USA > Ohio > Belmont County > Centennial history of Belmont County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 65
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Col. Israel Shreve, the grandson of Caleb Shreve and great-great-grandfather of our subject, served his country throughout the Revolutionary War. Soon after the battle of Bunker Hill, the Provincial Congress ordered four regiments to be raised from New Jersey. Although Quaker blood conrsed in his veins, Israel Shreve promptly responded and was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the second battalion of New Jersey troops November 8, 1775, and upon the re-organization of the "Jersey Line" November 28, 1776, he was made colonel of the Second Regiment, in which capacity he served until the end of the war. Ilis regiment was a part of Maxwell's brigade and was with Washing- ton in many of the most important bat- tles of the Revolutionary War, and under his command won laurels in many bloody en- counters. Ilis son, Lieut. Joli Shreve, the great-grandfather of our subject, though a lad of only 13 years of age at the beginning of the war, took an active part in the struggle for in- dependence, much of the time in service with his father. When the father's regiment marched for Canada in February, 1776, the son went with him. On July 15, 1776, John Shreve was appointed an ensign in his father's regiment. When the regiment was re-organ- ized, he was made first ensign in the regiment, and later, July 1, 1777, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Both father and son passed the winter of 1777 and 1778 with Washington
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at Valley Forge. Lient. John Shreve has left, in his own handwriting, lengthy accounts of the connection of himself and his father with the Revolutionary War in general. Both were on the ground during the negotiations between Arnold and Andree, and both were eye wit- nesses of the latter's execution. Col. Israel Shreve had a brother, William Shreve, who served as major, then as lieutenant-colonel, and finally as colonel of the Ist New Jersey Regi- ment. Another brother, Samuel Shreve, en- tered the Revolutionary Army as a captain in the First Battalion Gloucester ( New Jersey ), and became lieutenant-colonel of the same .. Still another brother, Caleb Shreve, was very prominent in civil life, in New Jersey, during the war. Two of the three brothers of Col. Israel Shreve had sons in the same army, one of whom was a captain. All were "Fighting Quakers" and were disciplined for their want of meekness, but after the war were forgiven and allowed to return. Col. Israel Shreve died the same night Washington did, and it is be- lieved about the same hour. It is said that his last words were: "Washington, O! Wash- ington."
Lieut. John Shreve, the great-grandfather of the subject of this biography, spent about forty years of the best part of his life in West- ern Pennsylvania, where for a great part of that time he served as a public official in vari- Ons capacities, representing his county several times in the State Legislature. He died near Alliance, Ohio, at the age of 92 years, honored and respected by all.
His son, Dr. Thomas C. Shreve, the grand- father of our subject, was a graduate of Jeffer- son Medical College, Philadelphia, holding high rank among his associates and in the in- stitution, and practiced his profession through life successfully. Ile passed the early part of his professional life in Ohio, during which time he represented his county in the Ohio Legislature in the years 1845 and 1846. Ile went to Kansas in 1857, locating at White Cloud. He had become prominent as an Abolitionist before he left Ohio. Ile was one of the carly Republicans in the Sunflower
State. fle was a man of fine personal appear- ance. It is said of him at his death, that "intel- ligent, social, high-minded, courteous and hon- orable, he seemed like a gentleman of the olden time, rarely met in these days." His wife, Ann G. ( Coates) Shreve, was a most remark- able woman in every way. She was born in 1802, and was educated at the Friends' school at Westtown, Pennsylvania. In her Ohio home, she warmly espoused the cause of temperance and was one of the first in the struggle for the legal rights of women, at the time when great heroism was required. She was, as well, an active and effective laborer for the freedom of the slaves. She and her husband soon filled an influential position in their new Kansas home. She lived nearly 95 years. An interest- ing story is told of her grandmother Coates. She with her newly married husband were living, during the winter and spring of 1778, on a farm, near the winter camp, occupied by Washington and his army at Valley Forge. One day at the opening of spring, in the ab- sence of both husband and wife, some of Washington's men came to the farm and took away the farm team, leaving an old worn-out horse to do the spring plowing and planting. On the return of the wife, on learning what had happened, she mounted the old horse and rode to the camp, and asked for an interview with General Washington. He granted the interview. In the course of it, she is said to have assured him, that she and her husband were anxious to do all in their power to supply the needs of the army, but that it was simply impossible for them to do their part in pro- viding provisions, if they were deprived of the assistance of the team which had been taken for the use of the army. She plead her case so elequently that Washington granted her request, and allowed her to take the team back home with her.
Charles R. Shreve, the father of our sub- ject, was one of the ablest and best known educators in the State of Ohio. He took charge of the schools of Martin's Ferry, in 1859, which schools he served continuously as superintendent and teacher for 29 years.
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When he took charge of them, they were in a deplorable condition, but he gradually brought them to a high standard of efficiency. Lead- ing educators of the State have said that Mr. Shreve graduated from the Martin's Ferry schools a class of students second to none in the State. It was said by one of his students, who graduated under him, that if it had been left to the graduates of the Martin's Ferry Iligh School, Mr. Shreve would have been kept in the office of superintendent as long as he was able to attend to its duties, and then would have been pensioned the remainder of his life. When he severed his connection with the schools in 1888, they were recognized by the leading educators of Ohio as being among the best in the State. Mr. Shreve acted as county school examiner for Belmont County for a long term of years, and also served one term as State school examiner under Prof. J. J. Burns, State Superintendent of Schools of Ohio. Before coming to Martin's Ferry, he had been for to years superintendent of the public schools of Roscoe, Ohio, and had, earlier still, taught four years in the High School at Massillon, where he met Martha B. Bradshaw, a lady of scholarly attainments, who became his wife October 25, .1851. Mrs. Shreve taught in the High School at Roscoe, and afterward in Martin's Ferry.
The genealogy of our subject's mother has never been verified as was that of his father, but her ancestors are believed to have been as high-minded people and to have resisted English rule in Scotland and Ireland as bravely and with as much self-forgetfulness as did the Shreves in America.
After severing his connection with the schools in 1888, Mr. Shreve engaged in the business of writing life and fire insurance. He died June 25, 1890, at the age of 62 years. Mrs. Shreve survives her husband and is still living in Martin's Ferry at a ripe old age, highly honored by those with whom she has been so long and so intimately associated.
Charles R. Shreve was a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and served the same as senior warden. He was brought up
a Friend. After coming to Martin's Ferry, he became a member of the Episcopal Church at Wheeling, West Virginia. Later on, de- siring to become associated with a Martin's Ferry church, and as there was no church of the Episcopal denomination in the city then, he affiliated himself with the Presbyterians; but when a branch of the Episcopal Church was organized he united himself with it. He was clerk of the Presbyterian Church from 1868 to 1885. Ile had many friends, among whom was Rev. George W. Chalfant, D. D., who for years had been pastor of the Presby- terian Church at Martin's Ferry. At the date of the death of Mr. Shreve, Dr. Chalfant was the pastor of one of the leading churches of Pittsburg. whence he came to preach the funeral sermon over his dead friend. Dr. Chalfant began his remarks by saying, in sub- stance, that when in the course of his ministry he came to preach on any particular phase of character, he was in the habit of choosing from among his acquaintances the man whose character would furnish him the best type of the phase of character to be described, which character he would then take as a basis of the discussion. On one occasion he desired to preach a sermon on the ideal Christian gentle- man. He said he did on this occasion as his custom was; he thought over the whole range of his acquaintances, and chose the character of the man who lay before them as the best type known to him personally of what he be- lieved an ideal Christian gentleman should be. He said, "I intend to preach today, as a funeral sermon, the sermon I then preached, with this difference: then, what I said was altogether impersonal ; today, I shall show how the life and character of the departed justified my choice of him as the type." Then with elo- quence he spoke of the ideal Christian gentle- man, illustrating his address with events in the life of Charles R. Shreve.
Thomas W. Shreve was the eldest of the two chidren born to his parents, his sister, Margaret C. Shreve, dying in 1887, at the age of 16 years. Ilis primary education was ob- tained in the public schools of Martin's Ferry,
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from which he graduated in 1875. He immedi- ately entered Western Reserve College, then located at Hudson, Ohio, from which college he graduated in 1879 with the degree of A. B. Ile taught the next year in the Martin's Ferry lligh School. In the fall of 1880 he entered the law department of the University of Michigan, from which he graduated in 1882 with the degree of LL. B. He spent his vaca- tions reading law in the office and under the direction of Hon. Lorenzo Danford. In May, 1882, he was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Ohio, and at once opened an office in Martin's Ferry, where he is now located. He has practiced his profession in all the courts of the State of Ohio. In 1895 he won a notable victory in the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Cir- cuit, sitting at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is regarded as one of the most logical reasoners and most careful advisers in the county.
Onr subject was brought up in, and early joined, the Episcopal Church, serving the Martin's Ferry church for a number of years as its clerk, a member of its vestry and super- intendent of its Sunday-school. He was a member of the building committee that built the church edifice for the organization in Mar- tin's Ferry.
On July 3, 1883, Mr. Shreve was united in marriage to Jennie L. Gray, a daughter of James A. and Martha D. Gray. James A. Gray was a member of the well known bank- ing firm of Gray & Smith, who organized and successfully conducted for many years in Mar- tin's Ferry the bank known as the Commer- cial Bank of Martin's Ferry, Ohio. Miss Gray graduated from the Martin's Ferry High School in 1877 and from the Wheeling Female College in 1881. Mrs. Shreve was at her marriage and now is a member of the Presbyterian Church. To them were born four sons, namely : Charles Gray, who gradu- ated from the Martin's Ferry High School in 1902, and is now ( 1902-03) a freshman in Adelbert College of Western Reserve Uni- versity, at Cleveland, Ohio; Ernest Bradshaw,
of the class of 1904 in the Martin's Ferry High School; James Wistar and Eugene Sheldon. It is a pleasant bit of family history that as both Mr. and Mrs. Shreve are graduates of the Martin's Ferry High School, they are the first couple to have a child follow their ex- ample.
Mr. Shreve joined the Presbyterian Church in 1801. In 1893 he became clerk of the con- gregation, which office he has ever since held. In 1896 he was elected a trustee, which office he held until his resignation in 1901. On April 3, 1901, he was elected an elder of the same church. Ile is serving the church as the superintendent of its Sunday-school. Ile was a member of the building committee that planned for and built the new church edifice for that congregation. Mr. Shreve has held a number of offices in connection with union Sunday-school work in the county, township and city. For a time he was president of the Y. M. C. A. of Martin's Ferry.
Mr. Shreve has always taken an active in- terest in athletics. Ile was the second mem- ber of the Martin's Ferry Volunteer Fire Department, Dr. J. W. Darrah being the first. Ile was an active member of the Alert Hose Company from 1887 to 1901. He was a ment- ber of, and ran with, the Independence Hose team at the beginning of its career as a vic- torious racing team.
Mr. Shreve is actively interested in what- ever will further the growth and prosperity of Martin's Ferry and vicinity. He is an active, energetic member of the Martin's Ferry Board of Trade.
The home of our subject is one that is made beautiful by the refining influences of life, and where the old-fashioned virtues of manly honor through achievement, and of attaiment through Christian living . are taught the younger generation.
Mr. Shreve's political affiliations are with the Prohibition party. He has been a member of the party since 1888. He has been a candi- date a number of times for county and local offices on the ticket of that party. On May 16, 1901, he was nominated by the Ohio State
4,
ROBERT W. MUHLEMAN, M. D.
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Prohibition Convention, held at Akron, Ohio, for attorney general of Ohio; and at a like convention held at Martin's Ferry in 1902, he was nominated for Congress for the Sixteenth Congressional District of Ohio.
ROBERT W. MUHLEMAN, M. D., a prominent and successful physician of Bellaire, Ohio, is also a leading citizen who has been identified with many of the business interests which have largely contributed to the pros- perity of the city. The birth of Dr. Mulleman took place in Monroe County, Ohio, May 5, 1853, a son of Frederick and Elizabeth ( Zink) Muhleman.
Both parents of our subject were born in Switzerland and came to America and to Mon- roe County, Ohio, about 1830, and were mar- ried in 1843. The father engaged in farming until his death, which took place in 1884, when he was 75 years of age. The mother survived until February, 1898, dying at the age of 79 years. They had eight children, as follows : Edward, a prominent citizen of Bellaire, who is at the head of the Imperial Glass Com- pany, now engaged in building a plant at a cost of $200,000; Henry, deceased, who was a clerk at the Crystal Window Glass Works, and his family resides at Bridgeport; Charles, who is a physician at Parkersburg, West Vir- ginia, studied with our subject, took a medical course at Cleveland, and practiced for two years in Bellaire; Mary, who is the wife of the architect, W. B. O'Neill; Caroline, who mar- ried A. W. Voegtly, formerly secretary of the Crystal Window Glass Company of Bellaire, now residing at Gas City, Indiana; Sarah, who is a resident of Barnesville, Monroe County, Ohio; Emma ( Mrs. Paulus), who resides at Chicago, Illinois. Our subject was the third son of the family.
Dr. Mulleman was primarily educated in the schools of Monroe County and later at- tended Baldwin University at Berea, Ohio. After completing his collegiate course, he re- turned home and engaged in teaching for a
number of years and became so well known as an educator that he was elected superintendent of schools at Barnesville, during 1873-74. His aim, however, was to enter the medical pro- fession and his studies had been privately pur- sned to that end, and after a thorough training under Dr. S. A. Muhleman, of Wheeling, in 1876 he entered Pulte Medical College, at Cin- cinnati, and graduated in 1877, immediate- ly locating in his present home. Here Dr. Muhleman has enjoyed an extensive and lucrative practice. Early in his citizenship in Bellaire, he became interested in the glass business, and in company with C. C. Cratty, C. C. Kelley, H. Roemer and others, organized the Union Window Glass Company, in 1879; the instituting of this business enter- prise was followed, in 1882, by the organiza- tion of the Crystal Window Glass Company, in association with D. J. Smith, S. Q. Ilamil- ton and John Shannafelt, of which company Dr. Muhleman was chosen president, which official position he has filled ever since. lle is also interested in and is the vice-president of the Bellaire Window Glass Company.
Dr. Muhleman is a man of fine business in- stinct and when he invested largely in land at Wichita, Kansas, in 1887, he foresaw the cer- tain development of that State, and realized handsomely on his investments. His owner- ship of valuable property in Bellaire is large, including residence sections, building blocks, the Post Office building. the furniture store building occupied by Rodewig, and also the quarters used by the Wheeling Natural Gas Company. The Doctor has taken a deep inter- est in almost all progressive movements in the city and many of them owe their prosperity to his fostering care. He is vice-president of the Ohio Valley Telephone Company.
Dr. Muhleman has settled convictions on almost all subjects, as is the case with strong men, and his loyalty to the Democratic party is well known to his friends and associates. In a like way he believes in and supports the Methodist Church, his activity taking the form of assisting in its many enterprises and mak- ing possible a wider field for its work. He
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entertains the most cordial relations with his brother physicians and belongs to the Ohio Valley Medical Association.
R. ROSS WATT, president and general manager, and also the junior member, of the Watt Mining Car Wheel Company, of Barnes- ville, Ohio, is one of the progressive and ener- getic young business men which the great de- velopment of industries here has brought to the front. The times require active brains and youthful energy and these are supplied by cap- able, self-poised, and intelligent young men like R. Ross Watt.
Mr. Watt was born April 17, 1861, in Mon- roe County, Ohio, where he was reared. He attended the public schools of Barnesville, and graduated from the High School. He is a son of Joseph and Maria (Slack) Watt, most highly respected residents of Monroe County. In 1877, Mr. Watt became connected with the Watt Mining Car Wheel Works in the capacity of bookkeeper, and when the concern was organized into a stock company, in 1882, he became financially interested in it and was made secretary and treasurer, in which capaci- ties he continued until May, 1902. The death of his brother, James 11. Watt, who was the president of the company, then caused a change to be made, and the officers of the com- pany now are: R. R. Watt, president and gen- eral manager; J. W. Watt, vice-president and treasurer; P. 11. Laughlin, secretary, and Stewart Watt, superintendent. The Watt Mining Car Wheel Works constitutes a lead- ing industry of Belmont County, and gives employment to more persons than any other concern in the county. Mr. Watt is very popu- lar with his employees and is regarded as one of the leading business men of this locality.
On June 11, 1891, Mr. Watt was united in marriage with Mary Lewis, a daughter of J. Milton Lewis, president of the First National Bank of Barnesville. Two children have been born to this union. Alice, and Lewis, who bears his grandfather's honored name. Mr. and Mrs.
Watt are consistent members of the Presby- terian Church and take an active part in its benevolent and charitable work. In the Masonic fraternity, Mr. Watt is well known, and is in active affiliation with its many bodies. His political sympathy is entirely with the Republican party, although he has no political ambitions. The family home is one of the most beautiful in Barnesville, which is noted for the taste and elegance displayed in its resi- dences. Mr. Watt and his wife are promi- nent factors in the higher circles of its social life.
J. A. GREENFIELD, freight agent of the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad at Bellaire, Ohio, is a typical railroader and has been a faithful employee of that company since 1864. having filled his present position since 1887. Mr. Greenfield was born in Western New York in 1849, and is a son of William Green- field, who was also a native of the Empire State. With his family he settled in Bellaire in 1861, and was employed for many years in the freight department of the same system upon which our subject is employed. He died in 1876, aged 62 years. His widow is still living and, with her daughter, Jen- nie, resides with our subject in Bellaire. Her maiden name was Strong, and her father was a noted contractor and builder, having built the first church structure in Syracuse, New York.
In early youth Mr. Greenfield began a rail- road career, working first on the Pennsyl- vania lines. Ile was first stationed at Bel- laire as clerk in the freight department, but was soon transferred to different points. He rose from clerk to freight agent, and was em- ployed in the latter capacity at Liverpool for five years, from 1882 to 1887, when he was transferred to his present position at Bel- laire, where he continues to give excellent satisfaction.
Politically, Mr. Greenfield is a close ad- herent to the Republican party, as have been
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all members of the family. For six years he served as deputy supervisor of elections for Belmont County. Socially he is a Mason of high degree, being a member of the blue lodge of Bellaire and of Hope Commandery, K. T., of St. Clairsville. On religious subjects he entertains liberal ideas, but his mother is a Baptist, while his sisters favor the Methodist Church. His record with the railroad is above reproach. By his own exertions and his faithfulness in executing the trusts im- posed upon him, he has worked his way up from an humble position, and deserves great credit.
W. W. COWEN. The subject of this sketch is not only a prominent member of the legal profession and a leading citizen of St. Clairsville, Ohio, but he bears a name which for many years has been distinguished in Bel- mont County. The names of Tallman, Car- roll, Danford and Cowen have shed luster upon the bar of this county. W. W. Cowen is suc- cessfully treading in the footsteps of his hon- ored father.
The birth of Mr. Cowen occurred in St. Clairsville, April 1, 1868. He is a son of Judge D. D. T. Cowen, of Harrison County, Ohio, and Anna E. Martin, his wife, who was born near Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Judge Cowen was for many years so conspicuous a figure in the annals of Belmont County, that the biog- rapher quotes concerning his life and services from a high authority concerning the public men of the Upper Ohio Valley :
"Judge D. D. T. Cowen was one of the most distinguished lawyers who practiced at the Belmont County bar. His father, Benja-' min Sprague Cowen, was a noted jurist and statesman, and both he and his wife were natives of Washington County, New York, whence they moved, in 1825, to Harrison County, Ohio, where Judge Cowen was born January 20, 1826. A few years later the fan- ily moved to St. Clairsville, Ohio, where the Judge attended the public schools and Brooks' Institute, his father being one of the founders
of that institution. His classical education was received under the tutelage of Dr. MeBane, of Cadiz, Ohio, and later he studied medicine and surgery under his uncle, Dr. Sylvanus Wood, of Cadiz, and Dr. Alexander, of St. Clairsville. llis study of medicine was only to get a broader and more comprehensive education, preparatory to the practice of the law, for that was his chosen profession. Under the wise guidance of his eminent father and his father's partner, Hugh J. Jewett, later president of the Frie Railroad, he was fitted for the bar and was admitted on January 20, 1847. Soon afterward he began practice in Belmont County and attained a high standing in this county, whose bar has been adorned with the talents of an exceptionally large number of able men. In time Judge Cowen came to be the recognized leader of this association of leaders, and prac- ticed in all the courts of his section and in the Supreme Court of Ohio. Soon after the com- mencement of hostilities between the North and the South he was commissioned lieutenant- colonel of the 52nd Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf., of which Daniel McCook was colonel. Later, when that officer was assigned to the command of a brigade, the command of the regiment devolved upon Colonel Cowen, and he partici- pated in all the engagements in which his com- mand took part, until the sad news of his wife's failing health forced him to resign his commis- sion and return to her to whom he owed his first allegiance. Tendering his resignation, he was honorably discharged in February, 1863. On his return home, he was made chairman of the military committee of Belmont County, of which Judge Kennon, Judge Kelley and Benjamin S. Cowen were members. Judge Cowen served as prosecuting attorney of this county from 1852 to 1858. He also served as mayor and clerk of St. Clairsville, at other times, and was a member of the boards of Edu- cation and School Examiners, from 1854 to 1862. at which time he resigned in order to enter the army. On the resignation of Judge John Okey as Common Pleas judge, Colonel Cowen was made his successor, and served the remainder of the former's term. Judge Cow-
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