Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. II, Pt. 1, Part 7

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 928


USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. II, Pt. 1 > Part 7


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



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president and practically conducted the affairs of the company. Its trade was expanded from a local to a world trade, and it became a keen competitor of J. A. Fay & Company. The latter concern tried to force the young rival to the wall and many law suits sprung up concerning patent infringements, which cost each company many thousands of dollars. One case was carried by The Egan Company to the United States Supreme Court, where they secured a favorable decision. The Egan Company controlled some 175 patents, and their opponents about 200, practically all the patents on wood- working machinery. Their differences resulted in heavy losses to both com- panies, but they kept up the fight until 1893. In February of that year, David Jones and H. B. Morehead obtained an option on the controlling inter- ests in both companies, especially the concern of J. A. Fay & Company, and then began negotiations which resulted in the consolidation of the two com- panies. Articles of incorporation for J. A. Fay & Egan Company were taken out, with a capital stock of $2,500,000, and the following men were elected as officers : Thomas P. Egan, president ; Frederick Danner, first vice-presi- dent; A. N. Spencer, second vice-president; Edwin Ruthven, secretary; A. F. Herbsleb, assistant secretary; L. W. Anderson, treasurer; George W. Bugbee, master mechanic; S. P. Egan, general superintendent; and L. G. Robinson and George W. Passell, assistant superintendents. Mr. Egan con- trolled two thirds of the stock in The Egan Company and also had invested largely in Fay stock; upon the reorganization, he was made president of both concerns. While both are under the same management, the companies are operated independently. Each made exhibits at the World's Fair held in Chicago, and each received nine awards and one special grand medal, which is more than was received by any other company in the world. The plant is one of the largest and most expensively equipped in the United States, and the structure erected on the Mitchell property alone cost $235,000 in equip- ment, one engine and boiler costing as much as $15,000. Mr. Egan has had a wonderful career, and is one of the ablest business men of Cincinnati.


In 1895 Thomas P. Egan organized the National Association of Manufacturers of the United States, and became its permanent chairman and first president ; this organization has attracted the attention of both the United States and foreign countries by the able manner in which it has been directed. Mr. Egan also organized the Manufacturers' Club of Cincinnati and became its first president. Mr. Egan is a director in the Ohio Valley 5


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National Bank, and also a stockholder in several other banks. He is also a member of the great Commercial Club of Cincinnati and the Queen City Club. The business of J. A. Fay & Egan Company has prospered very largely owing to its able management, and the concern has just bought at Bond Hill the ground to erect one of the most commodious and up-to-date plants in the United States for making wood-working machinery.


Thomas P. Egan was united in marriage with Alma E. Haase, a daugh- ter of Rev. Dr. Frederick Haase, pastor of the Evangelical Church at Chilli- cothe, Ohio. Their children are: Alma E .; Fred; Clifford; Christine; Edna Raymond; and Virginia. Mr. Egan is a Republican, but only gives a pass- ing interest to politics; he was however chosen as one of the presidential electors from Ohio on the Mckinley and Roosevelt ticket in 1900.


ANTHONY H. HINKLE.


Among the prominent and wealthy citizens of Cincinnati, the late An- thony H. Hinkle was for many years a leading figure. As a member of the well remembered firm of Wilson, Hinkle & Company, he was identified with the school book interests of this city and probably few names were more familiar to many thousand school children of the country during their stu- dent years. Mr. Hinkle was born in 1815 in Philadelphia, and came to Cincinnati in 1843. His business connection with Obed J. Wilson, whose sketch will be found elsewhere in this volume, covered a long and successful period. The partnership lasted from 1862 until 1875, in which year both our subject and Mr. Wilson retired, from the firm, which on reorganization became Van Antwerp, Bragg & Company, a son of Mr. Hinkle being one of its members.


Mr. Hinkle had many business interests, was a director in the First National Bank and in the Cincinnati Gas Light & Coke Company, and be- longed to the board of managers of the Old Men's and Widows' homes, on Walnut Hills. He was a devout member of the Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church. His charities were large, his beneficences covered all kinds of dis- tress, and he was not only respected, but was most sincerely esteemed.


In 1842 Mr. Hinkle was married to Frances Schillinger. He is sur- vived by his widow and these children: A. Howard, William, Frank,


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Charles, and Mrs. Dr. Anderson. The occasion of Mr. Hinkle's death was particularly sad. It occurred June 25, 1883, at Andover, Massachusetts, whither he and wife had gone, in order to enjoy the graduating exercises at Phillips Academy, their son Charles being a member of the graduating class.


HON. JULIUS FLEISCHMANN.


HON. JULIUS FLEISCHMANN, mayor of Cincinnati, politician, business man, financier, sportsman and club man, is a remarkable composition of all the characteristics which make up what Americans delight to call their rep- resentative citizen. What is also remarkable in the case of Mayor Fleisch- mann is that in all these various circles he is equally at home, eminent in each. Julius Fleischmann bears an honorable name in Cincinnati, his father, the venerable philanthropist as well as business man, having long been one of the city's most esteemed citizens. His birth took place at Riverside, now a part of the city of Cincinnati, June 8, 1872, and he is a son of Charles and Henrietta (Robertson) Fleischmann.


The educational training of our subject was obtained in the Cincinnati public schools, for three years being a pupil in the Hughes High School. At the age of 15 he left the latter to take a preparatory course in the Franklin School, intending to enter a university, but one year later decided to begin his business career under his father's supervision. The wisdom of the latter's methods has been shown by the son's commercial success and to these methods Mayor Fleischmann attributes his present financial condition. In 1889 he entered the establishment of Fleischmann & Company in the capacity of a clerk and displayed enough ability to satisfy even his exacting father, so that in a very few years he assumed the entire management of the vast business.


Mayor Fleischmann is not only the active head of all the Fleischmann interests, one of the largest unincorporated business enterprises in the coun- try, but he holds many other responsible positions. He is president of the Market National Bank of Cincinnati; president of the College of Music of Cincinnati; president of The Union Grain & Hay Company; president of the Riverside Malting & Elevator Company; president of the Illinois Vinegar Manufacturing Company of Chicago, which is capitalized at


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$100,000, and ranks as the largest concern of its kind in the country ; one ,of the governors of the Queen City Club; a prominent member of the Cin- cinnati Chamber of Commerce; and a member of the Manufacturers' Club, Business Men's Club, Commercial Club, Walnut Hills Business Men's Club, Phoenix Club, Country Club, Riding Club, Young Men's Blaine Club, Stam- ina Republican League and the North Cincinnati Turnverein. He is a mem- ber of Avon Lodge, No. 542, F. & A. M., and is a 32nd degree Mason and a Shriner. He is also a member of the Royal Arcanum, Knights of Pythias, Elks and a large number of social organizations.


In addition to his other business interests, he is vice-president of the C. N. & C. Railroad Company, which is the only quasi-public corporation with which he is connected, having sold all of his stock in the Cincinnati gas and street railway companies when he accepted the mayoralty.


As a sportsman Mayor Fleischmann has been, up to the past season, well known through the country, having maintained for several years a large racing stable in the East. In his turf interests he was a close associate of the late William C. Whitney and August Belmont and his stable was always rated as one of the best in the country, such notable horses as "Halma," "Hurstburn," "Africander," "St. Daniel" and "Wax Candle" having raced in his colors. Mr. Fleischmann also sent each year a division of his stable to Latonia, where he established the "Cincinnati Trophy" for 2-year-olds, a magnificent silver cup. Because of the demands of his gigantic business interests, however, Mr. Fleischmann was compelled to dispose of his stable during the season of 1903.


Mr. Fleischmann owns the yacht "Hiawatha," acknowledged to be one of the fleetest and most attractive boats in Eastern waters. He is one of the principal owners of the Cincinnati Baseball Club and a member of the New York and Atlantic yacht clubs. He is an all-round athlete and has a life membership in the Cincinnati Gymnasium. He delights in driving and riding and even gives some attention to golf.


From his days of early manhood, Mayor Fleischmann has taken a deep interest in the success of the Republican party, and in 1894 he succeeded his father as aid-de-camp on the staff of Governor Mckinley. Since his election as mayor of Cincinnati in 1900 and his reelection in 1903, he has displayed the same executive ability in the discharge of public duties which has characterized him in the management of his private affairs and he has


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become the most popular mayor with all classes that the city has ever had. ยท That his heart is in the improvement and development of this city can scarcely be questioned by those who have conversed or consulted with him or have given attention to his public utterances. At no time in the history of Cin- cinnati have the railroads been given more encouragement than since Mayor Fleischmann has assumed municipal charge, it being his view that plenty of transportation facilities are of the greatest encouragement to business. It is a fact known to the whole country that the police department of Cincinnati excels that of every other great city in the United States. His attitude toward educational institutions of every kind is so well known that in this city may be found, since his administration began, schools of all kinds for special work gaining a foothold and assisting in making Cincinnati a center of culture.


In a very timely message to the City Council, Mayor Fleischmann gave publicity to his views in these concluding paragraphs: "Cincinnati's econom- ical and progressive administration is of the vastest importance in bringing new enterprises to the city, and in advancing the interests which for so many years have made Cncinnati so justly famed for her commercial soundness and integrity. It is to the city which is well governed, and whose financial interests are managed as a prudent business man would care for his private investments, that capital is attracted." The era of municipal improvement which has ensued since the first election of Mayor Fleischmann testifies to the soundness of his views and to the sincerity of his promises.


On April 8, 1893, Mr. Fleischmann was married to Lillie Ackerland, who is a daughter of A. and Louise Ackerland, a charming and talented lady whom he had known from childhood. Three children have been born to them, namely: Louise, Charles and Julius, Jr. A portrait of Mr. Fleisch- mann accompanies this sketch.


JAMES E. MOONEY.


JAMES E. MOONEY, president of The American Oak Leather Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, is also executive of many other important enterprises, some of which are located in other States. He was born near the present


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town of Waldron, Shelby County, Indiana, May 4, 1832, and is a son of Edmund and Mary (Nicholson) Mooney, his paternal ancestors being from the North of Ireland and maternal, from Wales.


Edmund Mooney, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and early in life moved to Kentucky, where he served an apprenticeship to the trade of a tanner. He was married there in 1818 to Mary Nicholson, who was born in Culpeper County, Virginia. He moved with his family to Shelby County, Indiana, which at that early day was but a wilderness, and it was there that their son, James E., was born.


James E. Mooney was but six years of age when his parents moved to the town of Shelbyville, Indiana, where he attended the seminary for five years. He then accompanied them to Edinburg, Johnson County, Indiana, where he attended school for two years. This was the extent of his school- ing and further education was acquired through private research while em- ployed in various capacities. His father and older brothers were engaged in the manufacture of leather, harness and saddlery, and at the age of 13 years he became apprenticed to the trade, also assisting as salesman and in the keeping of accounts. He later became clerk in a neighboring store where he acquired valuable business training, his employer being an honorable man of great ability. In 1849, after the completion of the Madison & Indian- apolis Railroad, the first in Indiana, young Mooney accepted employment in the first exclusively wholesale house established in Indianapolis. In the winter he was sent out on long collecting tours on horseback, the only way of making the journey at that time. From 1851 to 1853, he was accountant and cashier of a large pork packing establishment at Madison, Indiana. Dur- 'ing these years of toil he laid by as much of his salary as he could spare and in the autumn of 1853 contributed this amount toward the establishment of a general store at Edinburg under the firm name of Clark & Mooney, his first employer being a silent partner. This firm continued successfully for a period of five years, then Mr. Mooney purchased his father's interest in the tannery, becoming a partner of his brother, the firm name being W. W. & J. E. Mooney. They soon after constructed an extensive tannery at Co- lumbus, Indiana, which they operated with good results for some 15 years. Our subject then established a wholesale leather business at Indianapolis under the firm name of Mooney & Company, and in this retained an interest


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for 30 years. In 1866, he organized a similar business in Louisville, Ken- tucky, which he conducted for five years, and also a leather manufacturing plant with which he has since been identified, being at present president of the business which is conducted under the title of the Ohio Falls Oak Leather Company. It was not until 1873 that he became identified with any business venture of Cincinnati. In that year he subscribed to stock in the Mount 'Adams & Eden Park Inclined Plane Railway Company purely as an invest- ment, but the panic which soon followed rendered the success of the enter- prise doubtful. At that critical time he gave his personal attention to it and invested more of his money, and the success which finally crowned his efforts reflects great credit on his business ability. In 1874, he became largely inter- ested in the Muscogee Lumber Company of Pensacola, Florida, which owned 100,000 acres of timber land, several mills and several miles of railroad, and continued with that concern until it was sold to an English syndicate 18 years later. In 1876, he became a stockholder of the Cincinnati Coffin Com- pany, which has grown to large proportions and now affords employment to several hundred men. He is now president of that company. In 1880, he organized and continues as the largest stockholder and president of The American Oak Leather Company of Cincinnati, which in that year erected , an extensive plant covering two and a half blocks, bounded by McLean and Dalton avenues, and Kenner and Flint streets. Early in its existence the plant experienced two disastrous floods, and a portion of it has twice been destroyed by fire, but withal the company has been successful and gives employment to more than 700 men. Branch houses are maintained at Bos- ton, Chicago, St. Louis and No. 336 Main street, Cincinnati, and through these the product of the plant is placed on the market. In 1880, Mr. Mooney became a stockholder and president of the American Starch Company of Columbus, Indiana, whose plant was destroyed by fire in April, 1895. In 1887, he organized and has since become sole proprietor of the American Oak Extract Company of Decatur, Alabama,-adjoining this plant a large tan- nery was erected by the company at Decatur, which absorbs the product of the extract plant.


Mr. Mooney's career has been an unusual one in the variety of his undertaking's and the great success achieved in each. Good fortune has not always been at hand, as is evidenced by the numerous destructions of his plants by fire and flood, and competition has always been spirited. A man


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:


of great will power, courage and determination, he has succeeded where others have failed and his achievements in the industrial world will remain as a monument to his memory after he has passed away.


JOHN MARTIN CRAWFORD, LL. D., M. D.


JOHN MARTIN CRAWFORD, LL. D., M. D., a distinguished citizen of Cincinnati and ex-consul-general of the United States to Russia, was born October 18, 1846, at Herrick, Pennsylvania.


Dr. Crawford received his early education in the public schools at home, and was prepared for college at the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute at To- wanda, Pennsylvania. At the age of 18 years he taught public school one term, and one year later became principal of the normal academy at Dimock, Pennsylvania. He held that position for two years, resigning to become assistant superintendent of public schools of Susquehanna County, Pennsyl- vania. In 1867 he entered Lafayette College at Easton, Pennsylvania, and was graduated in 1871. In the fall of the latter year he was elected principal of the Wyoming Institute, at Wyoming, Pennsylvania, but resigned before the lapse of one year to accept the professorship of higher mathematics and Latin in the Chickering Classical and Scientific Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio. He held this position a period of eight years, devoting all his spare time to the study of medicine and its collateral branches, and in the meantime attend- ing medical lectures at the Pulte Medical College, the Eclectic Medical In- stitute and the Miami Medical College, giving special attention to physical diagnosis and physiology. He received a diploma from each of the above named institutions, and thus thoroughly equipped resigned his professorship at the Chickering Institute to enter actively into the practice of his profes- sion. He was elected professor of physiology and microscopy in the Pulte Medical College, and in 1882 the chair of physical diagnosis and the office of registrar of the college were added to his duties.


Dr. Crawford has given much attention to work of a literary character, and has been a thorough student of the classics. While a student at Lafay- ette College, he first heard of the " Kalevala " throughi a class remark of one of his professors, and at once began the study of that Finnish epic. Ever since, the Suomi songs have had a peculiar fascination for him, and he has


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1


taken much of his recreation in the study of things pertaining to the " Kale- vala." From time to time he prepared papers on the literature of the Fin- landers, together with fragmentary translations of their national epic, and read them to appreciative audiences until he was almost driven by friends to undertake a complete translation. Finally he began the work in earnest, fully conscious of the amount of labor and time that would be required. The translation was received with universal favor, going through many editions, and was republished in England, the demand for it being no less gratifying to the publishers than to himself. He has since devoted much study to the work, and expects to revise and improve his translation, also to translate other Finnish literature. He lias a translation of the Esthonian epic, the "Kalevipoeg," well under way, and hopes in due time to offer it to the public.


In June, 1889, Dr. Crawford was appointed by President Harrison as consul-general of the United States to Russia, an office which he held until June, 1894. Hon. Charles Emory Smith, former United States Ambassador to Russia and later Postmaster General of the United States, in an address delivered in Avondale referred to Dr. Crawford as one of the best and most influential consuls-general this country has ever sent abroad. In recognition of his services to the famine sufferers in Russia in 1892, as a member of the American Relief Committee, he was presented by Emperor Alexander III with a beautiful jeweled vase bearing the following inscription :


Presented to Mr. John M. Crawford, Consul-General of the United States, at St. Petersburg, in remembrance of 1892, by special order of His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Russia.


After the Central Government at Russia had determined to make an exposition of the products of Russia at the World's Fair at Chicago, it was decided to prepare an elaborate work for general distribution at the Colum- bian Exposition, entitled " The Industries of Russia." Accordingly 50 spe- cialists were commissioned to prepare articles on the different and varied subjects of Russian industry, and at the request of the Imperial ministry Dr. Crawford undertook the laborious task of editing and translating it into the English language. This work consists of five large octavo volumes. In recognition of his successful accomplishment of this task, he was presented with a beautiful address, signed by the ministers of the Imperial cabinet and by other coworkers of the Russian edition.


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On returning to Cincinnati, Dr. Crawford became actively engaged in mercantile, manufacturing and banking business, and to-day he is regarded as a prominent man of affairs, and a financier of importance in Cincinnati.


RUFUS KING.


RUFUS KING, one of the greatest lawyers who ever claimed Cincinnati as home, was born at Chillicothe, Ohio, May 30, 1817, and died at Cincin- nati, March 25, 1891. He was of distinguished ancestry. His grandfather, also named Rufus King, took a prominent part in the American Revolution and served with great credit in the Continental Congress for a period of . three years. After the adoption of the Constitution, he served 18 years as United States Senator from the State of New York.


Edward King, father of our subject, was a lawyer of eminence and marked ability, and engaged in the practice of his profession many years in Chillicothe and Cincinnati. He married a daughter of Thomas Worthing- ton, a very early settler of Ohio, a member of the first Constitutional Con- vention and the first United States Senator chosen by and for the State. Edward King was a man of much force and influence in the State; a man of character, enterprise and public spirit, whose earnest efforts in behalf of improvement and progress were of immense value.


With these ancestors in mind, it may reasonably be assumed that Rufus King was richly endowed by nature for a successful career in the law. His early education and preparation for college were received at home under the care and tutelage of his mother, a woman of superior literary talents and noted likewise for her active philanthropy. From the excellent school at home he went to Gambier, where he remained four years, thence to Harvard University, where he completed a classical course. He then entered Harvard Law School, where he received instruction from such masters as Story and Greenleaf. He was admitted to the bar of Hamilton County in 1841, and very soon rose to a position of prominence. He engaged in general practice as was the custom of the times, winning fame both as a counsellor and as an . advocate. He chose to devote his time and energies to the practice of the law, and declined to enter politics. Even so exalted and honorable a position as a seat on the Supreme Court bench of Ohio was declined by him when ten-


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dered in 1864 by Governor Brough. He was preeminently a lawyer and is .remembered with veneration by .nt. bar of to-day. He served as dean of the Cincinnati Law School and president of the faculty; he was one of the founders of the Public Library Association. He served on the Board of Education of Cincinnati from 1851 to 1866, and his service marked an era in the public school system of the city. He served as president of the board for II years and to his efforts is largely due the evolution of the public school system into one of the finest in the country. As a member of the board he was active and influential in the controversy undertaken to exclude the Bible from public schools, maintaining that moral and religious instruc- tion, non-sectarian in character, had a rightful place in the public schools. Mr. King was chosen in 1873 as a member of the convention to revise the. Constitution of the State and succeeded Morrison R. Waite as president of the convention, when the latter was appointed Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Rufus King was a lawyer of superior ability, liberal learning, patient industry and discriminating judgment. His mind was won- derfully clear and his penetration deep, but he did not rely upon these quali- ties for success. He studied each case and presented it to the court only after the exhaustive research which gave him the mastery of its principles and details. This habit more than any other influence made his reputation as a successful practitioner. He was married in 1843 to Margaret Rives, daugh- ter of Landon C. Rives of Cincinnati.




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