USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. II, Pt. 1 > Part 4
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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
In politics Dr. Mendenhall was a Republican. During the slavery agi- tation, Dr. Mendenhall, in connection with that stanch Abolitionist and Quaker, Levi Coffin, by means of the "Underground Railway," helped many a colored man to Canada and to freedom. During the progress of the Civil War, he rendered patriotic and valuable services to the Sanitary Commis- sion, in which his most estimable wife, who, hale and hearty, still survives, though past 84 years of age, gave him noble support. Mrs. Mendenhall was, practically, the inaugurator of the Great Western Sanitary Fair in December, 1863, a bazaar that has gone down in history as one of the great municipal as well as national events. She not only contributed her time and strength, but liberally donated money and supplies. A too brief record of this gentle, noble woman may be found in that interesting volume entitled "Women of the War." Her marriage to Dr. Mendenhall took place October 5, 1838. She was formerly Elizabeth S. Maule, of Philadelphia, whose family dates back to Sir Patrick Maule, Earl of Panmure, Baron Brechin au Navarr (966). The surviving children of this happy union are: Mrs. Larz Ander- son and Lawrence, who has built up an extensive business as a dealer in hardwood floors, Venetian blinds and building specialties ; he is also quite an historian. Charles Mendenhall, the eldest son of our subject, died May 6, 1898; he was prominent in the business life of Cincinnati and stood high as a man.
For a number of years Dr. Mendenhall was dean of the Miami Medical
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Sidney A Marvell
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. College of Cincinnati; was president of the American Medical Association in 1870, and in 1873 was made a member of the Royal Obstetrical Society of London. During a year of foreign travel he was most cordially welcomed and entertained by the medical profession, winning esteem wherever known. His services during the cholera epidemic of 1849 are still recalled with ad- miration. Among that galaxy of physicians and surgeons which from the past sheds luster on the present, the name of Dr. Mendenhall shines forth, one of which this city justly feels proud.
COL. SIDNEY DENISE MAXWELL.
COL. SIDNEY DENISE MAXWELL, one of Cincinnati's most prominent and influential citizens, is a son of Nathaniel Van Maxwell and Eleanor Denise, and was born at Centreville, Montgomery County, Ohio, December 23, 1831, the eldest of five children. His grandparents on the paternal side were Thomas Maxwell and Rachel Chambers. His great-grandfather, also named Thomas Maxwell, emigrated from Scotland to this country about 1760, and settled in New Jersey. On the maternal side, his grandparents were Sidney Denise and Anna Conover (Conover being a contraction of Couwenhoven). Both the Maxwell and Denise families removed from New Jersey to the "Miami Country," in Ohio, early in the 19th century-the Maxwells in 1806 and the Denises in 1808-both settling in the vicinity of Franklin. On his mother's side, Colonel Maxwell is a lineal descendant of Teunis Nyssen (DeNyse), of a Huguenot family, and Wolfert Gerretsen Van Couwenhoven, the former having emigrated from the Province of Utrecht, Holland, about 1638, settling at Nieu Amsterdam and subsequently removing to Long Island; and the latter coming to this country from Amers- foort, in the Province of Utrecht, Holland, in 1630, settling at Rensselaer- wick, near Albany, and thence removing to Manhattan Island, and finally to what is now Flatlands, Long Island, where he died. Colonel Maxwell thus is of Scotch, French Huguenot and Dutch descent.
Colonel Maxwell was educated in the academies of his native village; had a practical business education in his father's store; read law with Hon. Lewis B. Gunckel and Col. Hiram Strong, at Dayton, Ohio; and shortly after the breaking out of the Civil War became a special correspondent in
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the field of the Cincinnati Commercial, serving in the armies of both the East and West. In 1864, he was second assistant clerk of the Senate of Ohio. He had previously aided in the organization of the Ohio National Guard, - and when it was called into the active service of the United States, in May, 1864, he went as a private soldier in the 13Ist Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf., com- manded by Col. John G. Lowe. This regiment having been ordered East, on its arrival at Baltimore he was immediately detailed as sergeant-major of the troops stationed at Fort Federal Hill, the duties of which position he dis- charged during the spring and summer of that eventful year. While there, he was detailed by Maj .- Gen. Lew Wallace, in command of the Middle De- partment, to serve as adjutant to Camp Distribution located at that post, and was tendered the captaincy of his own company (Company I) by all the commissioned and non-commissioned officers, the captain voluntarily offering to retire, authority having been granted by the Adjutant-General of Ohio: but both of these he declined, believing that he could be of greater service where he was already located.
In September, 1864, he was appointed aide-de-camp, judge-advocate- general and engineer-in-chief, with the rank of colonel, to Governor John Brough, of Ohio, the duties mainly being those of a military secretary, made necessary by the exigencies of the war. He remained in the same position under Governor Charles Anderson, who filled the unexpired term of Gov- ernor Brough after the latter's death.
At the conclusion of this service, he accepted, early in 1866, the general agency, for the State of Indiana, of the Accident Insurance Company of Columbus, Ohio, with headquarters at Indianapolis, where he remained till toward the close of 1867. In the winter of 1867-68, he was in the far West, and in the following March, while making preparations to engage in his chosen profession, the law, in Dayton, Ohio, he was unexpectedly tendered the position of assistant city editor of the Cincinnati Gazette, then under the management of Hon. Richard Smith, which he accepted, entering upon his duties late in March, 1868. In February, 1870, he assumed the additional duties of agent, at Cincinnati, of the Western Associated Press, and was subsequently elected to the New York agency of that association, which he twice declined. In 1871, Colonel Maxwell was elected Superintendent of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, entering on his duties on the first day of November, soon thereafter severing his relations with the Gazette.
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but continuing in the discharge of the duties in connection with the Asso- ciated Press for two years following. He was the administrative and statist- ical officer of the Chamber of Commerce for 20 years, voluntarily retiring on the 2nd of November, 1891. In 1878, under the auspices of the Woman's Art Museum Association, he delivered the initial lecture of the course which prepared the way for the Cincinnati Art Museum, on " The Manufacturers of Cincinnati and Their Relation to the Future Progress of the City," which was both a revelation and a prophecy, attracting wide attention.
From 1875 to 1885, in conjunction with his duties at the Chamber of Commerce, he was expert of the Treasury Department of the United States, in matters of commerce, manufactures and transportation for the district of which Cincinnati is the center. During Colonel Maxwell's connection with the Chamber of Commerce, he issued 18 volumes concerning the business of Cincinnati. These were not merely compilations of statistics, but were care- fully written business histories of the time, distinguished for their compre- hensiveness and their statesman-like and literary merits, and took their place at the head of the statistical documents of their kind in the world, carrying with them, in no small degree, to all civilized nations the good name of Cin- cinnati. His connection with the Chamber of Commerce embraced the period of the greatest growth in its membership and revenues, the former increasing from about 1,200 to 2,275 members, and the resources of the association growing from a few thousand dollars to an amount that enabled it to erect and occupy the present magnificent edifice, the dedication of which he con- ceived should be of a religious character, in which both the members and the guests could personally participate, and to promote which he wrote the classic hymn, acceptable alike to all creeds, which was used on that notable occasion. He was especially interested in, and familiar with, commercial organization, no man's opinion having been more generally sought on this subject.
He was the secretary of the Pork Packers' Association of Cincinnati almost from its organization to his retirement from the Chamber of Com- merce.
From his first appearance in Cincinnati, he was an active factor in the efforts made to advance its business interests. He was intimately identified with the Exposition of Textile Fabrics, held in Cincinnati in 1869, under the auspices of the Woolen Manufacturers' Association of the Northwest, and wrote and superintended the publication of the official report of that impor-
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tant event. When the first Cincinnati Industrial Exposition was held, in 1870, he was deeply interested in it from first to last, and by his influence through the Gazette and Associated Press became one of the most potent - agencies in the ultimate success of that first effort of its kind on so large a scale in the city of Cincinnati. At the request of the commissioners, he wrote the history of the Exposition, which appears in the first report of these great general displays of manufactured goods, which were distinctively of Cincin- nati inauguration, and which prepared the way for similar efforts in other parts of the United States.
During the great floods of 1883-84, he was intimately identified with the relief work at Cincinnati, having been in the latter year secretary of the relief committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Common Council and a member of the executive committee on which devolved the performance of a large portion of the work connected with the relief of the distressed, not only in Cincinnati, but also at other points in the Ohio Valley. He was also treasurer of the committee of the Chamber of Commerce for the relief of the yellow fever sufferers in Jacksonville and other parts of Florida during the epidemic of 1888. He was one of the warmest advocates of the building of the Cincinnati Southern Railway, having been specially charged by his paper with reporting the various steps taken in the progress of that movement, into which he entered with great zeal.
. Throughout his whole history at Cincinnati, the entire community has found him a loyal champion of its resources, he having been one of the most ardent and eloquent advocates of the city's great possibilities. Soon after coming to Cincinnati, he prepared for the Gazette a series of articles on the " Suburbs of Cincinnati," then just coming into prominence, which, in 1870, was handsomely published in book form, containing a large amount of authentic matter touching the history of what has since become one of the most attractive features of the Queen City. He was frequently called upon to address assemblages in various places on public questions, especially those pertaining to business.
Nor were his energies actively expended alone on public and business matters, for he was also vigorously employed in the religious work of the city of his adoption. He inaugurated the lecture course of the Young Men's Christian Association. He was one of the founders of Westminster Presby- terian Church of Cincinnati, located on Price Hill, having been president of
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the board of trustees and of the congregation from the beginning, in 1883, until 1898, when, because of other church engagements, he declined further election to the office. He has been superintendent of Bethany Presbyterian Mission, founded by the Second Presbyterian Church, in the West End, from its foundation, in 1881, to the present time, and has for several years borne the entire responsibility of its existence. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, was for several years a director of the Cincinnati Union Bethel, and since 1891 has been a member of the board of trustees of the Cincin- nati College, under the auspices of which, in conjunction with the University of Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Law School is maintained, becoming the sec- retary of the board in 1896, an office which he still holds. He was a member of the Lincoln Club during the later years of its existence, is a member of the Ohio Society of New York, and an honorary member of both the Pork Packers' Association and of the Marietta College Club of Cincinnati. He was elected a member of the board of trustees of Lane Theological Seminary, but this position, with many others of a business, social, religious and polit- ical nature tendered him from time to time, he declined. Colonel Maxwell's life in Cincinnati has been, in all its outward signs, of such a practical char- acter, few know that for his own pleasure and the entertainment of his friends, he is both a poet and composer, his ready gifts of expression, so noticeable in all his public utterances, extending to both verse and music.
There is one aspect of Colonel Maxwell's life, which, while not so appar- ent on the surface at all times, has been pronounced,-that of his political affiliations and services. Though in no small degree divorced from partisan politics while at the Chamber of Commerce, he has the instincts of the poli- tician in the highest sense. By public addresses and letters on every proper occasion, he has sought to arouse the business men of the country to the importance of their duties to the government, insisting that for the promo- tion of their own well-being, there was no question in which they were more interested than in the proper conduct of public affairs, which could only be secured through active participation in politics; and, yet, he believed and steadily held that this could best be performed through a purification of the parties inside, and not outside, of party organization. The primary meeting, he urged, was the beginning of political action, and to confess inability to control its determinations was to admit the failure of popular government. He grew up in a political atmosphere, and, when a mere lad, was as much
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charged with the polling of districts and townships and getting out and keeping the run of votes, as were his elders. He read political speeches to the farmers who congregated in his father's store, while his addresses and - essays at school generally partook of a political nature. His first association was with the Whig party, then rapidly succumbing to the tremendous forces that were gathering for its destruction. Though not old enough to vote, he was already a factor in local politics when General Scott was the Whig candi- date for the presidency. In 1855, he was actively employed in the agencies that were preparing the way for the advent of the Republican party, and in 1856 was an ardent supporter of General Fremont, with whom, during the progress of the War of the Rebellion, he was thrown into close relations. In 1860, in a more conspicuous manner, he took part in the historic campaign which resulted in the first election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency. He made many speeches in the interest of the Republican party, and at the close of the campaign, on October 25th, he spoke an entire evening to one of the largest and most remarkable political gatherings ever assembled in his native village. All parties, in the midst of that embittered campaign, were obliged to admit the fairness and the forcefulness of his presentation of the facts, the newspapers of the times speaking of it as a masterly review of the questions which led up to and were vital in the great contest that followed.
He participated in county and State councils, and as a young Repub- lican commanded general attention, his name having been urgently sought in connection with the offices of clerk of the courts and county auditor in his native county. Subsequently, he became identified with the public affairs at the capital of the State, discharging his duties with conspicuous ability, and in a manner to secure the commendation alike of both parties. On retir- ing from his office in the Senate, to accept a position on the staff of Governor Brough, a complimentary resolution having been introduced in the Senate, Hon. George L. Converse, then one of the comparatively few Democrats in either House, arose and called for the yeas and nays, saying that he wished to vote for the resolution, and desired that the records should show that he had done so, the remainder of the Democratic members uniting with him. Though apparently laying the foundation for permanent political official . service, the way was preparing for widely different, but no less honorable, duties which he was destined to discharge. From the foundation of the party. however, to the present time, he has been a Republican of the straightest
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sect, proud of the illustrious history of the party, confiding in its patriotism, advocating its principles, and believing in its intelligent devotion to the best interests of the whole country, from which it could not be swerved by the fires of civil war, the tumult of reconstruction, nor the allurement of false financial theories, which, in specious garb, at a later day, came stalking into the political arena. He was never a candidate before the people for an elective office, however, until the autumn of 1897, when, because of the over- whelming defeat of the Republican party in the municipal election of the preceding spring in Cincinnati, there came into existence what was known as the Citizens' Republican Committee, which selected, after great deliberation, a complete legislative and county ticket, mainly from among prominent busi- ness men, who had not been identified with the office-holding classes, and presented the same for the consideration of the Republican County Conven- tion, the latter accepting the recommendation as to the legislative part of the ticket, but rejecting, with unfortunate results, a number of the names pre- sented for the county offices. At the head of this ticket, without his solicita- tion, Colonel Maxwell was placed as a candidate for State Senator, and though, after a very brief and bitter campaign, the verdict at the mayoralty election was not entirely overcome, the fusion ticket under which the com- bined opposition was marshaled having been elected by a slender majority, Colonel Maxwell received the highest number of votes cast for any candi- date on the Republican legislative or county ticket.
Colonel Maxwell was married on the 30th of June, 1875, to Isabella Neff, the eldest daughter of Col. Peter Rudolph Neff, of Cincinnati, and a granddaughter of Peter Neff, in his day one of the most prominent merchants of Baltimore and Cincinnati, she being also a lineal descendant of Dr. Wil- liam Burnet, surgeon-general of the Eastern Division of the Continental Army under Washington, and of Judge Jacob Burnet, so closely associated with the early government and history of the Northwest Territory. She is a woman who in later years has been distinguished for her interest in the education of the colored girls of the South, having been largely instrumental by her own efforts in raising the money for the erection of Faith Hall, at Scotia Seminary, in Concord, North Carolina, the corner-stone of which she laid with her own hands after having chosen this name for the edifice, in place of her own, which it was preferred by others it should bear. They have three children: Caroline Neff, born September 25, 1877; Nathaniel
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Hamilton, born January 28, 1880; and Rudolph Neff, born February 7, 1882, -- the two first named being the youngest inventors to whom, at the time, letters patent had ever been issued by the United States government, they - having been eleven and nine years of age, respectively, at the time of the invention, and the patent having been granted two years later. A portrait of Colonel Maxwell is presented on a foregoing page.
HON. RICHARD M. BISHOP.
The death of ex-Governor Bishop, on March 2, 1893, at Jacksonville, Florida, removed one of Cincinnati's most honored citizens, who during a long term of years held important offices and exerted a large amount of political influence in the State of Ohio.
Richard M. Bishop was born in Fleming County, Kentucky, March 4, 1812. After a fair common school education he entered into mercantile pur- suits in his native county, removing, however, in 1847, to Cincinnati, where he became the senior member of the wholesale grocery firm of Bishop, Wells & Company, which five years later upon the retirement of Mr. Wells became R. M. Bishop & Company. Their methods and facilities were such that the business rapidly increased and the firm name long stood for the highest standard of business integrity.
In April, 1857, Mr. Bishop took his seat as a member of the City Council, with such associates as Henry Pearce, Mr. Flagg, Benjamin Eggle- ston, John Torrence, Frederick Hassaurek, S. S. David, J. C. Baum and others, and in the following year he was elected president of the Council. This was followed in 1859 by an election as mayor of the city, and in 1887 he was elected to the highest gift in the Commonwealth. His administration of office was ever characterized by honesty and efficiency. Governor Bishop was one of the trustees appointed to build the Cincinnati Southern Rail- way, holding the position until his death, and also serving as president of the company. He was eminently successful in his efforts to secure the right of way through Kentucky and Tennessee. Governor Bishop was hon- ored by the people of this city and State in many ways, one of the last being his selection as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention.
Aside from public life, he was also associated with church and char-
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itable institutions which made great demands upon his time, energy and means, all of which were gladly given. For over 30 years he was deeply in- terested in the Home for the Friendless and Foundlings, being president of the board, while his private benefactions and benevolences were innumerable. Of robust constitution, Governor Bishop probably enjoyed during the greater part of his life better general health than falls to the average man, but after a slight stroke of paralysis, some years ago, his frailty became more and more apparent. This caused his succumbing to pneumonia, a few days after reaching Florida, as noted above. The remains were brought to Cincinnati by his devoted children, and were reverently laid beside those of his departed wife in his beautiful lot in Spring Grove Cemetery.
In Richard M. Bishop, the well known business man of the Queen City, the late ex-Governor Bishop left an admirable representative, an inheritor of his business acumen as well as those characteristics which gained him the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens and endeared him to his friends and kindred. Richard M. Bishop was born March 6, 1856, in Cincinnati, and is a grandson of the late ex-Governor Bishop, and a son of William T. and Lizzie (Worrick) Bishop. His liberal education was secured at Chick- ering Institute, and after completing the same his natural instincts led him to enter upon a business career, although but 14 years of age. While still at school he had become interested in the printing business and there is no doubt but that he would have become one of the leaders in the "Art Pre- servative," had not other instincts been equally strong. As it was, at the age of 20 years he found himself at the head of a first class printing establish- ment, publishing on Vine street, opposite the old Post Office, the Weekly Spectator, under the firm name of Bishop & Wayman. Opportunity offering to purchase a one-third interest in the Cincinnati Tin & Japan Company, he disposed of his interest in the printing establishment, his business sense dic- tating the change. Prior to this time, the business of this company had been entirely retail, but Mr. Bishop's influence was soon felt in the change of methods, in the improvement of the machinery and in the change of location from No. 158 West Fourth street to No. 47 West Pearl street, and also in the admission of his brother-in-law, Charles W. Bell, as a partner. Under the new conditions the business was started January 1, 1884, but soon the warerooms were removed to Nos. 83-85 Walnut street, and soon after the rapidly expanding business demanded still more room. Then the commodious
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