USA > Ohio > Butler County > Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio > Part 91
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general roustabout. Doubtless his immatur- ity and diminutive size led to the conclusion that he was in reality "only a boy," but the ' same firm were glad to have him as a man and placed him in a responsible position, re- quiring a man's ability and endurance. Mr. and Mrs. Charles have two promising sons, Walter B. and Clifford C. They have been carefully and liberally educated and pre- pared for life's duties on their own account. Walter is a talented musician and a teacher of that entrancing art, while Clifford is as- sistant manager of the Ohio Valley Grocery Company. with headquarters in Cincinnati.
Mr. Charles is pre-eminently a business man. While he takes an active interest in public affairs, and is intelligent and well in- formed on current history, he has never found time to take an active part in political and social affairs. He is a Democrat in his views and therein transcended paternal au- thority, going to the polls and casting his first vote for the Democratic candidates, jocosely remarking to his father that he had killed his vote. He is a genial. pleasant gentleman, active and energetic in every- thing which his hands find to do, and, withal, a prominent and influential citizen. No man in the city has a wider acquaintance in But- ler county than the genial "Dan" Charles.
R. C. S. REED, M. D.
Among the highly respected and well- known citizens of Butler county, Ohio, is he whose name appears above. He is the son of Gilbert Maulsberry Reed (or Read). descended from a family by the name of Read that settled in Massachusetts during
the seventeenth century, and Catharine Cumming Reed, nee Stockton, daughter of John Noble Cumming Stockton, born at Princeton, New Jersey, in 1774, and Jane Van Schaick Stockton, both dying in 1839 near Pisgah, Ohio. The parents of the subject of this sketch came to Franklin, Warren county, Ohio, about 1816, where they first met and were married in 1820, but in 1825 they came to Union township. But- ler county. and settled near Rialto paper mills, on lands belonging to the Stockton estate but now owned by Mrs. Ayres Bram- ' ble. In 1833 they removed to Clay town- ship. Montgomery county, Ohio, where the father, at the age of sixty-five, died in 1860, and twenty years later the mother died at the age of eighty-four years, at Carmi. White county, Illinois. Of their issue, John Stockton Reed. born December 10. 1821. died in Jersey county, Illinois, in 1899: Wil- liam Tenent Reed, born August 12, 1823. died in infancy: Richard Cumming Stock- ton Reed. born February 2. 1825. lives at Stockton, Ohio; Garret Readin Reed. born March 7. 1827. died at Los Angeles, Califor- nia. September 18, 1904; Jane Elizabeth Reed. born May 25. 1829, died in infancy and was buried at Pisgah, where her grand- parents (the Stocktons) were interred ten years later; Harriet Ann Reed, born Sep- tember 30, 1831. died in 1858 and was bur- ied at Euphemia, where her father was laid by her side two years afterward ; Lucius Nel- son Reed, born May 28, 1834. many years a contractor and builder at Kendallville, In- diana, lives at Fulton, Illinois.
Dr. Reed attended common schools in Butler and Montgomery counties and con- tinued his preliminary education at a pri- vate academy and under private instructors,
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R. C. S. REED, M. D.
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in connection with teaching at Preble, But -~ far these conditions are departures from nat- ler. Hamilton and Warren counties, in the ural laws. To aid in obtaining a more per- fect knowledge of disease and its treatment. he has invited consultations, examined text- books, read medical journals, and joined lo- cal, district, state and national medical as- sociations. Nor has he been as a sponge- always absorbing and never parting with anything except under pressure. In his lec- tures to medical students in the college. and through the Cincinnati Medical News, of which he was associate editor from 1872 to 1880, he has freely imparted whatever he be- lieved would benefit the sick and protect the well: whatever would elevate the medical profession and add to its ability to drive back the enemy of all flesh. During the many years he was dean of the faculty of the. Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery he kept faithful watch over the interests of society, the college and the medical profes- sion. Within the time of this service the college entered upon the co-education of the ·sexes, being the first "regular" medical col- lege in Cincinnati to matriculate ladies for the doctorate and it was during this service he arranged for the delivery of a course of didactic lectures (he assisting) to a class of nurse students, being chiefly students nurs- ing for members of the faculty in their pri- vate practice. It was the first effort of the kind ever made by a college faculty or. prob- ably. by a hospital staff west of the moun- tains. "Our effort," says Dr. Reed, "was a success for our purpose. that of making those assisting in the sick rooms of our pa- trons better nurses. The hospital, the only proper place for such an institution, at the end of the session took the plant and supple- mented the effort and now a graft from it is found in every well-organized hospital and order named, beginning in 1842 and ending in 1850. In 1845 he commenced the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. C. H. Thomas, of Sharonville, continuing his medical studies under Dr. S. P. Hunt, of Morrow, and Dr. Isaac Kay, of Lewis- burg, but now of Springfield, Ohio. In 1852, after completing a course of lectures, and a review of all his medical studies, in Starling Medical College, at Columbus, Ohio, he commenced the practice of medi- cine at Wolf Lake, Noble county. Indiana. In 1860, at the end of a course of lectures in the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, he received from that institution the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and began the practice of medicine at Stockton. The next year after receiving his degree he was elected a member of the faculty of his alma mater and in 1862 was assigned to the chair of materia medica and therapeutics. to which, in 1882, state medicine was added. The teaching and practice of medicine be- ing thus united. became his life work for more than thirty years. He is still a mem- ber of the faculty, but his relation is emer- itus. Dr. Reed, in the development of his paternal endowments, has been a painstak- ing student. He has been a careful teacher and a faithful doctor in all things he be- lieved true and. realizing the responsibility they imposed, he has often repeated, "Woe to me if I teach for truth that which is er- ror, or neglect to prescribe for the suffering the right remedy at the right time. or fail to cease treatment when enough has been given." He has been a close observer at the bedside of the sick. seeking to know the laws governing morbid conditions and how
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the fruit is abundant-the trained nurse is everywhere."
In about 1882 Dr. Reed secured the in- troduction into the general assembly of Ohio of a bill for a state board of health, of which bill he was the author. It was the first, as he believed, presented in the state, making ample provision for the protection of society from the charlatan doctor and the unscrupu- lous vender of food products-and advo- cated its passage in the Cincinnati Sanitary News, of which he was owner and associ- ate editor from 1882 to 1884. The bill did not become a law. It died with that session of the assembly, but its influence lived.
In politics the Doctor is a Democrat in the strict sense. He was with the Repub- lican party at its organization and he has remained with it ever since. In religion he is a Christian. In 1844 he joined the Cum- berland Presbyterian church, but in after years drifted away and now he is not a mem- ber of any church organization.
Dr. Reed married, first, in 1852, Miss Nancy, eldest daughter of Hon. John Clark and Elizabeth Clark, nee McClelland, of Mil- ford township. Butler county. Ohio, who died. at the age of twenty-seven years, in 1856, leaving two sons. Dr. John Gilbert Reed. a successful doctor located at Elm- wood Place. Ohio, and Dr. Charles A. L. Reed. of Cincinnati, author, teacher, sur- geon, ex-president of the American Medical Association, etc. Mrs. Reed had an amiable personality. Her friends were everyone who knew her and every friend loved her for her helpful and generous kindness and unswerving devotion to convictions of duty. Before her marriage, not unlike her associ- ates, she had given no thought to the next generation and when confronted with the
conditions of maternity lamented her insuf- ficient knowledge. "I can not believe in passive motherhood," she said. "Tell me what I must do." She became an attentive student of biologic subjects, especially that relating to the transmission of ancestral life to the next generation. She learned to be- lieve one generation can make the next bet- ter or worse than itself. That the vitalized parent cell is made up of germs from which development and growth must proceed and apply, alike, to physical, moral, intellectual and special sense conditions. They belong to the mother who must divide and increase their number to meet constructive require- ments, but she can make them many or few, strong or weak, good or bad. She felt that the end of the breathless period marks the end of the mother's opportunity to endow and after the first breath has shut off the maternal blood current it would be as im- possible to add germs to strengthen moral or intellectual power as it would be to grow a fourth finger on a hand born with but three. Education can furnish nothing. It only develops what is. The highest grade of success comes to the mother who. early, organizes a community of ideals and dwells with them, representing the highest concep- tion of perfection of mental power and moral excellence, and not only dwell with her ideals but wrestle with them for the blessing. as did Jacob with the man of God. She believed maternity is a business requir- ing the whole head and heart and is gov- erned by business principles the same as other branches, where the most faithful are the most successful.
Dr. Reed married. second, in 1858, Mrs. Susan McClelland, widow of Carey McClel- land and daughter of John and Elizabeth
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Waterhouse, of Glendale, Ohio, who died in 1900, at the age of sixty-eight years, leav- ing five children, namely: Robert War- wick McClelland, of Dayton, Ohio, and Mary E. Seward, nee McClelland, wife of I. Howell Seward, a prosperous farmer near Hamilton, Ohio, children by her first husband, and Horace Greeley Reed, of Hamilton, Ohio, Kate Reed Field, wife of Major D. W. Field, of Los Angeles, Cali- fornia, and Dr. William Stockton Reed, a popular and successful doctor located at Stockton. Mrs. Reed was of a loving and quiet disposition and for forty-two years a model wife and mother.
Dr. Reed went to California in 1894, . but returned to the old homestead in Stock- ton in 1901, where he now ( 1904) resides, quietly waiting for the summons to go through the valley of the shadows, lift the dark curtain and enter the great beyond where he hopes to find light, life and im- mortality.
PATRICK E. WELSH.
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Patrick E. Welsh, the subject of this article, was born in Hamilton on the 21st of January, 1860. He received a good edu- cation in the public schools, and during his youth entered the printing establishment of the late Jacob H. Long, where he mastered the "art preservative." For a number of years he was superintendent of the job de- partment of the Butler County Democrat. Mr. Welsh has occupied positions of promi- nence in the city, being councilman from the fourth ward for several years, and also served as health officer under the city board of health. For six years he was partner
with Peter A. Claire in conducting a cafe and sample room on Third street. He then started in business alone and now owns and operates one of the leading houses in the city. He caters to a high class of trade and conducts the Mecca on a high plane of busi- ness rectitude. The place is a favorite re- sort for gentlemen who desire to pass a pleasant hour with the social glass and con- genial companions.
Mr. Welsh was chief of the Hamilton fire department from April, 1894, until April, 1903, in which capacity he fully de- monstrated the wisdom of the choice and the propriety of his long continuance in that important position. He is an uncompromis- ing Democrat in his political views, active and aggressive in the interests of his party. Mr. Cone, in his history of Hamilton, desig- nates him as a "Democrat of the thirty- third degree," which to the initiated means exalted honors in the councils of Democracy. Mr. Welsh is descended from Irish ances- tors, who were adherents to the creed of Catholicism. In this faith he was reared and still maintains allegiance to the church of his ancestors. In his social relations he is a member of various fraternal and benefi- cial organizations, among which may be mentioned the Benevolent and Protect- ive Order of Elks. Fraternal Order of Eagles, Ancient Order of Hibernians and Catholic Benevolent Legion.
Mr. Welsh is a social, pleasant gentle- man, generous to the afflicted and always true to his friends. He was married Oc- tober 28, 1896, when he chose for his com- panion on life's journey Miss Mary Mur- phy, a native of Hamilton. This happy union has been blessed by the advent of one daughter, Miss Mary, now six years old.
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JAMES K. THOMAS.
The gentleman to a brief review of whose life and characteristics the reader's attention is herewith directed is among the foremost business men of Middletown and has by his energy and progressive business methods contributed in a material way to the industrial and commercial advancement of the city and county. He has in the course of an honorable career been most successful in the business enterprises with which he has been connected and is well deserving of men- tion in the biographical history of Butler county.
James K. Thomas is a native of the city of Hamilton, Ohio, having first seen the light of day on the 29th of September. 1829. He is a son of James B. and Lydia ( Jones) Thomas, the former of whom was a native of Northumberland county. Pennsylvania. born in September, 1792. In early life he removed to Erie, Pennsylvania, and served as a private soldier all through the war of 1812, participating in the battle of Lake Erie. He was a carpenter by trade and after the close of the war he went to New Orleans and there followed his trade for a time. Subsequently he came to Hamilton, Ohio, and resided there during the remain- der of his life. In 1828 he was appointed postmaster of Hamilton by General Jackson, retaining the position until 1848, when he resigned and for a while served as deputy postmaster. He was a man of pronounced ability and energetic temperament and stood high among his associates.
James K. Thomas received his education in the common schools and was also for a time under the instructions of a private tutor, becoming thus fairly well equipped for
life's struggle. Upon the completion of his education he accepted a clerkship in a pri- vate bank, in which position he was enabled to acquire an insight into practical business methods which was of inestimable value to him in later years. As soon as practicable Mr. Thomas engaged in business upon his own responsibility, by engaging. with others, in the milling business. After con- ducting this enterprise for six years, with fairly satisfactory results, the subject went to Cincinnati and for six years was there en- gaged in the commission business. In 1866 he moved to Middletown and the following year established the firm known as the Wardlow-Thomas Paper Company, with which he is still connected. This firm has acquired a splendid reputation for the high grade of products it puts on the market and is enjoying a high degree of prosperity. Not a little of this prosperity is due to the in- defatigable efforts of the subject, who has given the major part of his time to the busi- ness. The company employs a large force of efficient workmen, the pay-roll amounting to about six hundred dollars per week, while the mill output amounts to an average of twenty thousand pounds daily. It is one of the foremost enterprises of Middletown and because of the progressive spirit evinced by the promoters they have won the confidence of the business world.
Mr. Thomas was united in marriage, Oc- tober 27. 1852, to Miss Harriet A. Mc- Maken. a daughter of M. C. McMaken and a native of Butler county. Her father was also a native of this county and was the father of five children, four. daughters and a son. the latter being at the present time the secretary and treasurer of the company with which his father is connected. Mr.
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Thomas was the father of three daughters and one son. Mr. Thomas is a member of the First Presbyterian church of Middletown and has taken an active part in religious matters from his youth up. He takes a deep interest in everything looking to the advancement of the material, moral and edu- cational interests of his community and con- tributes liberally of his time and means to all worthy objects. Politically he is a firm ad- vocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party, having formerly been a Democrat and having cast his first presi- dential vote for Franklin Pierce. He is a man of broad humanitarian principles and of upright life and by all is esteemed for his genuine worth.
WENDEL P. BUTTERFIELD.
The subject of this review is a typical representative of sterling New England manhood, and combines many of the sturdy characteristics for which the people of that section of the Union have been long dis- tinguished. William Butterfield, the father, was a native of Massachusetts and the mother. Elizabeth Robinson, was descended from an old family that figured in the early settlement of Vermont. After their mar- riage these parents lived in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where William Butter- field followed shoemaking, working at various places in those states.
Wendel P. Butterfield was born in New Hampshire, December 29, 1849, and spent his early life in a small country town and attended the public schools until his six- teenth year. In 1861 he went to Covington,
Kentucky; thence, a little later to Cincin- nati, and in the spring of 1866 came to Mid- dletown, Ohio, to which place his mother also removed about the same time. On com- ing west Mr. Butterfield turned his atten- tion to farm work, but afterwards took up the carpenter's trade, in which he soon ac- quired skill and efficiency, and which he followed in Middletown and vicinity until en- gaging with the Oglesby Paper Company in 1873. entering the employ of the latter con- cern as superintendent of machinery, in which capacity he still continues. Mr. But- terfield is not only a skillful mechanic, but is also an accomplished machinist and his services in the important position which he holds have been eminently efficient and highly appreciated. The company with which he is identified is one of the leading industrial enterprises of Middletown, and the high esteem in which he is held by the management shows him the possessor of wise, able and honorable business qualities, which win and retain confidence and achieve a large measure of success. Aside from his immediate calling. Mr. Butterfield mani- fests a lively interest in the affairs of the community, being energetic and public- spirited and an earnest advocate of all pro- gressive measures for the material pros- perity of the city of his residence. In like manner he encourages everything in the . nature of social improvement and moral reform, stands for what makes for the best interest of his fellow men and his influence has long been a forceful factor in bringing such movements to successful issue.
In politics Mr. Butterfield accords an unwavering allegiance to the Republican party. but his activity never verges on of- fensive partisanship, nor can he be called
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an office seeker, although called at different times to positions of honor and trust. In the spring of 1903 he was elected a member of the board of public service by the largest plurality ever given a candidate for that place, and in addition thereto he has also served three terms as water-works trustee, discharging the duties of both positions in an able, business-like and eminently satis- factory manner.
Mr. Butterfield stands high in the Ma- sonic fraternity, belonging to Jefferson Lodge, No. 90, at Middletown, and Chapter No. 87, at the same place, in both of which he has been honored with important official stations, being a trustee of the former or- ganization at the present time. He is also connected with the National Association of Stationary Engineers, and in religion sub- scribes to the Methodist Protestant faith, be- longing to the church at Middletown and holding the office of trustee in the same.
Mr. Butterfield is a married man and the father of an interesting family of seven chil- dren, his wife having formerly been Miss Elizabeth Hughes, daughter of .Edward Hughes, who for some years was superin- tendent of the Oglesby Moore Paper Com- pany, and whose son now holds the same position. Mrs. Butterfield was about one year old when her parents moved to Middle- town and with that exception her life has been spent in this city. Like her husband, she is widely and favorably known, stands high in the social circles of the community. and within the sacred precincts of home reigns with a gentle dignity, which bespeaks the devoted wife, loving mother and true lady. The following are the names of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Butterfield :
Edward, a machinist of Middletown ; Eliza- beth; Wendell; William, who holds a cleri- cal position with a large dry-goods house in Cincinnati; Charles and Albert, who are working at the machinist's trade, while Ralph and Raymond, the youngest of the family, are still with their parents.
NATHAN G. OGLESBY.
The office of biography is not to give voice to a man's modest estimate of himself and his accomplishments, but rather to leave upon the record the verdict establishing his character by the consensus of opinion on the part of his neighbors and fellow citizens. In touching upon the life history of the sub- ject of this sketch the writer aims to avoid fulsome encomium and extravagant praise; yet he desires to hold up for consideration those facts which have shown the distinc- tion of a true, useful and honorable life-a life characterized by perseverance, energy, broad charity and well defined purpose. To do this will be but to reiterate the dictum pronounced upon the man by the people who have known him so long and well.
Nathan G. Oglesby is a native son of the old Hoosier state, having been born near Richmond, Wayne county, Indiana, on the 30th of March, 1831. He is the son of Joseph and Mary A. (Adleman) Oglesby. The family from which the subject springs is of Scotch ancestry and the immediate an- tecedents of the subject emigrated to Indiana from Chester county, Pennsylvania. On the maternal side the subject is of German descent, and his parents were married in
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Pennsylvania. The father was a toolmaker by trade and after coming west he was en- gaged in a sickle and tool factory near Jack- sonburg, being also engaged in farming. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, of whom the subject is the one now living.
· Nathan G. Oglesby was brought to Mid- dletown when he was but fourteen years of age and here attended the graded schools, acquiring a fair education in the common branches, which he has since supplemented by wide reading and close observation. For a time after leaving school he was employed as a clerk in a store conducted by a brother, being employed in this capacity until he was twenty-seven years old. In 1861 he was nominated by the Republicans of his county for the responsible office of county treasurer and was successful at the polls, serving one . term in the office. Subsequently he served one term as deputy treasurer under his brother, W. B. Oglesby, who also was elected to the office of county treasurer in 1881. He also served as secretary and col- lector for the Middletown water-works for . come in contact and he is counted among
eleven years, resigning that position to go to Chicago, where he remained for five years. Returning to Middletown at the end of that period, Mr. Oglesby was again ap- pointed to his former position, and has ever since served in that capacity, nineteen years in all. On the 6th of April, 1903, the sub- ject was, under the new code, elected to the The honorable distinction which the subject of this review has acquired in edu- cational and business circles indicates ability of a high order, while his influence in the industrial affairs of Middletown stamps him as one of the city's most enterprising and successful men of affairs. Libern Martin Oglesby has proved a faithful and compe- is a Kentuckian by birth and one of six chil- office of auditor of the city of Middletown, being now the incumbent of this office. His majority in this election was four hundred and thirty-eight, especially gratifying be- cause of the fact that it was the largest ma- jority given any candidate on the ticket. Mr.
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