Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 111

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others
Publication date: 1905
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1149

USA > Ohio > Butler County > Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio > Part 111

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county, Ohio. His parents, Bryan and Anna (Henry) Sharkey, were both natives of the Emerald Isle and emigrated to America when in their teens. They were from poor, but honest, peasant families and after reach- ing Cincinnati, Ohio, they met and were united in marriage. The subject received such educational advantages as were af- forded in the common schools of his native town, being permitted to attend school, how- ever, only until his twelfth year, when he was compelled to go to work, much to his regret, as he was an ambitious lad and de- sired to perfect himself in that knowledge which is so essential to the greatest degree of success in life. His first employment was in the capacity of "duster boy" in the mills of the Harding Paper Company, at Excello, Ohio, at the wage of "one dollar the day." This was not a large salary, but was under the circumstances accepted as a matter of necessity. Mr. Sharkey worked for the pa- per company for a few years and in 1882 he began the study of telegraphy under the in- structions of the night operator at Middle- town, Ohio, on the Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago & Indianapolis Railway (now the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway) and finished his instruction at Monroe Station, on the same road. During this time he daily walked a distance of three miles to and from home and paid his "tui- tion" by cleaning and carrying in the morn- ing and out at evening the seven switch lamps. Upon becoming a competent opera- tor he was employed as telegraph operator and freight and ticket agent at various sta- tions on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & Indianapolis Railway and the Cincinnati. Hamilton & Dayton Railway until October, 1890, when he resigned from the railway

service in order to take up the study of medicine, for which profession he had long desired to prepare himself. He matriculated at the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincin- nati, in October, 1890, and was graduated therefrom on the 6th of April, 1893. In competitive examination Dr. Sharkey won the position of house physician, or interne. in the German Protestant Hospital at Cin- cinnati, serving in this position from June, 1893, until April, 1894. In June of the latter year he came to Hamilton and com- menced the active practice of his profession, in which he has since been continuously en- gaged. He has achieved marked success since his establishment here and has won the confidence of the public, as is attested by the large share of the public patronage which is accorded him. His abilities have been signally recognized, as is evidenced by the fact that he has been the incumbent of several important official positions. He was city physician of Hamilton from January, 1895, until January, 1898; United States pension examining surgeon from Septem- ber, 1894, until September, 1898, being sec- retary of the board; a member of the city council from March, 1896, until March, 1898, and county coroner from January, 1901. his term in the latter office expiring in January, 1905.

In politics the Doctor is a pronounced Democrat, believing the policy of that party to be the one most conducive to the welfare and prosperity of the American people, and he takes a keen interest in the questions of the day, being well able to give account for the faith that is within him. He keeps in touch with all movements having for their object the advancement of the interests of his profession and holds membership in the

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Butler County Medical Society. He is also decided predilection toward mechanics. a member of the Catholic Knights of Ohio, Catholic Benevolent Legion, Catholic Order of Foresters, Royal Legion, Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and has been honored with the po- sition of medical examiner in each of these orders. His religious principles are those embodied within the creed of the Roman Catholic church and he is a faithful adherent of the holy mother church, attending wor- ship at St. Mary's church, Hamilton.

On the 15th of September, 1903, at St. Peter's Cathedral, Cincinnati, Ohio, Doctor Sharkey was united in marriage with Miss Bessie Palmer. She is a native of Burling- ton, Boone county, Kentucky, and was born May 23, 1881. In 1891 she accompanied her parents upon their removal to Lawrence- burg, Indiana, where she received her edu- cation, graduating from the high school at that place. Subsequently the family removed to Hamilton, where Mrs. Sharkey's father is employed as a machinist in the Niles Tool Works. Mrs. Sharkey has proved a true helpmate to her husband in the fullest sense of the word and much of his success has been due to her personal qualities, which have endeared her to a host of warm friends.

LUCIAN C. OVERPECK.

L. C. Overpeck, a native of St. Clair township, Butler county, Ohio, was born on the 15th of May, 1853, and is a son of David and Rachel (Warwick) Overpeck, be- ing thus a representative of two old and prominent pioneer families. He early evinced an interest in art work and had a

From childhood he had a desire to be an artist, though his ambition was not immedi- ately gratified. He attended the public schools, and at the age of fifteen years con- structed an amateur photograph gallery in a. shed, making a skylight from a window. This "plant" was largely the product of his own ingenious hands. If it did nothing else, it showed the bent of the child's mind. In 1870 he engaged in the drug business at Trenton, continuing that work for three years. His leisure moments were spent in the study of chemistry, with special refer- ence to the application of this science in the work which he then designed to pursue. He also used a part of his spare time in testing and perfecting his appliances and in making pictures. In the summer of 1873 he rented an old abandoned gallery and started in busi- ness with a capital stock of forty dollars. The business was a success from the start. His pictures readily attracted attention for their clearness, distinctness of outline, soft- ness of detail and excellent light and shade effects. From that day to the present Mr. Overpeck has stood at the head of his pro- fession in Butler county. Soon after launch- ing out in business he visited the galleries of the large eastern cities with a view to per- fecting himself in all details and securing "first hand" any new ideas in the business. Mr. Overpeck promptly allied himself with various professional associations and has been a regular attendant. at their stated meetings. He is a member of the Pho- tographers' Association of America and of the Ohio State Association of Photograph- ers. He was one of the founders of the last mentioned, and served as a member four years on its executive board, and in the ca-

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L. C. OVERPECK.

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pacity of president, vice-president and secre- tary. At the meeting of the National As- sociation in Minneapolis in 1888, Mr. Over- peck received a cash prize of fifty dollars in gold for superior excellence in flash-light work and a medal for excellence in cabinet photography. At the Ohio State Associa- tion in 1893 he was awarded the three prin- cipal prizes offered by the association. The same year he received from the National Association two medals for superior ex- cellence of carbonette pictures and photo- graphs of machinery. Mr. Overpeck has taken out patents on flash-light photography, and photographing background carrier, also on a newspaper vending device, for drop- ping in a coin and getting a newspaper, which also has a change-making arrange- ment attached.

Mr. Overpeck is a member of the prin- cipal secret societies, about eight in number. He holds the position of drill master in the Tribe of Ben Hur. In 1903 he was ap- pointed member of the national committee on secret work of the American Insurance Union. He has served as district deputy of the Knights of Pythias and is a past grand of the Odd Fellows, past chief of the Ben Hur, past president of the American Insur- ance Union, and at present is sir knight com- mander of the Modern Maccabees.

Art and music usually go hand in hand, and Mr. Overpeck is no exception to this rule. He is especially talented in music and has attained great proficiency in it. He was a charter member of the Hamilton Har- monic Society and was leader of the Hamil- ton Glee Club for several years. He is an affable and pleasant gentleman, whose place of business is "a thing of beauty and a joy forever."

R. ED. BURDSALL, A. B., M. D.

The man who devotes his talents and energies to the noble work of ministering to the ills and alleviating the suffering of humanity is pursuing a calling which in dignity, importance and beneficial results is second to no other. If true to his profes- sion and earnest in his efforts to enlarge his sphere of usefulness, he is indeed a bene- factor of his kind, for to him more than to any other man are intrusted the safety, the comfort and in many instances the lives of those who place themselves under his care and profit by his services. Prominent among the rising physicians and surgeons of Butler county is Dr. R. Ed. Burdsall, of Collinsville, who, though a young man and of comparatively limited experience as a practitioner. has already achieved distin- guished success and won a leading place in the front rank of his profession in this part of Ohio. Dr. Burdsall is a native of Cler- mont county, Ohio, born in the town of Marathon on the 10th day of March, 1872. His father, Rev. J. W. Burdsall, also an Ohioan by birth, was also reared in the county of Clermont, where he first saw the light of day, and for many years has been a well-known minister of the Methodist Episcopal church and a teacher in all lines of religious work under the auspices of that denomination. In addition to the duties of his holy office, he has devoted considerable attention to agriculture, owning a farm in his native county, which he personally man- ages, although the greater part of his time during the last four years has been given to various lines of religious work under his charge. The Burdsalls are of Scotch de- scent and the first of the family to come to

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America settled many years ago in New has made rapid progress and now com- Jersey, the subject's grandfather having been a native of that commonwealth. Martha Shumard, wife of J. W. Burdsall, is of English-Dutch lineage and traces her family history in this country to an early day; she was born in Clermont county, Ohio, and is the mother of seven children. the subject of this review being the second of the number.

The early life of Dr. Burdsall was spent on the home farm in Clemont county and he grew up accustomed to the rugged duties of the same. At the proper age he entered the district schools and after finishing the branches constituting the usual course of study, became a student of the Ohio Wes- leyan University, from which he graduated in 1898, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Having decided upon the medical profession as his life work, he began pre- paring himself for the same by entering in the fall of the above year the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, where he prosecuted his studies and researches until completing the prescribed course, being graduated, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, in the spring of 1901. Dr. Burdsall was obliged to rely upon his own resources while ob- taining medical education, and to earn sufficient money to defray expenses devoted his vacations to farm labor and to work on the street-car lines in Cincinnati. He made a creditable record as a student and, with a mind well-disciplined by intellectual and professional training, opened an office im- mediately after receiving his degree, at Dublin. Indiana, where he practiced for only a short time, removing thence to Col- linsville, Butler county, on September 12. 1901. Since locating in his present field he

mands a large and lucrative practice, which is steadily growing in magnitude and im- portance, being as successful financially as he has been professionally. A diligent stu- dent and painstaking investigator, he is fully in touch with modern medical thought and occupies a conspicuous place not only in the confidence of his patients and of the public generally, but also in the esteem of his professional brethren in a community long noted for the high order of its medical talent.

On September 9, 1900, Dr. Burdsall was united in marriage to Miss Olive Logan Kerr Bennett, of Brooksville, Indiana, the union being blessed with one child, Olive Sophia, whose birth occurred on the 22d day of December, 1902. Dr. Burdsall and wife are members of the Methodist Episco- pal church at Seven Mile, Butler county, and active workers in the same. He has charge of the music in the Sunday school at Collinsville, being chorister. He is not only an accomplished vocalist, but is also somewhat skilled as a player upon several instruments. He received a thorough musical vocal training under the direction of leading masters and has been enthusiastic in promoting an interest in the art, believ- ing it to be not only highly educational from an intellectual point of view but also refin- ing and elevating in its influence upon the minds of those who study it properly. The Doctor is a Republican, but the pressing duties of his profession leave him little time to devote to political work; he votes his principles freely and fearlessly, sometimes irrespective of party, and supports the can- didates of his choice by every legitimate means at his command, but persistently re-

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fuses to stand for office although well qual- ified to fill any position of honor and trust within the gift of the people. Dr. Burdsall has a beautiful modern home in Collinsville. He is greatly interested in Collinsville's growth and development, giving his influ- ence and support to all progressive move- ments with these objects in view and en- couraging every enterprise making for the advancement of the community along edu- cational, social and moral lines. His pres- ent position and influence he has attained entirely by his own exertions, being, as al- ready indicated, a self-made man, and as such ranks with the ablest and most public spirited of his compeers. In every relation of life he has sought the good of his fellow men and his right to a place among the rep- resentative citizens of Butler county, is cheerfully conceded by all who know him. He believes in the motto of his father be- fore him, "live and let live." Fraternally Dr. Burdsall is a member of Covenant Lodge, No. 54, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Somerville, Ohio.

Dr. Burdsall's paternal great-great- grandfather, Samuel Burdsall, was an Eng- lishman and, with two brothers whose names are unknown, came to America at a very early date and settled in New Jersey. At the outbreak of the war of the Revolu- tion he enlisted in behalf of the colonists and won distinction for his bravery, being wounded at the battle of Trenton, New Jersey. At the close of the war the three brothers separated, one going to Loudoun county, Virginia, another to New York state, while Samuel remained in New Jer- sey, the state for which he had offered his blood that it might be free from "England's oppressive yoke." Of the New York

brother and his offspring little is known. The Virginia branch became very numerous and were generally a well-to-do people and religiously inclined, being members of the Friends (or Quakers) church. Very many of them are settled throughout Ohio.

Richard Burdsall, author of hymn No. 330 in the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, 1s thought to be one of the subject's ances- tors. He was born in 1735 and died in 1824 and was a local preacher of the Wesleyan church for about sixty years.

Doctor Burdsall's great-grandfather, Elijah Burdsall, was born in Burlington county, New Jersey, November 1, 1778. He acquired a good education and was a school teacher and surveyor for many years, mak- ing many large surveys through the west- ern country, including this part of Ohio. He was a man of wide information, a genial companion, full of pleasantries and posses- sing a remarkable memory. He died Feb- ruary 10, 1837. He was married to Esther Prickett (later called Pickett), who was born in Burlington county, New Jersey, on February 10, 1776, and died December 20, 1841, at Bethel, Ohio. Ten children were born to them, six sons and four daughters, of whom one died in childhood, the rest liv- ing to maturity. They are Samuel, Elijah, Levi. Henry, John and Edmund. The daughters were Hannah, Esther, Lydia and Mary, all of whom are dead.

The Doctor's grandfather. Edmund Burdsall, was the youngest son, born August 17, 1806, and was married to Hes- ter Ann Giberson July 7. 1827. Their fam- ily consisted of twelve children, namely : Joseph, Lyle, Hannah. Elizabeth, Sarah, Hester, Rebecca, John. Jennie, Edmund, Josiah, William and Lydia. Edmund Burd-

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sall was, in his fifteenth year, licensed to exhort by the Methodist Episcopal church at Greenland, New Jersey, and in the fall of 1829 came over the mountain with his wife, making the trip in a little one-horse wagon. He was licensed to preach at the Concord Methodist Episcopal church in June, 1848, was ordained deacon in Cincinnati, on March 14, 1850, by Bishop Hamline, and ordained local elder by Bishop Scott on September 1, 1854.

He was commissioned as captain of the Sixth Company, Third Regiment, Third Brigade, Eighth Division, Ohio State Mili- tia, under Joseph Vance, and was later pro- moted to major. When the war of the Re- bellion broke out he at once offered his serv- ices and raised a company for the Twenty- seventh Ohio Infantry, but was rejected himself because of physical disability. Later he raised another company for the Forty- eighth Ohio Regiment, but was again re- jected. He now consented for his eldest son, John Wesley, to represent the family in the Eighty-third Ohio Volunteer Infan- try, and later Edmund, through strategy, made his father believe he was old enough to enlist, by changing the record of his birth in the old family Bible, and he likewise en- listed. first in Company D, Seventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, and later in Company L, Ninth Ohio Cavalry. Grandfather Burd- sall was a man of such genial temperament and lovable disposition that he drew about him hosts of friends. In marriage and fu- neral services he was one first chosen by these friends over a large portion of Cler- mont and Brown counties. He died Janu- ary 4, 1866. His son John Wesley, father of the Doctor, now possesses the old home-

stead, near Marathon, Ohio, and is still car- rying on the work of his father, being a live and successful evangelist in the Methodist Episcopal church. -

PETER G. THOMSON.

Peter G. Thomson, president of the Champion Coated Paper Company, who more than any other man is responsible for the conception and final construction of the Hamilton Belt Railway, was born in Cin- cinnati on December 16, 1851. His educa- tion, so far as schools are concerned, was limited to what was offered by the public schools of Cincinnati and his commanding position in the business world has been reached by no influence but his own brains and his own exertions. Without a capital of one dollar, Mr. Thomson went to work at the age of seventeen years, for Robert Clarke & Company, the Cincinnati book dealers. For three years he worked for three dollars per week and when, at the end of a service of six years, he left his employers to embark in an enterprise of his own, he car- ried with him a knowledge of the trade and a literary taste that marked the first pro- nounced stage in his unusual business career. At twenty-three years of age he opened a book and stationery store at the southwest corner of Vine street and the Arcade. Here Mr. Thomson became the first tenant of the then new Emery building. While in this business Mr. Thomson did much literary work, both as an author and a publisher. His most notable work was a "Bibliography of the State of Ohio," prepared after vast

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research in the leading American libraries. It won for its author recognition throughout the literary circles of the entire English- speaking world, and as a result Mr. Thom -. son is today a member of the Royal Geo- graphical Society of France, to which he was elected in 1881. and a life member of the Historical and Geographical Society of Ohio. Eulogistic notices of the work were printed in the literary journals of England and America, and personal letters of com- mendation and interest were elicited from many men of eminence, including Presidents Hayes and Garfield. Francis Parkman, the historian, Rufus King and many others.

After Mr. Thomson had sold out his book business, he embarked in the novel field of the publication of children's toy- books and games at Everett and Baymiller streets, Cincinnati. His plant was burned on October 9. 1884, but he promptly re- moved to the Russell-Morgan building, on Race street, opposite Shillito's, and resumed business. It was soon after this that his first great successful business coup was made. The firm of Mclaughlin Brothers, of New York, had previously enjoyed a monopoly of the toy-book and game publication busi- ness of America, and the existence of live competition in their field did not rest well on their commercial stomachs. Meantime Mr. Thomson kept on increasing and ex- panding his business until, in 1887, they were glad to buy out his good will for one hundred thousand dollars, cash, and retire him from the field. Today he is under bond to forfeit five hundred dollars on every toy- book or game that he sells during the re- mainder of his life. After the sale above stated Mr. Thomson, in 1892, bought the one-hundred-and-eighty-seven-acre tract

known as the Prospect Hill and Grand View Addition, Hamilton, Ohio. It was to de- velop this property that he conceived the idea of building the Black Street bridge, to which he contributed a bonus of fifteen thousand dollars. And too, it was to further develop this property, rather than to primarily establish a business, that he pur- chased certain patents connected with the coating of paper, which greatly simplified. the process, and established the Champion Coated Paper Company, now the largest paper mill and the largest coating mill in the world. It was then also that the idea of a belt railway, which would give the best ship- ping facilities to the new territory, was con- ceived, though five years were required for the execution of the plan.

Mr. Thomson's home is on College Hill, and it is not too much to say that what that beautiful suburban village has beyond the gifts of a prodigal nature, it owes to him. He has been for years and is today its lead- ing spirit in every enterprise. For sixteen years he has served as a member of the vil- lage council, and to Mr. Thomson's efforts is due the fact that the village has street-rail- way connections with Cincinnati. By his personal efforts the bonus of thirty thou- sand dollars was raised, which induced the consolidated company to extend its tracts to the village. He is a director of Belmont College and the Ohio Military Institute, and was chairman of the building committee that gave College Hill her handsome new Presbyterian church. So highly were these services appreciated that in December his fellow townsmen presented Mr. Thomson with a loving cup. Next day, when he re- turned to his business at Hamilton, his em- ployees presented him with another. To

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have been the recipient of two such tokens in two consecutive days, and to have builded, at fifty-two years, an honorable fortune, from no capital but brains and energy, is not given to many men.

W. K. CHERRYHOLMES, M. D.

The subject of this sketch is a native of Millersburg, Ohio. He had all the ad- vantages of a liberal education and special training in his youth. At the age of sixteen he was prepared for college, entered the Ohio State University and was graduated with the class of 1881. He early decided upon the medical profession as his life work and pursued a two-years course in the medi- cal department of the University of Michi- gan, but before completing the course he transferred his allegiance to the famous Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York city, and was graduated into the pro- fession from that well-known institution. On competitive examination he was chosen to the position of interne in St. Peter's Hos- pital, Brooklyn, New York, and thus for one year witnessed the practical application of the theories of former studies. He was in general practice for five years at his native place, his experience in that time demon- strating the wisdom of a restricted practice and preparation along a special line in the varied intricacies of the medical profession. The Doctor wisely concluded that the field of medicine and surgery is too broad and intricate to be covered successfully in all details by any one individual. He was not of the class who would be content with mediocre attainments in his professional

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Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 111

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1149

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others
Publication date: 1905
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1149