A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 180

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans
Number of Pages: 1612

USA > Ohio > Scioto County > A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record > Part 180

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Our subject enlisted in the Ohio State Militia on June 8, 1873 as a private in Co. A, but was at once elected Lieutenant of the Company, after which he was elected and commissioned Captain. On June 21, 1876, he was elected Col- onel of the 6th Regiment, Ohio National Guards, to which position he was three times re-elected, serving in all fourteen years. During this time, he performed the most arduous and important service for the State in 1878. In 1878 was the time of the great railroad strike at Newark, Ohio, when the military aid was in- voked to quell the riotous men. He was called on to defend the City Building and the Music Hall in Cincinnati at the time of the riot when the court-house was destroyed in April, 1884. He had his regiment on the field within ten hours after notificaton of the trouble had been received. He was also in com- mand of his regiment at the time of the strikes in the Hocking Valley coal re- gions and in Jackson county. As commander of the 6th Regiment, Ohio Na- tional Guards, Col. Entrekin was a prominent factor in suppressing the dis- turbance. In commanding his troops, he displayed firmness, tempered by jus- tice, power, limited by discretion and force, and force was used only to protect life and property. His course commanded the respect of his troops and the ad- miration of all, and increased the confidence of the public in the military forces of the country.

In 1892, he was appointed by Gov. Mckinley to the position of Judge Ad- vocate General on his staff and re-appointed in January, 1894. He is now on the retired list of military officers of Ohio with rank of Brigadier General. He was appointed by Governor Foraker in November, 1889, a member of the Board of Trustees for the Central State Asylum for the Insane, at Columbus, and served two months, but the Senate refused to confirm any of Governor Foraker's ap- pointments, and his successor was appointed by Governor Campbell.

In the councils of his party, General Entrekin has been very prominent and his opinions have been received with much respect and consideration. He served two years on the Republican State Central Committee, 1882-3, and has served annually as a delegate to the county, District and State Conventions, while for twenty years he has been a member of the Ross County Executive Committee. In 1892, he was elected a delegate from the Eleventh Congress- sional District to the National Convention at Minneapolis and cast his vote for William McKinley as did all the Ohio Delegates. He was Chairman of the Congressional Convention at Athens, Ohio, which nominated the delegates to represent his district in the Republican National Convention at St. Louis in 1896. He was a very active worker for his party during the last presidential campaign and delivered many addresses in support of the dominant measures of the tariff and sound money.

He is a logical, fluent and forceful speaker and his addresses leave a lasting impression upon his auditors. He served as Chairman of the Commit- mittee on Resolutions in the Republican State Convention at Toledo, Ohio, in June, 1897. He was apppointed Collector of Internal Revenues for the 11th District of Ohio, by President McKinley in July, 1897, and is still an incumbent of that position. He is a Mason and an Odd Fellow and has passed all the

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chairs in both lodges. He is a member of the Elks and an honored member of the Grand Army of the Republic.

General Entrekin was married July 15, 1875 at Chillicothe, Ohio, to Mary F. Bethauser. They have two children, Helen G., and John C. Jr., both grown. John C. Jr. is now Deputy Collector under his father in this district.

John A. Eylar,

one of the prominent members of the bar of Waverly, Ohio, is a native of Adams county, having been born at Youngsville, February 16, 1855. He was the fourth son of John Eylar and Ann A. Wilkins, his wife. His paternal grandfather, Joseph Eylar, of Winchester, was an Associate Judge of Adams county from 1835 to 1842. His maternal grandfather, Daniel Putnam Wilkins, was a lawyer of West Union, Ohio, but was born and reared in New Hampshire, the bluest of New England blue blood Yankees. Our subject graduated from the West Union schools, and afterwards took a course in the Adams county Normal Schools. He taught for a time n the West Unon schools and read law under John K. Billings. He was admitted to practice law at Portsmouth, April 20, 1876.

He at once located in Waverly for the practice of the law and ever since has resided there. In politics, he has always been a democrat. In 1880, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Pike county, and was re-elected in 1883, serv- ing six years in that office, in which he acquired a reputation for industry, zeal, and ability in his profession. In the time he held the office, he drew no less than four hundred indictments, only one of which was ever held detective. In the same time, he collected and paid into the county treasury more fines and recognizances than any of his predecessors. Since he retired from the Prosecu- tor's office, he has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession and is retained in all the important litigation of his county. He was one of the at- torneys for the defense in the famous case of the State vs. Isaac Smith, in- dicted for murder in the first degree, of Stephen Skidmore, and distinguished himself in the conduct of that case. He was nominated for Common Pleas Judge in 1883. He was married February 16, 1887 to Lucy, daughter of John R. Douglas, and has four children: Kathleen, Melville Fuller, Alverda Louise and Helen.

In his practice, he first obtains a full knowledge of the facts of the case, both from his client's and his opponent's standpoint. He then investigates the law applicable to each and all theories the court might assume. He goes into Court with all his cases thoroughly prepared as to law and facts, and will not file a case for a client unless he believes the chances for success are largely in his favor. Like the famous Luther Martin, of Maryland, he is "always sure of his evidence." He is naturally eloquent and one of his contemporaries says he is the most eloquent member of the Waverly bar. In his arguments to the jury, he is magnetic. In his arguments to the Court, no point escapes him. He always understands his case fully before bringing it to trial. He is as zealous for a poor client as a rich one. He is of a benevolent disposition and very charitable. He is a brilliant cross-examiner. He conducts a cross-exami- nation rapidly and pleasantly, but always with a denouement in view. Follow- ing these principles, he has already established a reputation as a lawyer and bids fair in the course of a ripe experience to be as able as any in the state.

Hon. Joseph Benson Foraker,

of Cincinnati, Ohio, was born July 5, 1846, on a farm near Rainsboro, High- land county, Ohio. He enlisted as a private in Company A, Eighty-ninth Regi- ment O. V. I. on July 14, 1862, with which organization he served until the close of the war, at which time he held the rank of First Lieutenant and brevet Captain. He was graduated from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, July 1, 1869. He was admitted to the bar and entered upon the practice of law at Cincinnati, Ohio, October 14, 1869. He was elected Judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati. in April, 1879 and resigned on account of ill health May 1, 1882. He was the Republican candidate for governor of Ohio in 1883, but was de- feated. He was elected to that office in 1885 and re-elected in 1887. He was again nominated for governor and defeated in 1889. He was Chairman of the

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Republican State Convention of Ohio for 1886, 1890, 1896, 1900 and 1901, and a delegate at large from Ohio to the National Republican Conventions of 1884, 1888, 1892, 1896, and 1900. He was Chairman of the Ohio delegation in the con- ventions of 1884 and 1888, and presented to both of these conventions the name of Hon. John Sherman for nomination for the Presidency. In the conventions of 1892 and 1896 he served as Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, and as such reported the platform each time to the convention. He presented tbe name of William McKinley to the conventions of 1896 and 1900 for nomination to the Presidency. He was elected United States Senator January 15, 1896, to succeed Calvin S. Brice, and took his seat March 4, 1897. January 14, 1902 he was re-elected to succeed himself in the United States Senate for the term beginning March 4, 1903. [The foregoing is taken from the Congressional Directory.]

Susanna Margaret Davidson Fry

was born in the village of Burlington, Ohio, the daughter of James Davidson, who is sketched herein in the Davidson Family in the Pioneer Record. She was a woman of unusual natural ability. At fourteen years, she had completed all the common schools had for her. She attended the Western College, at Oxford, and graduated at eighteen. After her graduation, she began as a teacher at $15.00 per month, and afterwards taught in the Grammar and High Schools, at Ironton, Ohio. In 1867, she was married to the Rev. James D. Fry, a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan University, and at that tinie a member of the Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. In the fall of 1873, she accompanied her husband to Europe, for a years study and travel.

Her first literary production appeared in the Ladies' Repository. The titles were "Ancient and Modern Deaconesses" and "Ancient and Modern Sis- terhoods." She furnished letters of travel, history, biography and art from the old world. She is the author of a book entitled "A Paradise Valley Girl." From January, 1876 until June, 1890, Mrs. Fry filled the chair of belles-lettres in the Illinois Wesleyan University, at Bloomington, and during the most of that time was President of one of the best working literary clubs in the state. In 1877 the Ohio Wesleyan University conferred upon her the degree of A. M. She took a non-resident post graduate course with the Syracuse University of Syracuse, New York, and upon examination received the degrees of Ph. D. for work in history, philosophy and aesthetics. In 1891 and 1892 she had charge of English Literature in the University of Minnesota. She was one of the Judges in the Liberal Arts Department at the World's Fair. In 1894 she was elected President of the W. C. T. U. of Minnesota and served two years.

In 1895, she was elected Managing Editor of the Union Signal, which place she held until 1898, when she became Corresponding Secretary of the Na- tional W. C. T. U. She is a member of the Philosophical Society of Great Britian. She applies herself with great devotion to everything she undertakes and never lets go of a subject or a situation until she has mastered it. The motto most frequently quoted by her is "This one thing I do." She is now Cor- responding Secretary of the National W. C. T. U. and resides at Evanston, Illinois.

· General Charles Grosvenor

was born at Pomfret, Windham county, Connecticut, September 20, 1833. An outline of his ancestry will be found under the head of "Grosvenor Family" in the Pioneer Record of this book. His father was Peter Grosvenor and his mother Ann Chase Grosvenor. They removed from Connecticut to Ohio in 1838, locating in Athens county. His father served in the War of 1812 and was raised to the rank of Major of the Militia.

Our subject's early education was acquired in the district schools of Athens county, supplemented by private study. His mother assisted very much in instructing him as a child. He was early thrown upon his own resources and in order to obtain means to further prosecute his studies, he taught school for a number of terms' in the various district schools of Athens county. He studied law while teaching school, attending store and working on the farm. He was admitted to the bar in Athens county in 1857 and at once entered upon the active practice of his profession. In 1858, he formed a law partnership

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with Hon. S. S. Knowles, which lasted until the breaking out of the war. Re- turning, he went into partnership with S. M. Dana, under the firm name of Grosvenor & Dana. The firm continued for fourteen years. Afterwards he formed a partnership with Jones of Athens and Vorhes at Pomeroy. He has always had a large practice in Southern Ohio and was very successful in civil and criminal cases. He was presidential elector in 1872 on the Grant ticket, and was selected to carry the returns from Ohio to Washington. He was again an elector at large in 1880 and made over seventy speeches in the cam- paign in five states.

General Grosvenor entered the army as Major of the 18th Ohio Regi- ment in the three year's service in July, 1861. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel March 16, 1862, and to Colonel April 8, 1865. He was brevetted Briga- dier General March 16, 1865, and mustered out with the Regiment October 9, 1865. The regiment was in thirteen different battles and engagements beginning with Bowling Green, Kentucky, February 16, 1862 and ending with Decatur, Alabama, December 27, 1864. At the battle of Nashville, he commanded a brigade and for gallant services in the field, was recommended for promotion by General Steedman. General Thomas said of him: "He has served under my command since November, 1862, and has on all occasions performed his duties with intelligence and zeal." At the close of the war, he returned to Athens and resumed the practice of law.

In 1871, he was nominated for the State Senate, but did not secure an election. In 1873, he was elected to the General Assembly from his county and was on the Committee of Judiciary, Insurance and Revision. In 1875, he was re-elected to the House as a Representative from Athens county and made Speaker of the House. He has great oratorical powers, indefatigable industry and is a most formidable antagonist in debate. He is always called on to make canvasses in the Presidential years in other states.

Our subject was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphan Home of Xenia, Ohio, April, 1880 to April 1888, and Presi- dent of the Board for 5 years. He was a delegate at large to the National Re- publican Convention at St. Louis in 1896 and again to the National Republican Convention at Philadelphia in 1900.

He was elected to the 49th, 50th, 51st, 53rd, 54th, 55th and 56th Cos- gresses, and re-elected to the 57th Congress. He is a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, and has been for a number of years; a member of the Committee on Marine and Fisheries.

Hon. Marcus A. Hanna,

President of the Union National Bank of Cleveland, was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, September 24, 1837. His parents Dr. Leonard and Samantha Hanna removed with their family to Cleveland in 1852, where the Doctor became a merchant, being a senior member in a large wholesale firm of Hanna, Gar- retson & Co.

M. A. Hanna attended the public schools and graduated from the Cleve- land High School. At the age of twenty he entered into his father's business. After the decease of his father in 1861, he assumed control of his interest. He continued in the business until 1867, when he entered the firm of Rhodes & Company, successors to Rhodes, Card & Co., the great coal and iron firm of Cleveland, of which firm he is now a senior member. He is largely identified with the vessel transportation, manufacturing and banking interests of Cleve- land. In 1872, he organized and equipped the Cleveland Transportation Co., one of the largest on the lakes. Of the Chopin Bolt and Nut Co., one of Cleve- land's important manufactures, he is a large share-holder, and is Vice-Presi- dent of the Hubbell Stove Co., of Buffalo, New York, President of the West Side Street Railway Co., of Cleveland and President of the Herald Publishing Co. of Cleveland. The Union National Bank of Cleveland was organized in February, 1884, and at a meeting of the Directors in March, he was elected its President. This Bank is one of the largest in the State with a Capital of Ten Million Dollars. Its share holders and directors comprise the solid business men and capitalists of Cleveland. In politics, Mr. Hanna is a republican and al-

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ways takes active part in the more important political moves among the bus- iness men of the city. He was married September 27, 1864 to Miss C. Augusta, the estimable daughter of Dan P. Rhodes, Esq., one of Cleveland's foremost men.

Mr. Hanna is a man who stands high in the estimation of his associates for his marked ability, tact, foresight and integrity. He is a man of fine de- portment, calm, easy and agreeable manner, of good personal appearance and a courteous gentleman. In his various undertakings he has been uniformly successful. Under his management and presidency the affairs of the various companies have been conducted in a highly satisfactory manner, and have de- veloped and assumed immense proportions. He is a man of versatile and gen- eral ability, equally at home in all of his multifarious affairs, whether it be mining, shipping, manufacturing or banking. To the development of her inter- ests as a city, it is to such men as Mr. Hanna that Cleveland is largely in- debted. Of her charitable institutions, he is a stanch upholder and liberal do- nator.

Senator Hanna has always taken an active part in public affairs, but did not become a prominent national figure until he took up the cause of Major McKinley, conducting a preliminary campaign, which resulted in his nomina- tion for the Presidency at St. Louis in 1896. Prior to that time Senator Hanna had been a delegate to two national conventions. In March, 1897. he was ap- pointed by Governor Bushnell to fill the vacancy occasioned in the Senate by the resignation of the Honorable John Sherman to accept a place in President McKinley's cabinet. Mr. Hanna was subsequently elected by the State Legis- lature to fill Mr. Sherman's unexpired term and for a full term of six years. This will expire March 4, 1905.

Mr. Hanna's career in the Senate has been marked by those same qual- ities which gave him success in the business world. He has been actively iden- tified with most of the important measures considered by Congress since he en- tered the Senate. There is scarcely an important piece of legislation of which he has not been an active advocate and a substantial contributor to its suc- cess.

Adna Romulus Johnson

was born at Sweet Springs, Missouri, Dec. 14, 1860. His father was Spencer Johnson and his mother's maiden name was Persis Stivers, a daughter of James Stivers of Meigs county, Ohio. His parents had six children and he was next to the youngest. His father died when he was but three years old, and six months later his mother went with the family to Oak Ridge Furnace in Law- rence county, and our subject resided there until he was twenty-one years of age. He then removed to the City of Ironton. He was reared as a farmer and attended the common schools. He never had any education except such as he obtained himself. He was a country school teacher from the age of seventeen to twenty-four and taught continuously every winter, and sometimes the year around. He says that in the year 1884, he taught twelve and one-half inonths in the year, but he counted the months at four weeks. He began the study of law in 1883, but in 1885 he went to Ann Arbor and took a law course. He grad- uated from there June 30, 1887. June 1, 1886 he was admitted to the bar in Ohio.

He began practice, but returned to Ann Arbor in the fall of 1886 and re- remained there until June, 1887. He has been in the practice of law at Ironton ever since. He was Prosecuting Attorney of Lawrence county, from 1890 to 1894. He was married October 16, 1890 to Miss Dora B. Ricketts; a daughter of John Ricketts, deceased. They have two children: Adna, Romulus. aged nine and Newton Halsey, aged four. He has always been a republican in his political views.

Mr. Johnson is one of the ablest lawyers of Southern Ohio. He enjoys an extensive and lucrative practice. The confidence which juries of Lawrence county have in him is something wonderful. He possesses the confidence of all the business men of Lawrenc county to a remarkable degree. Mr. Johnson dares to do anything in a business venture but is active and is guided by con- summate judgment and the highest legal skill, He has been uniformly suc- cessful all his life.

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Robert Johnson

was born in Patterson's Valley, Hampshire county, Virginia, now Mineral coun- ty, West Virginia, October 27, 1824. His father was Joshua Johnson, and his mother was Nancy Sheets, daughter of Frederick Sheets, who built Sheets' mills near Headsville. His father's farm lay in Patterson's valley, seven miles north of the main line of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. His father had twelve children, of whom our subject was the eldest. He worked for his father until he was twenty-two years of age, and then began the world for him- self. He had heard of the Ohio Valley and determined to visit it. He came to Greenup county, Kentucky, and became acquainted with the family of John Lawson, who also had emigrated from Hampshire county, Virginia.

He married his daughter, Catharine, November 5, 1850. She was born March 24, 1824. For further particulars as to her ancestry, see the Lawson Family in the Pioneer Record. After his marriage, he returned to Hampshire county, Virginia. He tried farming there, but in 1852 returned to Kentucky, near the vicinity of his wife's home, and rented land. In 1858, he began to purchase land, and has added to his purchases from time to time, till now he has 1.000 acres in the vicinity of his present home. He lived in the north por- tion of his present farm till 1869, when he removed to his present location.

He and his wife have had six children born to them. Their eldest son, John William, died in 1873 at the age of twenty-one years. Their third child is Mrs. Nancy Sheets, wife of Volney Thompson, of Portsmouth, Ohio. Their fourth child, Joseph Frederick, died in infancy, in 1860. Their daughter, Clara Virginia is the wife of Newton Horr, a resident of Portsmouth, Ohio. Their youngest, Robert Taylor, born in 1865, is a farmer. In his political views, Mr. Johnson is a democrat. Mrs. Johnson is a member of the Pres- byterian church. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are liked, admired and respected by all who know them. They are good citizens and good neighbors. Mr. John- son is noted for his integrity and fair dealing. He has always kept himself on the credit side of the ledger of life. He has been very successful as a farm- er, and he and his good wife are enjoying the fruits of years of toil, and no two persons deserve ease and pleasure in their old age more than they.

Hon. David Warren Jones

is the son of David Jones and Maria Bothwell, and was born in Vinton county, Ohio, October 16, 1855. His great-grandfather. John Potter, was a Captain on one of the New Jersey Continental Regiments of the Revolution. His grand- mother, Charlotte Bothwell, was one of the leading pioneer women of Southern Ohio. well known in what is now Vinton county.

He attended the public schools at McArthur until 16 years of age when he was appointed to a cadetship at the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, which he entered in June, 1872. He remained there till 1876, when he resigned and be- gan the study of law with his brother the late Homer C. Jones, of McArthur. He was admitted to the bar in 1879, having taught in the public schools at Mc- Arthur while studying law. In June, 1880, he located in Gallipolis, Ohio, and began the practice of law. He met with early and marked success, and in 1883, formed a law partnership with Hon. S. A. Nash, as Nash & Jones, which con- tinued until Judge Jones went on the bench in 1897. In 1886, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Gallia county, which office he held for six years, mak- ing a fine record. Retiring from the office of Prosecutor, he continued the practice of law, the failing health of his law partner throwing the entire work of the firm upon him. From that time until his elevation to the bench his firm enjoyed a large practice, being engaged in all the important litigation in the county.

In January, 1897, he was appointed by Governor Bushnell Common Pleas Judge to fill the vacancy created by the election of Hon. H. L. Sibley to the Cir- cuit bench. The following summer he was nominated without opposition to fill the remaining year of Judge Sibley's unexpired term, and also the full term fol- lowing, as the full term would begin before the election of 1898. His work on the bench has been such as to win the esteem and confidence of the entire bar of the sub-division, as is testified by the fact that in April, 1902, he was again nominated without opposition, and as the sub-division has a Republican ma-

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A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 180

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913 Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans Number of Pages: 1612

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans
Number of Pages: 1612