USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. II, Pt. 1 > Part 15
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
For the past half century Mr. Burgoyne, with his wife, had been a devout worshiper at the old First Presbyterian Church. In February, 1903, they celebrated their golden wedding, when they were surrounded by all their children, grandchildren, and a large number of friends. Besides his widow. Mr. Burgoyne is survived by three sons : Charles L., a prominent attorney of Cincinnati, who is secretary of the Emery Candle Company, with offices in the St. Paul Building, and resides at No. 2217 Jefferson avenue, Norwood; Harry L., an attorney of this city connected with the Union Central Life In- surance Company ; and Frank W., also an attorney of this city, who resides on Mount Auburn.
Charles L. Burgoyne has two sons : John, holding a responsible position with the freight department of the B. & O. S .- W. R. R. ; and Charles L., Jr .. recently connected with the government survey of the Ohio River. These young men are the great-grandchildren of Judge John Burgoyne.
JOSEPH T. HARRISON.
JOSEPH T. HARRISON, senior member of the law firm of Harrison & Aston, of Cincinnati, is a well known citizen aud a prominent member of
177
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
the Hamilton County bar. Mr. Harrison was born May I, 1853, at Scio, Harrison County, Ohio, and is the eldest of a family of 12 children born to John and Euphemia (Patterson) Harrison, both of whom were born in Ohio, the former being of English and the latter of Scotch parentage. The Har- rison family were among the pioneers settlers of Eastern Ohio and among the successful agriculturists. Joseph Harrison, grandfather of our subject, was born in Otley, Yorkshire, England, and settled in Harrison County, Ohio, in 1818. John Harrison, father of Joseph T., is one of the most progressive and successful farmers of Harrison County, where he owns 700 acres of land.
Joseph T. Harrison was reared in Harrison County, attended the local schools, commenced teaching in the public schools in 1870 and graduated from Scio College in 1875, subsequently teaching one year in the same institution. He then entered the law office of Cunningham & Hollingsworth, at Cadiz, the county seat, and so diligently applied himself that by October, 1877, he was prepared to enter the senior class of the Cincinnati Law School at Cin- cinnati, where he was graduated with credit in May, 1878. He im- mediately entered into practice. As senior member of the law firm of Harrison & Aston he has become prominent in his profession throughout the county and State, and sustains a reputation for legal ability.
On September 23, 1884, Mr. Harrison was united in marriage with Van- nelia Smith, daughter of Thomas G. and Vannelia (James) Smith, both of whom were born in Cincinnati, the former of Scotch and the latter of German extraction. One daughter, Louise, has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Harrison. Fraternally, our subject is prominent in Masonry, being past master of Kilwinning Lodge No. 356, F. & A. M .; past emminent commander of Han- selmann Commandery No. 16, K. T .; and a member of Syrian Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He is also past grand of Magnolia Lodge No. 83, I. O. O. F .; past chancellor of Greenwood Lodge No. 213, Knights of Pythiias; ex-senator of the National Union; and member of the Hamilton County Bar Association and various social clubs.
ALPHONSO TAFT, LL. D.
ALPHONSO TAFT, LL. D., distinguished as lawyer, statesman and diplo- mat, whose life came to a close May 28, 1891, was a citizen of Cincinnati,
! 1 1
178
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI
and one of Ohio's most prominent men. He was born at Townsend, Ver- mont, November 5, 1810, and was a son of Peter Rawson Taft.
The Tafts date their ancestry back to colonial days in Massachusetts, where one generation after another occupied the position of selectman. The father, Peter Rawson Taft, was reared a farmer, but studied law and finally became judge of Windham County, and subsequently a member of the Legis- lature of Vermont.
Alphonso Taft continued on his father's farm until he was 16 years old, and for several years taught school during winter months, thus pro- curing the means to pay his way through Amherst Academy. At the age of 19 he entered Yale College, from which he was graduated in 1833, with high honors. For several years thereafter he served as tutor in Yale Col- lege, in the meantime pursuing the study of the law in the law department of that institution. He completed the law course in 1838, and the following year came to Cincinnati, where he resided and practiced his profession continuously up to his death, with the exception of the time he served in the cabinet and as foreign minister. During his practice here he was identi- fied with much important litigation, which at the time attracted wide attention and brought him into public notice. He was retained by the corporation of Cincinnati to defend the constitutionality of the two-million-dollar law, passed for the purpose of completing the Cincinnati Southern Railway. It was a suit of vital importance to the city, and in this Judge Taft was entirely successful. He shared largely in the work of starting and building up the splendid railway system of Cincinnati. For many years he was a director in the Little Miami, the pioneer railway of the city, was one of the incorporators of the Ohio & Mississippi, and its general counsel for years, and a member of the first board of directors of the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, which he was instrumental in pushing to completion. He was an earnest supporter of the idea that the city should build the Cincinnati Southern Railway, and as a judge of the Superior Court delivered the opinion sustaining the consti- tutionality of the act authorizing the expenditure of the first $10,000,000 on the same. He was trustee of the Cincinnati, Southern Railway from 1875 until he entered the cabinet, and finally was counsel for the trustees in the suit whereby the constitutionality of the two-million-dollar law was confirmed. He was the originator of the first street railway connecting the city with the hills, and was the first president of the Mount Auburn Street
179.
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
Railway, from which sprung the inclines and the extensive system of suburban railways. Another prominent case with which he was identified was the Charles McMicken will contest, in which he defended the validity of the will, by which was devised a half million of dollars to the city of Cincinnati for a university. This case was carried to the Supreme Court of the United States, and in declaring the will valid, Justice McLean, who delivered the opinion of that tribunal, paid a very high compliment to Mr. Taft. Mr. Taft also did noble work in the founding of the Cincinnati House of Refuge.
In 1865 Mr. Taft was appointed to be judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati, and upon the expiration of the term was elected to that office, receiving the unanimous support of Republicans and Democrats alike. The most noted case arising during his career on the bench was the injunction brought to restrain the School Board from striking out of the rules governing the public schools that clause which provided for the reading of the Bible in the opening exercises of the school. Judges Hagans and Storer, a majority of the court, granted the injunction. Judge Taft dissented from this decision, holding: First, that the School Board had the power to strike out this clause from the rules; and second, that it was proper that such rule should be stricken out, because the King James version of the Bible was not accepted by the Roman Catholic population as the true Bible, and because the New Testa- ment taught doctrines not believed by the Jewish population. The decision was reversed by the Supreme Court of Ohio, and Judge Taft sustained. The case was long and earnestly discussed by the public and added to Mr. Taft's reputation as a sound lawyer and able judge, but it resulted in his defeat for the nomination of Governor, when he was the opponent of Gen. Rutherford B. Hayes, in 1875, and again in 1879, when Charles Foster was nominated. In March, 1876, Judge Taft was appointed Secretary of War in the cabinet of President Grant, and at the end of three months was appointed Attorney General of the United States, filling that office until the close of Grant's admin- istration. In 1882 he was appointed United States Minister to Austria-Hun- gary, and in 1883 Minister to Russia, filling that office until 1885. For nine years Mr. Taft was a member of the Yale corporation, and never ceased to take an enthusiastic interest in his alma mater, which conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws.
Judge Taft was married in 1841 to Fannie Phelps of Vermont, who died in 1852, leaving two sons, Charles P. and Peter R. In 1854 he formed a
180
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI
second union, with Louise M. Torrey, of Massachusetts, by whom he had four children, as follows: William H .; Henry W .; Horace D .; and Fannie Louise.
, M. H. CRANE.
M. H. CRANE, who for nearly a half century was known and esteemed in Cincinnati, died at his residence, No. 314 Findlay street, November 30, 1886. He was too eminent a man to have passed out of recollection at the time of the publication of this work, but his commercial enterprise and personal characteristics deserve that his name be placed with those who have been the founders of the greatness of Cincinnati.
M. H. Crane was born in the village of Springfield, Massachusetts, September 30, 1821, and obtained the usual rather limited education which the schools of the time and locality afforded. He was of an ambitious nature and sought a wider field of opportunity, being thus led to the West, as it was then known, where he studied both medicine and dentistry. The latter profession he practiced for a short period, in Cincinnati, in 1849 entering into a manufacturing enterprise with Mr. Breed. The business was the manu- facture of burial cases and mainly through the ability and enterprise of Mr. Crane was founded The Crane & Breed Manufacturing Company, of which he was the head for so many years. Shrewd, alert, careful in looking after the business interests of his company, he still retained through his whole career the character of a high minded, honorable man of business. He amassed a great fortune, one without the stain of wild speculation, or the taint of grasping greed, and its disposition reflected the kind, generous, sympa- thetic nature of the man. Mr. Crane was little given to ostentation and his charities and beneficences were bestowed through channels not open to the comment of the world. And this again was a reflection of his character which was of innate refinement.
Mr. Crane was united in marriage with Sallie P. Davis, a daughter of George C. Davis, a well known manufacturer. She died April 10, 1892. Two children survive : Harry, who is manager of his father's estate, and Ida.
While remarkably successful from a material point of view, Mr. Crane's intelligence and public spirit brought him into active cooperation with his
HON. WILLIAM RUEHRWEIN.
183
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
fellow citizens in various movements in the city, and he could always be relied on to assume responsibilities and to accomplish results. Mr. Crane's per- sonality was of such a character as to win and keep friends, and few who ever enjoyed close companionship with him can forget his bright, cheerful nature, his gentle kindness or the warm and helpful sympathy he extended to all who needed it. His home life was ideal, its refinement and courtesy being only equaled by its lavish hospitality. No citizen of Cincinnati ever passed to posterity a better, cleaner record, and no one could have possessed in greater degree the esteem of his community.
HON. WILLIAM RUEHRWEIN.
HON. WILLIAM RUEHRWEIN, one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Cincinnati, whose portrait appears on the opposite page, is a prominent figure in politics. His career illustrates most forcibly the possibili- ties that are open to men who possess sterling business qualities. It proves that neither wealth, social position, nor the assistance of influential friends at the outset, is necessary to place a man on the road to success. It proves that ambitious perseverance, steadfast purpose and indefatigable industry, com- bined with sound business principles, will be rewarded, and that true success follows only well directed individual efforts.
William Ruehrwein was born in Germany, February 21, 1840, and dur- ing his infancy was brought by his parents to America, the family taking up their residence in Cincinnati, Ohio, where his boyhood days were passed. When he had reached a sufficient age, he pursued his studies in the public schools until he was 14 years old; from that point his way onward led to success. His initiation into business life was as an apprentice in the machine shop of Antone Miller. Some years later, the style of the business was changed to J. A. Fay & Egan Company. He rapidly mastered every detail of the business, and steadily worked his way upward until he became an expert in that line. His thorough understanding of the requirements of the industry, and his ability as a manager, secured his advancement to the position of foreman, and after- ward, to that of superintendent of the tool department. The perfect confidence in which he was held by his employers and the esteem they entertained for him
184
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI
.
is shown by the fact that he remained continuously in the employ of one firm for a period of more than 34 years.
Mr. Ruehrwein has always taken more than a passing interest in public affairs, has been prominent in labor circles, and has studied closely the relation between capital and labor, and the questions which arise therefrom. He looks with a broad vision over the field of human activities, and is deeply inter- ested in the plans and theories for the general betterment of all classes. He has been called to office on several occasions, and has aided in the administration of Cincinnati affairs. He served as a member of the Board of Education, and of the Union Board of Cincinnati High Schools for several terms. In 1893 he was elected on the Republican ticket to represent Hamilton County in the 7Ist General Assembly of Ohio, where he served with such satisfaction to his con- stituents and such fidelity to the public welfare that he was elected to the 72nd General Assembly, in 1895. To the measures brought up for legislative en- actment he gave his earnest consideration, and brought the force of a sound judgment to bear upon them. He continued as a member of the House until March 31, 1896, when he resigned, to accept the office of commissioner of labor statistics for Ohio, to which he was appointed by Governor Bushnell, without knowledge or solicitation upon his part. This position he filled with credit to himself and benefit to the public.
In 1860 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Ruehrwein with Sarah Stegner, of Cincinnati. Eight children have been born to this union. In his social relations the subject of this sketch is a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason, an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Honor. He is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church.
In the year 1898 he was appointed by the Board of Police Commissioners to the position of superintendent of the City Work House, in which he has served to the satisfaction of the public in general, and has gained quite a repu- tation for his faithfulness, and kind and gentle disposition in the treatment of prisoners. He also takes a great interest in prison management, and has de- livered several lectures of a high order before prison congresses. The lecture he delivered in 1900 before the Cleveland. Ohio, prison congress is beyond description and should be read to be appreciated. The same is true in regard to his lecture entitled "Save the Child," delivered before the Kansas City. Missouri, prison congress. A very sympathetic and appropriate address on prison matters was delivered by Mr. Ruehrwein, before the Philadelphia prison
. €
..
185
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
congress, in September, 1902. Mr. Ruehrwein has been ever loyal to the. Republican party, notwithstanding which fact, as a politician, he has scores of friends in the Democracy.
GEORGE K. BARTHOLOMEW, PH. D.
GEORGE K. BARTHOLOMEW, Ph. D., one of the prominent educators of Cincinnati, was born at Hartford, Windsor County, Vermont, July 4, 1835, and is a son of Noah and Mary ( Freeman ) Bartholomew.
Both of his grandfathers served with distinction in the Revolutionary War. These forefathers went to Verniont from Connecticut and Massa- chusetts at an early day, and Grandfather Freeman was one of the first two white men to spend a winter (1774-75) in what was then a wilderness at Barnard, now a prosperous town near Hartford. Family records tell that during the morning of June 17, 1775, these two young men, being prostrate on the ground at the time, heard the roar of cannon, 120 miles distant, at Bunker Hill. The roar of those cannon, in effect, was heard much further. The Bartholomew family has thus been known in America since colonial times, while in England it may be clearly traced through many generations. Dr. Bartholomew's father was born September 21, 1800, and died March 19, 1871 ; his mother died January 29, 1901, at the remarkable age of 99 years and eight months.
Dr. Bartholomew received his elementary education in the public schools of his native place, and at the age of 14 entered Newbury Seminary, Ver- mont, where he was prepared for college under Rev. Dr. Joseph E. King. who is now president of the Fort Edward Collegiate Institute, New York, and under Prof. Henry S. Noyes, who later became president of North- western University at Evanston, Illinois. In 1854 he was admitted without . conditions to Dartmouth. In college he was a close student and, though not striving for honors, maintained a high rank, particularly in Latin, Greek and mathematics. At graduation he was chosen Class Day orator, and elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society.
In the fall of 1858 he taught in Thetford Academy, Vermont, and in the spring of 1859 was appointed principal of one of the public schools in Peoria, Illinois, which position he resigned in 1860 to take the principalship
186
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI
of the classical department of the Chickering Institute, Cincinnati. His labors during the next 15 years were successful in preparing a large number of boys for Eastern colleges. He found time also to prepare and publish "A Gram- mar of the Latin Language," 1873, revised 1878; "A Latin Gradual," 1873 ; Caesar's "Commentaries on the Gallic War," with copious and critical notes, maps and charts and vocabulary, 1876; and "Graded Lessons in Latin," 1878. These volumes were published by Wilson, Hinkle & Company, Cin- cinnati, sketches of whom will be found in this volume, and were favorably received by many leading scholars.
In 1875 he resigned his position, and, in association with Mrs. Bartholo- mew, established the well known English and Classical School for Girls, From this school many young women have entered Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, Bryn Mawr and the University of Cincinnati. In 1900 the sudden death of Mrs. Bartholomew led to the consolidation of the school with Miss Ely's Clifton School for Girls under the corporate name of "The Bartholomew-Ely School Co.," of which he became and is now the president, while the school is now known as The Bartholomew-Clifton School.
For more than 20 years Dr. Bartholomew has been actively engaged in the work of The Associated Charities of Cincinnati and is now a member of the executive committee. He also has given much time and efficient service to the board of directors of the Young Men's Christian Association. In 1875 he became identified with St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church and since 1882 has been a member of the vestry, of which he is now senior warden. In 1894 the Episcopal Church Club was organized, of which he was president in 1896. The club now has 150 members, representing all the parishes of Cincinnati and vicinity. By appointment of the club he delivered an address on "Christian Fellowship in Aggressive Work," before the National Con- ference of Church Clubs, published in the Sixth Annual Report. N. Y. 1898.
Dr. Bartholomew was married first, August 9, 1860, to Eliza J. Briggs, daughter of William and Nancy A. Briggs, of Wellsburg, West Virginia, formerly of Holderness, New Hampshire, who died December 22, 1862, leav- ing an infant daughter, Mary Elizabeth, now wife of Dr. George Bigler Ehr- mann, of Cincinnati, and mother of one daughter and three sons. He was married second, May 23, 1864, to Helen J. Hoyt, daughter of Rev. Benjamin Ray and Lucinda ( Freeman ) Hoyt, of New Hampshire, whose lifelong devo- tion to educational work for girls contributed largely to the success of the
-
.
187
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
school and received marked recognition from the Alumnae at their 25th an- niversary only one month before her sudden death, August 20, 1900.
In 1868, Dr. Bartholomew became a member of the Literary Club of Cincinnati (founded in 1849), resigned in 1884, but was reelected in 1901. In 1888 Dartmouth College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He is a member of the American Philological Society, and a life member of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society.
Politically Dr. Bartholomew is a Republican. He voted for the first Republican nominee for the presidency in 1856 and has been a supporter of the party in the main, although never holding any political office and always retaining his independent judgment as to men and measures.
THE ROOKWOOD POTTERY COMPANY.
The ceramic industry in Cincinnati had its beginning in the first half of the 19th century. Its development was slow, and although various com- panies have been in the field during the period intervening between the incep- tion and the present day, it remained for the Rookwood Pottery Company to attain the greatest success and bring the art nearest the state of perfection. Its product rivals that of any in the world, particularly in originality and artistic effect.
The Rookwood Pottery was conceived in the mind of Mrs. Maria Long- worth Storer, an estimable lady of artistic temperament, who had previously been identified with a Cincinnati woman's pottery club which proved a suc- cess. The Japanese display of pottery at the Centennial Exposition in Phila- delphia in 1876 interested Mrs. Storer beyond measure, and influenced her in the establishment of a pottery in which Cincinnatians would take pride. On her return from the Centennial, she at once began experimenting at the old Dallas Pottery, and continued to do so for a period of two years. One important line of experiment in 1877 and 1878 was in the application of color to the wet clay body. The color, diluted with slip (clay thinned with water), was applied with paint brushes as a decoration on the raw clay vase. The idea was to produce with our native clays a new pottery by applying color decoration on the material itself before firing, and then to protect and enrich this biscuit with a glaze. Finding the heat of the kiln too great for
188
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI
underglaze colors, Mrs. Storer determined to build a kiln of her own. With the aid of her father, Joseph Longworth, who had always been a liberal patron of the arts, she established the pottery in an old building on Eastern avenue, which had at one time been used as a school building. naming it "Rookwood," after her father's country home on Walnut Hills, so called in consequence of the great number of members of the Corvus family accustomed to congregate there. The founder gathered about her skilled workmen and artists, and in November, 1880, the first kiln was fired. The first year a specialty was made of ware for general household purposes, and the following year quantities of this ware were produced in breakfast and dinner service, pitchers, plaques, vases, wine-coolers, ice-tubs, etc. They were sufficiently decorated to make them sought for by china collectors, but the manufacture of commercial ware was merely incidental. Mrs. Storer, herself, was engaged in producing specimens of a high artistic order, faslı- ioned somewhat after the Japanese style. The manner of Rookwood's growth has necessarily given rise to a considerable variety of types within the broad limits of character peculiar to this pottery. The experiments which continue to be made are adding constantly to these, as freshness and individuality are systematically striven for. The native clay from the start inclined the color quality toward yellows, browns and reds, and the decorative medium lent itself to a rather luxuriant style of ornament in rich arrangements of warm color, all of which the transparent glazes sought to merge in a deep yellow tone. As the command of material strengthened, the ware steadily gained in a beautiful harmony of all; the elements which compose it, until form, color, decoration and glaze combine to give Rookwood its enduring charmn.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.