Virginia in the play of the Roman Father. From that time on he continued to paint portraits, land- scapes, and so on ; in faet, any kind of work was gladly received. Some of these canvases were the joint produc- tious of White and Sonntag, who, when not engaged in painting, were skirmishing about for something to eat. They suffered keenly from the distresses and difficulties which usually attend this class of young and undistin- guished painters, and were forced to do whatever offered. Occasionally they decorated ominibuses and railroad cars, and at other times painted scenes in the Museum Theater.
Mr. White became a member of the Artists' Union on its formation, which afforded him a sale for a num- ber of his pictures. In the Summer of 1848 he painted the "Greek Slave," two pictures, embodying the front aud rear views, with the matchless profile seen to equal advantage in both. This effort placed him favorably before the public as an artist. The pictures, after being shown in the East and West, were finally taken to New York and sold for a thousand dollars apiece. He cou- tinued painting, turning ont some fine work occasionally, aniong which were his pictures of " Musidora," " Helen McGregor," "Beauty's Reverie," "Galbina," "Undine," and "Ophelia." Among his portraits at that time were those of the Rev. Thomas H. Stockton aud Edwin For- rest, the actor. At the burning of Wood's Museum, in 1857, these and many other works of the artist were de- stroyed. They represented the labor of years. He had resided for some time in Covington, when he was in- duced by his friends to go to New York City. After an experience of a year he returned, setting up his easel in Cincinnati, and shortly after painting " Louis Kos- suth" and ". Lola Montez." In 1857 Mr. White came to Hamilton, where he has since remained, excepting during the Rebellion, when he was in Cincinnati. He met with
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almost constant employment, and received high and flat- tering encouragement from patrons at home and abroad. Among the most notable of his pictures at that time were these of General Grant and General Sherman.
He was married in 1866 to Miss Mary, danghter of the late Major John Crane, an old resident of Hamilton. Mrs. White died in 1872, leaving one son. Mr. White, like most painters of the day, depends for a living on painting portraits and teaching the art, in which he has been generously supported by patrons and friends.
JAMES T. GRAY.
James Thompson Gray, of Reily Township, was born in Franklin County, Indiana, December 27, 1819, re- moving to this county in 1833. His parents were Samuel Gray and Margaret Hiles. He was married on the second day of March, 1843, to Martha Ann Hidlay, daughter of Henry and Sarah Hidlay, who was born in Butler County in 1824. They have had five children. Sarah Eliza was born January 14, 1844; Phebe Harriet, No- vember 4, 1846; Sammuel Lerton, November 16, 1848; John Dinborn, April 19, 1851; and James Elmore, April 11, 1858. Mr. Gray was elected township trustee in 1852, and held the office for eight consecutive years. In October, 1881, he was elected county treasurer, and was to have taken his seat on the first Monday in Sep- tember, 1882, but died very suddenly somnie three weeks before. Mr. Gray followed the business of buggy and carriage blacksmith.
ARTHUR W. ELLIOTT.
The Rev. Arthur W. Elliott was the most famous of the early Methodist preachers in this county. Although others preceded him, he was the contemporary of those who made the beginnings and first uttered the Word of God to the hardy pioneers of this county. He was born in the county of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, on the 22d of February, 1784. At the age of eighteen, moved by the spirit of adventure, he fell in with the tide of emigration, just then beginning to set powerfully toward the great Northwest Territory. On horseback he crossed the Alleghanics, and continued his course westward until he reached the Miami Valley, where he determined to make his future home. He went back to Maryland soon after, where he was married in 1804, and in the year 1805 returned, settling in Liberty Towu- ship. Here he remained for many years.
In 1806 an event took place which gave a new cur- rent to his thoughts, and changedl his whole character and life. He was converted, and after a brief time be- came a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was admitted in the traveling connection in 1818. From the beginning, however, he devoted himself' almost entirely to the work of the ministry, and his labors for the Church of his love were more strenuous and more enduring than any other form of labor. He had pur-
chased a farm on his first arrival, which was swept away by the duplicity of one of his supposed friends. With an effort, he made another start, in which he was suc- cessful, and he was a farmer as well as preacher for many years.
He was the founder of the Spring Church, the earliest Methodist organization in Eastern Butler. He was a man of powerful frame, and with great energy and force. As a preacher he was a man of great fervor aud power ; he moved his andiences at his will, and many were con- verted under his ministrations. He was a man of wit and humor, and many of his sayings are still preserved by those who were fortunate enough to hear him. He took a decided part in politics, at a time when that was regarded as far more unseemly than now. He was a Whig, and- as a Whig speaker he accompanied General Harrison on his famous electioneering campaign of 1840. He was an ardent Mason, and was a member of that organization for more than forty years, in which society he was the grand chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Ohio. In 1854 he removed to Paris, Illinois, where he died January 18, 1858. He had seen his work prosper; his Church, at the time of his birth, had ouly ninety-three preachers in the United States, but at the time of his death it had 10,794. Few had done more for it than he had.
EVAN EVANS.
Evan Evans, of Morgan Township, was there born May 2, 1816, being the youngest son of William and Jane Evans. William Evans was a native of Wales, settling in Butler County about 1802. He reared a family of six children, of whom four are living, and died in 1821. His son received a limited education in the common schools, and was brought up to farming. At thirteen years of age he began looking out for himself, going to work for others. He was married May 28, 1842, to Miss Auna Mering, daughter of John Mering, a former well-known resident of Morgan Township. Mrs. Evans was born in Morgan Township in 1824. They were the parents of eight children, of whom seven are living. William . E. is a resident of Jasper County, Missouri ; Jolin M. is a farmer of Morgan Township; Elizabeth J. is now the wife of A. L. Scott; Emma M. was the wife of Erastus Robinson, and died in February, 1877, in her nineteenth year; Albert E. is at home, fitting himself for the medical profession; Cora Belle, Spencer E., and Chester C. are still under the paternal roof.
After marriage Mr. Evans located on a partially im- proved place in Morgan Township, and bought and sold five different farms in Morgan Township, settling on the John Mering homestead in 1849, where he has since ro- sided. There are one hundred and sixty aeres in this place, and in Missouri five hundred. He has heldt ali the township offices, and lately has acted much as admin- istrator and assiguec. He is a member of the Batler County Agricultural Society, and for the past ten years
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has been one of its officials. He is a member of the Con- | gregational Church at Paddy's Run. Mr. Evans's oldest sou, William E., was a member of the Fifth Cavalry, participating in all of the battles of the regiment. He served three years and three months before reaching the age of twenty.
WILLIAM C. MILLER.
William C. Miller, M. D., was born in the Kingdom of Wurtemberg, Germany, July 31, 1847. In October, 1854, in company with his parents, he emigrated to America, and settled in Hamilton, Butler County, Ohio. He received his education in the public schools, and in 1863 entered a drug-store. He advanced from one posi- tion to another until 1871, when he went into partner- ship with W. B. Falconer in the drug business. This was continued successfully until October, 1874, when he retired from the firm to attend lectures at the Miami Medical College at Cincinnati. At the close of his first course he entered the drug-store of A. D. Wittich, at Dayton, Ohio, continuing the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. Phil. Halanan, and remaining until October, 1876, when he took his second course at Miami College, graduating in March, 1877. Returning to Dayton he entered into the practice of his chosen pro- fession.
In April, 1879-his mother and sisters still living at Hamilton-he came back to this city and purchased the drug-store of the late B. S. James, on the corner of Main and I'ront Streets, where he is now doing a good business. He has fought his way up to his present. stand- point in life, and with excellent prospects in the future. Dr. Miller was married in September, 1880, to a very estimable young lady, danghter of the late Hon. Jesse Corwin, and niece to Governor Tom Corwin of Ohio. One child, William Corwin Miller, has thus far blessed their home. Dr. Miller is now in his thirty-fifth year, in comfortable circumstances, and with the best of life before him. Strictly temperate in habits and enjoying health, he intends to make the most of it.
. THOMAS MILLIKIN.
Thomas Millikin. an old and highly respected lawyer of Hamilton, was born in Rossville, now West Hamilton, on the 28th of September, 1819. He was the son of Robert B. Millikin, a well-known physician, and Sarah Millikin. The latter was from Virginia, and the former from Pennsylvania. Thomas Millikin began his classical studies with the Rev. Joseph G. Monfort, in Rossville, in 1832, and entered the Freshman class at Miami Uni- versity in September, 1834, graduating from that insti- tution in July, 1838. He began the study of law with Elijah Vance, in the Fall of 1838, and was admitted to the bar December 20, 1840. He has ever since been aictively engaged in the labors of the law, an! is the oldest prac- ticing lawyer in the county. He never held a public office except for one year in 1843, when he was prose-
cuting attorney. He has been a Democrat all his life, but acted with the Union party during the war. He was married at Columbus, Ohio, November, 4, 1841, to Mary, daughter of the late William B. Van Hook. Mr. Milli- kin has for many years been one of the most prominent citizens of the county, and has been retained on one side or the other of almost all the prominent cases in the courts for the past twenty years.
ALEXANDER F. HUME.
Alexander F. Hume, judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was born in Delaware County, New York, April 20, 1829. With his parents he came to Clarke County, Ohio, in 1838, and received his education in the common schools and high schools in Springfield, graduating there and entering Miami University in 1846, where he re- mained a year and a half. He then entered the Central College, at Danville, Kentucky, where he graduated in Marcli, 1848. He entered the office of Judges Rogers and White, remaining with them until he was admitted to the bar in August, 1850. He came to Hamilton iu the Fall of 1850, and was in practice here until elected judge of the court of Common Pleas, in 1859, which he filled for five years, when he resumed practice. He was re-elected to the same position in 1875, and has held the place continuously since. Io 1878, he was a candidate for judge of the Supreme Court of the State on the Democratic tieket, and came within three thousand votes of an election. He carried his own county by a majority of three thousand. He was married in 1854 to Miss Sarah J. Traber, daughter of John Traber, an early settler. They are the parents of six children. four sons and two daughters He was one of the organizers and the first president of the Second National Bank, of Ham- ilton, resigning the position afterwards. He has recently purchased the Peter Schwab mansion on Second Street, and is renovating and redecorating it.
CITY GOVERNMENT.
For a long time the citizens of both Hamilton and Rossville had perceived the vital necessity which existed for a union, and the project was taken up seriously and moved to a successful completion in 1854. Ordinances ef annexation were passed by the common councils of both villages, and at an election held on the first Mon- day of April, in the year just mentioned, the question, having been submitted to the legal voters, was adopted, and the consolidation soon after became a fixed fact.
The mayors of Hamilton before that event bad been, about 1834, Ezekiel Walker, Richard Easton, and Jena- than Pierson ; about 1842 to 1846, M. P. Aiston ; about 1851, David G. Leigh, James Daugherty, John S. Wiles, and Robert Hargitt. Since the union they have been Robert Hargitt, John S. Wiles, Ransford Smith. Panici Longfellow, who served three terms and died in office ; A. C. Stephenson, who served out two terms and the
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remainder of Mr. Longfellow's; M. N. Maginnis, John B. Lawder, M. N. Magimis, Edward Hughes, Frederick Egry, and F. B. Puthotf.
The eity is now under the government of a mayor and common council. It is divided into five wards, the last having been erected within the year, and has ten councilmen. They elect a clerk and sergeant-at-arms. All city officers hold their positions for two years. The mayor has jurisdiction as a justice of the peace, and has, in addition, power to enforce the city ordinances. He takes part in the deliberations of the connon council, but las no vote. He is the chairman of the newly elected body imtil its organization. The police are ap- pointed by the mayor, with the confirmation of council. The latter appoint a market master, city solicitor, city clerk, street commissioner, marshal, who, by virtue of his office, is chief of police, and chief of the fire department. The department is paid. There are three engine houses, three steamers, and a hook-and-ladder company. Of the police there are a captain and fourteen men.
The valuation of the city is $5,500,000, and the rate of taxation is twelve mills on the dollar. The city debt is $25,000, which is lessening at the rate of $5,000 a year. There is a board of health. There are two parks, each formerly a burying-ground. The streets are wide and clean, and the town presents a handsome appearance.
JOHN W. ERWIN. 1
No history of Hamilton would be complete that did not include the name of John W. Erwin. He was born in the State of Maryland, and came out here more than fifty years ago. When he arrived there was no railroad, no canal, and no well-constructed highway in Ohio. To these public labors he has devoted his life. He has been a civil engineer for sixty years. To hin and James McBride must be attributed .the first intelligent exant- ination of the prehistoric relies of the State.
LANE FREE LIBRARY.
The Lane Library is the result of a gift by Clark Lane. He had long noticed the destitution of the place of his residence in some intellectual respects, and had re- . solved to do something to remedy the defect. But his efforts to enlist his fellow-citizens in such an enterprise proved muavailing, and he then determined to found a library himself. On some lots opposite his residence be began the erection of a handsome brick building, and when complete furnished it with books and magazines, lighted and warmed it, placed his niece in as librarian, and paid all expenses himself. The gift was received with enthusiasm by the citizens, and the whole was finally transferred to the city, being now supported by taxation. Miss Florence Schenck is the present librarian, with Miss Laura Rodefer as assistant. The former public school library has been added to this collection, the whole now embracing about four thousand volumes.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
Robert Newell Andrews, the son of William Andrews and Harriet Newell, was born September 16, 1839, in Ross Township, in this county, and was brought up on a farm. Hle received a common school education. His mother died when he was but nine years of age. In the Spring of 1861, he came to Hamilton, and worked at milling for Tanquary & Anderson, until the Spring of 1862. He spent the year of 1862 and part of 1863 in Preble County, at work in the mill for Barnett & White- side. He came back to Hamilton in the Summer of 1863, and worked for John Lanib in the West Hamilton Mills. He went into the sheriff's office as deputy sheriff under A. J. Rees, In May, 1864, and remained with him until his term of office was closed. He was elected sheriff of. Butler County in October, 1867, and was re- elected in 1869, making a total service of four years. During bis administration occurred the ouly execution for murder or other erime that has ever happened in this county. John Griffin was tried for the murder of Usile Prickett, and convicted at the January term of court in 1869, and was executed July 29, 1869,
Alfred Anderson was born in Wheeling, Virginia, Feb- ruary, 24, 1824. His mother, Mary Clark, was a free woman, reared from early childhood by Mrs. Ralstou, the widow of an officer in the American Revolution. His father's name was Shannon, the brother of Governor Shan- Don, of Ohio aud Kansas. When the boy was three or four years old, his mother married Robert G. H. Ander- son, who not long after removed to Cincinnati. They remained there until 1832, when the Asiatic cholera com- pelled a hasty retreat to the small towns in the neighbor- hood, and the Anderson family were first in Hamilton and afterwards in Richmond. They settled permanently in this place in 1837, where Aifred has ever since lived, with the exception of twelve years spent in the South.
At the period when he first came to this city the State made no provision for the education of colored children, and he consequently never had but three months' schooling in his life. His constant study at home, with much reading, has, however, made him well acquainted with Enghsh literature, and given him a good knowledge of French and Spanish. He married the daughter of a clergyman when still a young man, who bore him nine children, and died in 1863. In 1865 he again married. Both of his unions were fortunate ones. He was enabled to send some of his children to college, and he gave them all as good a training as he could.
He was early identified with the- anti-slavery cause. fu 1843 be aided in editing the Palladium of Liberty, published in Columbus, the first newspaper attempted by the colored men in Ohio. A few years later he berante interested in the Coloral Citizen, of Cincinnati, and he .was a regular contributor to the North Star, published by Frederick Douglass, and the Liberator, edited by William Lloyd Garrison. He prosecuted, at his own expouse, a
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case through the courts of Ohio, by which a large por- 'tion of the colored citizens were enabled to vote, who previously had not been allowed to exercise that privilege. He has also done much to aid those to reach a place of safety who were escaping from slavery. His name has of late been prominently spoken of for minister to Hayti, a post for which he would be well fitted. He is an agrecable and pleasant companion, an excellent raconteur, a man of keen intellect and biting wit, and impressive
and dignified carriage. His memory is excellent, his knowledge of history and politics has been sedulously cultivated, and his reasoning powers are good. He has a fine command of the mother-tongue, both in writing and speaking, and is a man of excellent private character.
Robert Jackson Bell, of Morgan Township, was born in Butler County, Ohio, May 15, 1815. His father was David and his mother Margaret Bell, who came to this county in 1809. On the 23d of November, 1843, he married Ann W. Lyle, daughter of Benjamin Lyle. She was born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, June 5, 1816, and married in this county. This union resulted in David, born June 30, 1844; William H., born June 12, 1847; Francis W., born December 28, 1848; Mar- garet Jane Woodruff, born November 13, 1850; John Wesley, born March 18, 1853; Robert Fulton, born May 23, 1854; Washington, born December 30, 1858.
Robert J. Bell is one of the most prominent citizens of Morgan Township, as is shown by his having held the office of justice of the peace for twenty-one years. He is now a notary public. David Bell was in the War of 1812. During the year 1834 Mr. Bell's father, mother, and one sister died, in less than twenty days, of cholera. Robert Bell is an active member of the Washington Methodist Episcopal Church.
ALLEN ANDREWS.
Allen Andrews was born at Mancie, Indiana, on Au- gust 11, 1849. He is a son of George L. and Margaret Andrews, and is the fifth child in a family of five sons and two daughters. His father, George L. Andrews, was a native of Connectient. He was a graduate of Yale College, and after leaving that institution, enme West, and was one of the pioneer educators in this State and Indiana. He married Miss Margaret Rodebauch, of Dayton, Ohio, while teaching in that city. Some time afterward he removed with his family to Muncie, In- diana, and was in charge of the public schools there for some time, when his health becoming impaired, he re- moved to his farm in Jay County, Indiana, where he died, May 28, 1854, from the effect of an injury re- ceived some mouths before in a mill.
Margaret Rodebanch, who became the wife of George L. Andrews, was the daughter of Adam Rodebauch. Her great-grandfather, Adam Kodebauch, came from Germany about the middle of the eighteenth century, and settled in Pennsylvania. She is still living, seventy
years old, and resides at Lancaster, Indiana. When the civil war commenced, her two elder sons. John and Will am, enlisted tunder President Lincoln's first call for troops, and served the Union cause till the close of the war.
In the early part of 1863, her next two sons, Fur- man and Allen, tendered their services in auswer to the call for volunteers. The former was accepted, went with Sherman's army on its march to the sea, and was dis- charged after peace was restored ; the latter was rejected on account of his youth, and remained at home to care for his widowed mother and the other members of the broken family. After the close of the war, Allen At- drews applied himself to study, having already enjoyed the advantages of the very excellent common school system of the State of Indiana. He engaged in teaching in 1867, previously having been a student at the National Normal, at Lebanon, Ohio. He is a graduate of Liber College, Indiana, and was selected by the faculty to de- liver the valedietory address to the graduating class. He was superintendent of the public schools of New Madison, Ohio, during the years of 1871 and 1872.
He read law with the Hon. William Allen, late of Greenville, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Ohio, March 16, 1874, and on May 23, 1874, associated himself with J. K. Riffel in the practice of his profession, in Greenville. He removed from that place to Hamilton on February 29, 1876, and engaged in practice in this county. He was in partner- ship with J. C. MeKemy from January, 1877, to October, 1880, when the firm was dissolved. On October 18. 1880, he associated himself with H. L. Morey and J. E. Morey, under the firm name of Morey, Andrews & Morey.
On January 29, 1879, he was united in marriage with Miss Belle Davis, second daughter of John P. Davis, ot Hamilton, Ohio, by his first wite, whose maiden name was Blair. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also a member of the Masonie order. He is the W. M. of Washington Lodge, No. 17, Free and Accepted Masons, in which position he has acted for the last three years.
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